UAlbany Hosts Game Industry Leaders for Storytelling Conference

By Mike Nolan

ALBANY, N.Y. (June 24, 2026) — The University at Albany welcomed game designers, writers and scholars earlier this month for NarraScope 2026, a national hybrid conference dedicated to storytelling in games.

NarraScope brings together games industry leaders and students to explore how stories are told, shaped and experienced through interactive media. 

The conference includes a mix of talks, hands-on game showcases, keynote speeches, and specialized workshops. All talks and presentations this year were available on-site at UAlbany, as well as streamed live globally via Discord.

“This conference brings together professionals from the games industry and academics to explore how narrative design functions within games," said Jason Corace, associate professor in the Department of Information Sciences and Technology. “It offered our students and faculty a chance to learn directly from leading practitioners within the field." 

Corace is serving as the first director of UAlbany’s Game Center, which oversees the University’s undergraduate major in Game Design and Development and a graduate program in Strategic Game Design and Applied Development.

The new programs, launched last fall, added to UAlbany’s existing game design and development minor and undergraduate concentration. SUNY is also supporting the creation of a game design lab/classroom space that will be housed at the ETEC research and development complex.

Narrascope featured two full days of talks and panels. A new track called "The Experience" debuted this year, spotlighting narrative projects that blend physical and digital storytelling, including augmented reality work and interactive installations. 

The event was previously hosted at The Strong Museum of Play in Rochester and MIT.

“Part of UAlbany's Game Center's mission is to make our University a strong community partner for all things game related,” Corace said.” Hosting events like this helps position UAlbany as a hub for the game community in the Capital Region and beyond.”

Along with Narrascope, UAlbany’s Game Center is also again partnering with Wolfjaw Studios to host the Wolfjam Hackathon in the fall. Participants of the hackathon will have opportunities to win prizes by creating software and products related to the gaming industry, while also meeting some of the top developers, innovators and designers in the Capital Region

Recordings of conference talks from Nasoscope will soon be made available on the Interactive Fiction Technology Foundation's YouTube channel.