NarraScope 2026: How Rich Can You Get?

How Rich Can You Get? Presented by Josh Mandel Sunday, June 14th 2026, The University at Albany, NY Description: In the adventure games I’ve designed and written, I create environments where individualized feedback exists for every item visible onscreen, or very nearly so. And I don’t stop there. I shoot for zero generic messages. This is an extremely work-and-time-intensive approach. But much of the joy of adventure games comes from exploration. I’ll cover the arguments for and against this approach, and why putting yourself into the shoes of the Player in this regard is both highly desirable and frequently ignored. Speaker: Josh Mandel spent most of the 80s as a headlining comedian by day, a games journalist and betatester at night. As Director of Product Design at Sierra On-Line, he designed Freddy Pharkas, Frontier Pharmacist and Space Quest VI, and crafted story, text, and lyrics for dozens of Sierra releases. He was the original voice of King Graham in five King’s Quest games, and became Director of Game Design at Sega of America. He designed the award-winning Callahan’s Crosstime Saloon for Legend, and his design, writing, and voicework have appeared in games from Broderbund, Vicarious Visions, Hasbro, and more.