slides & audio(55 MB)
From ambitious restaurateurs and daring detectives 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 including a story may have been a controversial afterthought, today it is an undisputed part of the formula for a hit casual game. But are we any good at it?
In this lecture Kenny Shea Dinkin, PlayFirst’s creative director, will discuss some important and often under-explored areas of game design that can be the secret weapons for good storytelling in casual games:
· Dialogue and script writing
· Character design
· Music and sound design
· In-game upgrades
Drawing from lessons learned working with some of our industry’s top game designers and art directors while overseeing game design on such hit casual properties as the Diner Dash® series, Dream Chronicles™, Chocolatier™, Wedding Dash® and The NightShift Code™, Kenny will take a more in-depth look at topics he’s touched upon in prior lectures on narrative and storytelling including: immersion, integration, the fourth wall, naturalism, closure, starting deep, minimalism (doing less with more, amplification through simplification), thoughtful sound design and music direction, obeying the laws of a story world, and what he calls “imaginosity”. Kenny will also talk through some war stories and outline a set of tools to use for creative direction including: how to set vision, how to hold a productive story development meeting, how to edit a script in half without bumming out your writer and how a good art director is a storyteller’s best friend.
Delivered at Casual Connect Seattle, July 2008
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Kenny Shea Dinkin (email)
Kenny Shea Dinkin serves as Vice President and Creative Director of Playfirst, Inc. where he drives the game portfolio’s aesthetic sensibilities directing game design, art, audio, character, and story development for all PlayFirst games including the inventive, top-selling Diner Dash, Chocolatier, Dream Chronicles & Nightshift Code brands. As one of the first management team members at PlayFirst, he oversaw game production as Executive Producer for the first 24 PlayFirst Titles. Kenny brings over 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 director for a portfolio of premiere children’s software brands, including Reader Rabbit, Carmen Sandiego, and KidPix as well as licensed properties including 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 Bachelor’s degree in History from Brown University and an M.F.A. in Visual Arts from the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Design.
