IVIPRO Days 2024: Videogames as Spatial Narratives

The third edition of IVIPRO Days, held during the Trieste Science+Fiction Festival, focused on how video games tell stories through space. Henry Jenkins' concept of 'narrative architecture' was central, framing game design as world-building akin to theme parks or English landscape gardens. ZaQ Chojecki of Ovid Works discussed adapting Kafka's Metamorphosis into an explorable 'storyworld.' Jon Ingold of inkle emphasized that games should be 'playgrounds' enabling multiple explorations, not consumable objects. Mario Di Bernardo and Marco Spelgatti addressed marginalized spaces—geographical peripheries, the Global South, women, LGBTQIA+ communities—and reclaimed the margin as a vantage point to critique the center. Ivan De Gregori of Jyamma Games detailed the tension in designing Enotria: The Last Song, balancing authentic Italian complexity with global market recognizability. IVIPRO's mission to link cultural heritage with territory was exemplified by connecting Sardegna Film Commission with Santa Ragione for the horror game Saturnalia. However, the article notes that non-spatial games (e.g., text adventures) face commercialization challenges, paralleling the difficulty of monetizing intangible cultural heritage.