2017 has been a madly busy year thus far. Sometimes I look back and it all feels pretty intense, even for 2016 standards –  and last year was quite a wild ride for me, positive and filled with changes and challenges and phew-y stuff.

Then I guess it figures that I haven’t attended any game-related events in a while – last one was Rezzed, which was tons of fun and much more about the people and less about the games than the previous year.

Which means I’m pretty thrilled to be attending AventureX for the second time in a row.

AdventureX is a free annual event held at Goldsmiths University (London) and totally dedicated to narrative games – text games, point and click graphic adventures, very experimental ones, very commercial ones, you name it, as long as their focus is on storytelling. It is a swell event, it’s free, it has a very different tone compared to other industry events. It’s pretty intimate and informal. Last year it felt much more like a gathering of like-minded people than a commercial fair, with a “let’s talk about these crazy ideas” feel rather than a “BUY ALL TEH THINGS!!!!!!1” vibe.

Last year we had Alexis Kennedy (Sunless Sea, Cultist Simulator), whose ideas about poetic design I tried to summarise, as well as the unmissable Emily Short, one of my main inspirations when I was starting out. We had legends like Charles Cecil talking about his classic Broken Sword and up-and-coming devs like CoseBelle’s (Selling Sunlight) brain, Giada Zavarise.

So what to expect this year?

Personally I’m looking forward to hearing Jon Ingold on the development of Heaven’s Vault (Inkle) and Ian Thomas (Talespinners) on non-verbal narrative design… let’s see how many talks I do manage to attend. And, needless to say, Seb Burnett of Rumpus Animation, who will be presenting one of the games I’ve worked in lately, Bertram Fiddle.

So just like last Rezzed, I’m expecting to meet a lot of old friends, this time with a special emphasis on those of the scribbling variety. You know who you are, you magnificent bastards.

(So shout if you’re coming, don’t be a stranger now!)

The rest of you, fret not. You can expect a full report from Yours Truly once I’m back*

* and somewhat recovered