slides & audio(45 MB)
From ambitious restaurateurs and charming nannies to Victorian families and virtual islanders, the casual games category has rapidly evolved from jewel-swapping puzzles to an array of story worlds replete with quirky characters and their everyday struggles.
Whereas three years ago characters may have been a controversial afterthought, today they are undisputed part of the formula for a hit casual game. Where is all this emphasis on story taking the business?
In this lecture Kenny Shea Dinkin, PlayFirst’s creative director will first reprise key arguments from two previous lectures on the use of character and story in casual games and then, using Diner Dash: Hometown Hero Gourmet Edition as a test bed, he will explore the ways in which narrative and character development may prove to be our best and brightest on-ramp to genuinely connecting casual players with new roads to monetization – including serialized narrative, subscriptions, multi-play and micro-transactions. Kenny will draw upon character development fundamentals from other, more established media to explore what makes inventing casual characters a unique challenge. He will extend material from recent talks on this subject by addressing new questions facing the industry: How can casual characters help evolve the $20 business model? What makes a character powerful enough to outgrow a game and become part of an imagined community? What has PlayFirst learned as Flo and her Diner Dash friends have moved into multiplayer and micro-transactions and serialized sales? What principles should game designers, producers, marketers and artists be thinking about to keep a character genuine and well positioned for the long, faceted road ahead?
Delivered at Casual Connect Amsterdam, February 2008
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Kenny Dinkin (email)
As Vice President and Executive Producer, Kenny Dinkin oversees the PlayFirst games portfolio, including content acquisition, creative direction, and game production. Kenny brings nearly a decade of success in consumer technology where he has designed, produced and directed design on a wide array of award-winning consumer products and interactive platforms. Prior to joining PlayFirst, Kenny was the worldwide head of product design for The Learning Company/Broderbund, where he was creative lead for a portfolio of premiere childrens software brands, including Reader Rabbit, Carmen Sandiego and KidPix as well as licensed properties such as Scooby-Doo, Strawberry Shortcake, Batman, Powerpuff Girls and Arthur. A visual artist, writer, musician, game designer and avid comic book reader, Kenny was also the co-creator of the critically acclaimed, top-selling brand The ClueFinders. Kenny earned a Bachelors degree in History from Brown University and an M.F.A. in Fine Arts from the University of Pennsylvanias School of Design.
