Is an academic conference with the following mandate:
While storytelling probably began as a very fluid process, several centuries of the printed book have given fiction an air of inflexibility and inevitability. However, for several decades, authors of gamebooks like Choose Your Own Adventure and Fighting Fantasy have been finding ways to directly involve the reader in the narrative of the book and to encompass multiple possibilities within a single volume.
Computer games and other digital media have brought fiction into new and infinitely variable realms. This conference will examine the evolution of interactive fiction and discuss ways in which it can be studied and used pedagogically.
CALL FOR PAPERS / PARTICIPATION: We are currently soliciting proposals for 30-minute presentations relating to all forms of interactive fiction: gamebooks, parser-based text adventure games, hypertext fiction and other areas where storytelling and interaction collide. Those not wishing to submit papers may also volunteer to participate in panel discussions. Please send proposals / expressions of interest to email elided, or fill out our online form.
LOCATION: Falvey Memorial Library, Villanova University. Directions can be found here.
COST: Free! Registration opening soon.
I am strongly considering presenting a talk there, especially because it would be easy to combine with a visit to my sister and niece. I'm wondering if anyone else is planning on doing so.
(Thanks to Papillion for linking this on twitter.)
Supporting creators since 2004 (When was the last time you backed up your game?)
I've signed up to give a talk there on visual novels and Ren'Py.
I've spoken to the organizer, and he points out that many of the people there are going to be from the gamebook community. (Think the Choose your own adventure books.) I think it will be an interesting opportunity to talk about visual novels to people who are completely unfamiliar with the medium.
I don't know if anyone else is in the area, but I suspect that if someone more active in creating visual novels (especially writing them) was to propose a talk, it would be easy to get in. I doesn't seem to be particularly formal - more of a workshop than a conference - and may of the speakers are people with practical experience, rather than academics.
At the very least, I'm probably going to want to run some ideas for my talk past the community here, just to keep me honest.
Supporting creators since 2004 (When was the last time you backed up your game?)
I suggest taking some sample Ren'Py games with a more western art direction, just to avoid any negative animu stereotype.
Maybe talk to Cyanide Tea and other groups. I'd put something like The Elevator out there. Maybe the audience being more Twine-Centric maybe they expect some interaction every 2 paragraphs? Whereas VNs tend to be prose-heavy with nonstop clicking for minutes or even hours. You may need to explain that.
Completed: Dreams of the Skies, Anton's Vacation, Luka, The Halberd and The Tiger, Rising Angels, Pyrite Heart, Rising Angels: Reborn, The Halberd and The Fox, VN Tycoon, RA: Hope
Hmmmmmm... An active developer with writing experience who just so happens to be moving less than an hour away... sounds like I need to clear up my schedule for a conference.
I certainly enjoyed being there. There are actually a lot of people working in the IF and choose-your-own adventure space.
And I have to say, even if I was a bit off my game due to technical difficulties, it was kind of fun to be able to introduce VNs to an a audience that hadn't seen them before. I did a quick Let's Play of The Elevator - which seems to be one of the more western-looking games in the repertoire - and I think it's really interesting to see the additional engagement that the visuals bring to the medium.
Supporting creators since 2004 (When was the last time you backed up your game?)
The Elevator was one of my first VNs and has really shaped my relationship to VNs quite a lot.
I think it is an excellent game and an excellent introduction to EVNs.
I should go play it again!
A Close Shave:
*Last Thing Done (Aug 17): Finished coding emotions and camera for 4/10 main labels.
*Currently Doing: Coding of emotions and camera for the labels--On 5/10
*First Next thing to do: Code in all CG and special animation stuff
*Next Next thing to do: Set up film animation
*Other Thing to Do: Do SFX and Score (maybe think about eye blinks?)
Glad to hear it was enjoyable! There's something about watching an audience fall under the spell of visuals, music, and story. (I can certainly see how this would happen with "The Elevator.")
I hope some of them got the itch to try ren'py, given their interest in IF. Maybe we'll see them on the forum sometime.
