We now have confirmation of two IF events at PAX:
Storytelling in the world of interactive fiction
(Friday, March 26th, 5:30pm-6:30pm, Wyvern Theatre)
Text adventures have been quietly experimenting with narrative gaming for thirty years. Five authors from the amateur interactive fiction community discuss the design ideas in their games -- reordered storylines, unreliable narrators, deeply responsive NPCs -- and how they apply to other kinds of games. (Rob Wheeler (mod.), Robb Sherwin, Aaron Reed, Emily Short, Andrew Plotkin)
GET LAMP Panel/Screening
(Friday, March 26th, 9:30pm, Naga Theatre)
The premiere of Jason Scott's three-hour documentary on IF history and culture. Will he show all three hours? Who knows? (Noted via twitter.) (By the way, check out his awesome cover art for the DVD set.)
Purple Blurb
(Monday, March 29th, details TBA but I believe 5:30pm at MIT 14E-310)
This is not a PAX event, but it's happening in town the day after PAX. Emily Short and Jeremy Freese speak at MIT on the subject of interactive fiction and electronic literature. Hosted by Nick Montfort for his Purple Blurb lecture series.
We also have confirmation that PAX East will be sold out and no badges will be available at the door. Preregister or stay home. (By which I mean, "preregister"!) If the cost is a problem for you, they're looking for volunteers, who will get free admission.
EDIT-ADD: I forgot to mention the Purple Blurb presentation on Monday! See above.
EDIT-ADD again: We are going to be hosting an open IF hospitality suite where you can come see IF people and talk and try our games and stuff. See this post!
Three hours between the events? Perfect time for "SpeedIF PAX"!
Mark, that is an excellent idea. I would seriously be interested in that, and I'm sure I wouldn't be the only one.
As a con veteran, I humbly suggest that you use the 6:30-8 time block to *eat some real food* so that you don't have a brain meltdown in the middle of Get Lamp.
SpeedIF would be good for Saturday night, maybe. (We still don't know what the rest of the PAX schedule looks like.)
Can someone capture YouTube footage, or at least a good audio capture, for the panel? Pretty please? With sugar on top?
Let's make 2010 the year in which outreach by the IF community becomes a reality and not just a hope. Things are coming together in a way that may grease the wheels for preaching to others besides the converted. And, as we all know, Emily deserves special thanks for the pioneering work she's already doing.
Comment 2. I don't know at what time PAX begins on Friday, but I'm guessing that the IF panel discussion might be in one of the earliest timeblocks of the Expo. If so, won't it (seriously) be necessary to do some publicity in and around the crowds as early as possible to get the attention of gamers who do not routinely play IF? Hey, I'd walk around in a sandwich board - I'm not proud.
Events are probably going to start at noon Friday, if not earlier, and run until Sunday mid-afternoon.
Doing publicity in a convention of 40000 (60000? I don't know what to estimate) is... hard. It's sensory overload to begin with, and the most direct way to get attention is to be listed in the program book -- which we are.
There will probably be tables of free fliers, and we're talking about printing some that list all the IF-related happening, official and unofficial. (I'll post more about the unofficial ones this weekend!)
There is a forum site: ( http://forums.penny-arcade.com/showthread.php?t=109788 ) which we should post on well in advance (like, this weekend).
Someone suggested badge ribbons, which we should definitely have.
Ron Newcomb asked about recording the panel discussion. That would be cool! I have not heard anything about PAX recording events. If somebody wants to bring a camera...
I anticipate being interviewed extensively for this, and when I do so I will be sure to publicize the panels and the IF suite when I do so.
Hey, I think I'm going to be coming to this. I just got the spouse's blessing. Woo hoo!
I learned from Old Grandma HardCore that if someone brings equipment, ask an Enforcer and they can probably get you setup with whatever pre-existing setup they have. Assuming they have such a thing pre-existing for the IF panel. We're not exactly Tim Schafer here.