The Modern Audience Conference (MAC) returns to challenge the rise of generic, safe storytelling across games, media, and emerging tech. Supported by Leeds Beckett University, a partner since 2022, this event provides a single source of truth for creators and researchers focused on the future of interactive narrative.
Who: Narrative architects including Ken Levine (BioShock), Yoko Taro (NieR: Automata), and keynote speaker Jeff Gomez (Avatar, Halo).
What: A one-day online conference for those building the future of interactive storytelling who value practical insight over vague innovation chat.
Where: Online only – international by default.
When: Wednesday 20 May 2026 at midday (12:00) UK time.
Why: To push back against “bland”, algorithmic content by surfacing sharper thinking and bolder craft.
We are currently drowning in a sea of safe, safe content. MAC 2026 explores the volatile intersection of theatre, cinema, and live play, moving beyond “buzzword soup” to focus on the human hand in the age of generative media. Sessions specifically address:
AI Environments: Practical applications for franchise architecture and canonicity in AI.
Systemic Design: Balancing authored narrative with the systemic complexity of modern games.
Mass Participation: The psychology of turning 80,000 strangers in a stadium into a single gaming organism via their phones.
Digital Subtext: Using the “bully pipeline” to force AI characters into soulful storytelling.
12:00 – Yoko Taro Special Film: The Whys and Wherefores of Yoko Taro – An epistolary masterpiece built from a month-long email correspondence. This slippery and unexpectedly direct film captures a portrait of the legendary NieR creator in real-time.
12:30 – Pinny Grylls and Sam Crane: Theatre in a Hostile Sandbox: Making Grand Theft Hamlet – The story of staging a full Shakespearean production inside the chaos of GTA Online. A look at performing for a live, unpredictable, and often hostile multiplayer audience.
13:40 – Thomas Keane: Human Meaning in the Machine – How to move beyond “prompt and pray” workflows and use the “bully pipeline” to create AI characters with genuine subtext and soulful storytelling.
14:20 – Rachel Hamilton: Can Machines Make Us Feel? – Exploring the emotional gap between human empathy and machine code – from grieving software updates to the paradox of machine – written poetry.
15:00 – Ken Levine: Story, Systems and Surprise – A special interview with the creator of BioShock on balancing linear logic with living systems – plus some behind-the-curtain discussion about his latest project, Judas.
16:00 – Gareth Langley: Games for Crowds – The CEO of Piing discusses mass-participation gaming. Gareth explores how his Manchester-based studio turns thousands of audience members into players, using their phones to drive big-screen action in stadiums and live events.
16:50 – Jeff Gomez Keynote: Collective Journey: Franchise Architecture for a Changing World – Renowned Franchise Architect Jeff Gomez (Avatar, Halo, Pirates of the Caribbean) explains why traditional “hero” narratives are no longer enough. He explores how storytelling must evolve to match the systemic complexity of our modern era.
18:20 – Wrap-up and Closing Sessions – Final thanks followed by a repeat film screening and the “Best of” edit.
19:00 – Conference Close
Tickets are available now for £14.95 at https://modernaudience.org/tickets/
Transmedia Producer at Starlight Runner
Game creator
Game Creator at Ghost Story Games
