"Uniting Narrative Worlds": ICIDS Conference at BAU

The 6th International Conference on Interactive Digital Storytelling (ICIDS 2013) will be held in Istanbul on 6-9 November 2013, hosted by the Department of Communication Design, Faculty of Communication, Bahçeşehir University.

ICIDS is one of the world's most important international academic conferences in the field of digital interactive narratives, covering digital games, mobile applications, interactive films and dramas, and narrative-based digital installations, featuring both theoretical studies and current examples. The conference brings together distinguished researchers, producers and theorists, creating a high-quality platform for the presentation and discussion of current applications, qualitative and quantitative research, advanced digital storytelling techniques and pioneering theoretical work.

About ICIDS

First held in 2008, the ICIDS conferences emerged from the merger of the International Conference on Virtual Storytelling (ICVS), held since 2001, and Technologies for Interactive Digital Storytelling and Entertainment (TIDSE), with the aim of bringing the work in the field under a single roof. By bringing together scientific research in computer science, design and the humanities with pioneering industrial work, ICIDS has earned a solid and respected place in both academia and industry. With this strategic position, it builds a bridge between theoretical and applied work as well as between academia and industry.

As the leading international conference on interactive narrative theory and practice, ICIDS hosts participants from all over the world every year. In addition to academic sessions, the conference includes workshops and exhibitions, which allow broader audiences to take part in ICIDS. ICIDS exhibitions feature academic posters on ongoing research, demos of pioneering technologies related to interactive narrative, digital artworks and digital games. Visitors can experience these works by playing them and can also talk to their creators in special sessions. ICIDS workshops offer participants the opportunity to gain in-depth knowledge of interactive narrative applications, create their own projects and discuss different examples.

ICIDS conferences were previously held in Germany, Portugal, the United Kingdom, Canada and Spain; with ICIDS 2013 Istanbul, the conference series comes to Southeast Europe and the borders of the MENA region for the first time. The conference is jointly organized by the Bahçeşehir University Game Lab (BUG), the Türkiye Chapter of the International Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA) and the Games & Narrative Research Group.

ICIDS 2013 Istanbul

With the motto "Uniting Narrative Worlds", ICIDS 2013 Istanbul follows the path drawn by previous conferences and aims to build new bridges between different interactive narrative traditions. The goal of ICIDS 2013 is to encourage new dialogues among game designers, artificial intelligence researchers, transmedia producers, artists, narratologists and digital game researchers.

Within the scope of the conference, more than 30 papers by nearly 90 researchers from 25 countries will be presented in 8 academic sessions to be held at Bahçeşehir University Beşiktaş Campus on 6-8 November. In two panels on 7 and 8 November, experts from the fields of game design, digital art, artificial intelligence and the digital games industry will discuss different applications in digital interactive narratives and their future.

In addition to the panels and sessions, artist Toni Dove, known for her pioneering interactive digital artworks; Ernest W. Adams, an expert on digital game narratives and one of the founders of the International Game Developers' Association; and Adam Russell, the game designer behind the artificial intelligence design of successful role-playing games such as Fable , will give special presentations at ICIDS 2013 Istanbul.

On 9 November, also as part of the conference, a total of 8 workshops on game and narrative design, artificial intelligence applications, digital game aesthetics, and interactive narratives and games for education and social good will be held at Bahçeşehir University Galata Campus.

The Digital Interactive Narrative Applications exhibition and demo presentations, which will open on 7 November at Bahçeşehir University Galata Campus, can be visited throughout the conference. A special selection of the exhibited works will remain open to visitors until 14 November.

For more information about the conference and registration, you can visit http://icids2013.bahcesehir.edu.tr or write to icids2013@gamesandnarrative.net .