Third annual LudaNarraCon goes live on Steam this April

Fellow Traveler’s LudaNarraCon is hitting Steam once again this April 23 to 26. The free, global virtual narrative gaming convention celebrates its third anniversary this year and is currently accepting submissions for stage sessions and panels. 

Both Sam Barlow, Director and Writer of Telling Lies and Her Story, and Tanya X Short, Creative Director at Kitfox Games, are set to take the stage as speakers. 

“We started LudoNarraCon with a vision for the power of digital festivals to help indie games rise above the noise, so it’s been exciting to see the explosion of events through 2020 and how far Steam has gone in providing the tools to power them.” Chris Wright, managing director of Fellow Traveller, said. “We’ve also always believed in the power of curation and feel that genre or flavor-focused events like LudoNarraCon or the Steam Tabletop Games Festival are important ways to help like-minded developers and players connect around a shared passion. We’re proud to be playing a role in helping innovative story-rich games to get their moment in the spotlight.”

LudaNarra came to life in 2019, its namesake meaning “where narrative means play.” It was born as a digital-focused counterpart to in-person events, similar to fellow digital-only global gaming event GameDev.World. In 2020, with the global COVID-19 pandemic, LudaNarra had found its niche in a slew of online-only events. 

With Steam being the largest storefront for PC games, it aims to “reduce the distance between seeing a game and taking an action such as purchasing or wishlisting,” for participating developers. 

In true con fashion, LudaNarra mimics the format of an in-person event with “game booths,” a curated collection of games on Stream’s storefront, event-exclusive demos, a “main stage” livestream of speakers and panelists, and a Steam Sale.

Its 2020 event saw nearly one million attendees and a 29 percent increase in traffic to the exhibited games’ store pages. On its website, it details that 870,000 unique viewers visited the event page, game wishlists increased an average of 5,000,  “game booths” (store pages) averaged 52,000 visitors and concurrent exhibitor viewers peaked at 5,000, averaging at 2,500.

There is no registration for those who would like to attend, as it is a free online event. To participate, head to Steam from April 23 to 26. To submit a game or register as a speaker or panelist, head on over to the official website. Submissions will close on Feb. 5, 2021.