Author Kate Pullinger to present EIEF session

The organisers of the Edinburgh Interactive Entertainment Festival have confirmed that author Kate Pullinger is to present a session at the event, which is scheduled to run on August 21st and 22nd.

Pullinger will present exclusive details on the latest episode of her interactive storytelling project Inanimate Alice during the session, marking the world premiere of the third episode, titled "Russia."

Focusing heavily on storytelling and characterisation rather than gameplay, Inanimate Alice is designed to grow in interactivity across its ten episode span, and tells the story of the life of a girl growing up in the early 21st century.

"The games community has always been interested in creating content with strong storylines - interactive stories that have gripping narrative content as well as plausible, involving game characters," commented EIEF content director Fred Hasson.

"By concentrating on story, and increasing interactivity and game elements incrementally, 'Inanimate Alice' turns the traditional game development process on its head," he concluded.

Look out for our exclusive interview with Kate Pullinger early next week, when we'll be talking to the author about the challenge of storytelling in an interactive environment - and why many writers and film-makers are intimidated by technology and videogames.