Setting as Character in Narrative Games

During PAX East I was on a panel with a few gents from the Boston Interactive Fiction scene. Andrew Plotkin ran the panel, along with Stephen Granade and Rob Wheeler. I was the odd one out, having worked on games that have all sorts of fancy shmancy graphics in them.

The most interesting thing about chatting with these guys was finding that although the games that we've made are wildly different (text based IF vs. shooters that rely heavily on visuals to communicate narrative, setting, and world history)  we're all more or less trying to solve the same design problems, albeit using completely different techniques that are unique to our separate genres.

It was great getting to meet Andrew, Stephen, and Rob, as well as Jason McIntosh. I hope you find the panel interesting!

Panel Post

Setting as Character - PAX East 2011 from Jason McIntosh on Vimeo.