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September 19, 2026
10am-4pm
Lexington Public Library – Central
140 E. Main St, Lexington, KY 40507
Vector Narrative Games Festival is a premier one day game development conference presented by RunJumpDev, in partnership with the Lexington Public Library. The focus of this event is on the narrative aspects of game development, as well as a chance to network with leaders and peers in the field of game design and development.
Vector events feature networking, talks from industry leaders, workshops and round table discussions.
This event is free and open to the public. If you are able, please consider making a donation to Run Jump Dev to help cover costs of this year’s festival.
Network
Previous years events proved to be a successful networking moment for OHINKY (Ohio-Indiana-Kentucky) developers, and this years event promises to be much the same. There is no expo hall floor. This means that you will have a chance to engage with developers one on one, rather than spending energy on self-promotion to a public audience.
Speakers
Jake Elliott
Keynote Speaker
Jake Elliott is co-founder of indie game studio Cardboard Computer, and writer of the game Kentucky Route Zero. He has taught courses in new media art & game design at DePaul University, Northwestern University, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and IULM University in Milan. He lives in Elizabethtown, KY.
Pang Hartman
Speaker
Wanwisa “Pang” Hartman is the Vice President and Creative Designer at Frogdice, Inc., a developer of free-to-play online games and creative puzzle titles for PC and mobile. Founded in 1996, Frogdice has been through multiple evolutions of the video game industry. Before becoming a part of Frogdice, Pang grew up in Campbellsville, Kentucky and continued her education Centre College. After a brief stint in Vermont for law school and some time spent in Georgia and Washington, DC, Pang brought Frogdice back to her home state.
In addition to developing games, Pang volunteers for local schools, is a mother of two daughters, enjoys reading, and follows the development of esports across the global stage. Pang is also currently teaching Video Game Narratives and Storytelling at the University of Kentucky.
John Meister
Speaker
John Meister is an indie game developer with over 15 years of industry experience. As the owner and studio director of Super Soul, and president of the nonprofit RunJumpDev, he is dedicated to growing the game dev community and collaborating with creators to push the boundaries of games as an art form.
Stephen Ware
Speaker
Stephen G. Ware, PhD is an Associate Professor of Computer Science at the University of Kentucky where he runs the Narrative Intelligence Lab and teaches courses on artificial intelligence and game development. He does research on how interactive stories can be used in games and game-like things for entertainment, education, and training. He is especially interested in automatically adapting stories that have strict requirements to the unexpected choices of players. He has done over $3 million USD in sponsored research for agencies like the National Science Foundation and Department of War, and his work has received 5 Best Paper awards.
Schedule
10:00 am – 11:00 am
Jake Elliott
Keynote Speaker
Poems & Puzzles
Explore an analogy between poems and puzzles (eg. riddles, logic puzzles, sokoban levels, etc). Suggest some new, broadly accessible approaches for creating small, playful, and poetic games.
11:00 am – 12:00 pm
Pang Hartman
Speaker
Game Writing Toolbox
Pang Hartman will present some effective techniques for writing narratives games. With these writing tools, attendees can take their first steps to writing interactive stories.
12:00 pm – 12:45 pm
John Meister
Technologies and Techniques Panel
John Meister will moderate a panel discussion along with Jake Elliott and Pang Hartman of different technologies and best practices to create narrative games.
12:45 pm – 1:30 pm
Lunch Break
1:30 pm – 2:30 pm
Roundtable
Commercial Narrative Games
This roundtable will discuss the challenges and opportunities when developing commercial narrative games. Participants can bring topics for discussion by the group, such as budgeting, marketing, and publishers.
Workshop
Twine
This will be a hands-on workshop to introduce the narrative framework, Twine. Participants will learn about using Twine to make interactive, nonlinear stories.
2:40 pm – 3:40 pm
Stephen Ware
Speaker
Narrative AI
Stephen Ware will present a history of narrative AI and demonstrate the research he is leading at the University of Kentucky’s Narrative Intelligence Lab.
Workshop
Inform 7
This will be a hands-on workshop to introduce natural language programming with Inform. Participants will learn about using Inform to write playable poetry and prose using natural language syntax. No programming experience required.
3:50 pm – 4:00 pm
Closing Presentation
Learn about upcoming events and workshops happening after Vector.
4:30 pm
The Burl Brew
After Party
375 Thompson Rd – Lexington, KY
Join us for a casual social gathering at The Burl Brew house with Vector attendees.
Donate
This event is free and open to the public. If you are able, please consider making a donation to Run Jump Dev to help cover costs of this year’s festival.
Sponsors
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