NarraScope is an annual conference for writers and players of interactive fiction. It’s being held this year in Philadelphia, PA, from June 20-22.
Several ChoiceScript writers are going to be speaking this year! Rebecca Slitt, partner in and editor for Choice of Games and author of Psy High, will speak about what she learned from the process of creating a sequel to her game. Benjamin Rosenbaum will be speaking about the innovative techniques he used to make The Ghost and the Golem such a richly nuanced experience. Jim Dattilo, author of the beloved Zombie Exodus franchise, will speak about disability representation. Baudelaire Welch, who wrote Don’t Wake Me Up, will speak on the perennially popular topic of interactive romance.
This year’s Conference Chair, Matt Griffin (hi @Mifga!), is working on his own first ChoiceScript project, and he hopes to see some other members of this community there and even arrange a meetup for ChoiceScript folks. If you’re interested in hearing some great talks and meeting up with some incredibly cool people, check out the NarraScope 2025 website!
You can register to attend in person or online, and there’s an Early Bird discount available if you register before this weekend. You can also view the schedule and see a list of people who are going to speak.
Hi all! I’m finally coming up for air and able to organize some official Choice of Games things for Narrascope!
I will be there to give an in-person presentation, and I’m very excited to meet whoever will be there!
First, I’d like to organize a dinner on Saturday evening. If you are going to be at Narrascope in person and would like to come, please PM me! Let me know if you have any dietary restrictions or other access needs. I have found a few options for restaurants with outdoor seating within walking distance of Drexel.
I am attending online but I have a slight question. Is Friday the only day that has sessions I can attend? I was under the impression Saturday and Sunday were available too but when I signed up for sessions just now using the email I got, it was only for Friday. This is probably a silly issue, I’m just wanting to make sure I did it right and it’s my first time.
Just a quick note, @fablesoffortune, that you may have seen notes referring to either the physical event of the Friday NarraScope Showcase — free and open to the public — or the Friday Pre-Conference Workshops, instead of the main conference itself (which takes place June 21-22). The online-only Friday Pre-Conference Workshops (June 20th) are available for anyone who has registered for the conference to sign up for, and include an excellent ChoiceScript workshop lead by Lies Under Ice author Joey Jones (@jojo).
But there is much more you can attend!
The Saturday and Sunday conference days are hybrid, meaning in this case that registered attendees can watch livestreams of the conference sessions on our Discord and engage in lively conversations in the Discord. (Including submitting questions to the Q&As that take place during the talk, or chat with speakers in Discord after their talks.)
There are talks by Choice of Games authors Rebecca Slitt (@ladybird), Benjamin Rosenbaum (@plausible.fabulist), and Jim Dattilo (@JimD).
For in-person attendees, there’s a book signing event on Saturday afternoon where both Benjamin Rosenbaum and Jim Dattilo will be signing work. (@JimD is creating sign-able printed cards for his interactive novels, while @plausible.fabulist will be signing his collected stories, the amazing novel The Unraveling, and the TTRPG work Dream Askew / Dream Apart.) And also a ChoiceScript lunch table meetup on Sunday just after the @ladybird + @plausible.fabulist talks. Those are in-person only, but likely there will be chatter and conversations about them in the Discord as well.
For online-only, you should definitely attend the streams for the Choice of Games author talks and sign up for Joey Jones’ ChoiceScript workshop (registered attendees only). There is also a free-and-open-to-the-public ongoing discussion called “Playing ChoiceScript” work checking out now. This discussion post is organized by @ladybird and @AletheiaKnights, with me joining in.
And dive in to the “Playing ChoiceScript” discussion here:
“Playing-NarraScope,” the Discord forum channel that houses this discussion, consists of a few “book clubs” and discussion threads that are starting pre-conference now to focus on exploring the work that the speakers will be (and then will have) shared at the conference. (This is an experiment — a way for all of us to catch up quickly to some of the work of the over 65 speakers, mostly writers and game creators!)
In the “Playing ChoiceScript” area, we are looking to host a live play session of a few scenes from The Ghost and the Golem in the next couple of days as well as encourage attendees to the conference (including those new to Choice of Games) to check out work by Rebecca Slitt, Jim Dattilo, and Joey Jones. (If the live play experiment works well, we may share scenes from these other authors as well!)
We are still selling online-only registrations until Wednesday, June 18th. The main NarraScope.org page links to our remaining Registration options : https://narrascope.org/
Check out the schedule page for details for the sessions to attend before and during the conference here: Narrascope 2025 | Schedule
