February 18 & 19 (Monday & Tuesday)
Room 2014, West Hall

Through new user interfaces and more dedicated resources to the segment, casual games have become more advanced, and advanced games have become more accessible. The game industry as a whole is making clear efforts to appeal to the vast population beyond core gamers. At the Casual Games Summit, professionals and experts discuss hot topics in the casual games sector such as: keys to making a simple yet addictive game, originality and innovation, international opportunities, casual games in the console sector.

[See Casual Games Summit sessions]

Casual Games Summit Advisors

Kenny Shea Dinkin
Vice President & Creative Director
PlayFirst

As one of the first management team members and executive producer at PlayFirst, Kenny directed content strategy and oversaw game production for the first 24 PlayFirst titles. Now as vice president and creative director, he drives the portfolio’s aesthetic considerations guiding game design, art, audio, character, and story development for all PlayFirst games, which include DINER DASH, CHOCOLATIER, WEDDING DASH and DREAM CHRONICLES. Kenny brings over a decade of success in designing, directing, and producing 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 children's 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 bachelor's degree in History from Brown University and an M.F.A. in Fine Arts from the University of Pennsylvania's School of Design.

 

Steve Meretzky
Senior Designer
Blue Fang

Steve joined Blue Fang, developer of the bestselling ZOO TYCOON games, in late 2006. Steve has been designing games since 1982, starting with the legendary adventure game company, Infocom. His titles there included PLANETFALL, THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY (a collaboration with Douglas Adams), LEATHER GODDESSES OF PHOBOS, and ZORK ZERO. He co-founded Boffo Games, where he created HODJ 'N' PODJ and THE SPACE BAR. He was creative content director for five years for the tournament skill game site WorldWinner.com, where he continues to serve as an advisor. Prior to joining Blue Fang, Steve was lead designer for Floodgate Entertainment, and has also done consulting work for Activision, Blizzard, Disney, EA, Harmonix, Hasbro, Legend, and many others. Steve is a former member of the Board of Directors of the IGDA; he co-founded Post Mortem, the monthly gathering of Boston-area game developers; and he is a co-organizer of the annual Game Designers Workshop.

 

Dave Rohrl
Freelance Producer/Designer

Dave is one of the most experienced and respected producer/designers in the casual game space. Over the last seven years, Dave has a unique mix of experience and skills that make him highly qualified to offer insight into many areas of the industry—he has worked in the PC casual space in developer, publisher, and portal operator roles and he has a strong track record as a game designer, producer, and business leader. Among Dave’s accomplishments in the casual space are conceiving and launching Pogo To Go, Pogo.com’s downloadable game channel; founding and managing PopCap Games’ San Francisco development studio; and creating some of Pogo’s best known and loved products including WORD WHOMP, TUMBLE BEES, and CASINO ISLAND. In all, Dave has produced and designed more than 20 published casual games and served as executive producer on another eight. He is currently working as a freelance producer/designer for multiple clients including Electronic Arts’ SIMS label. Prior to his work in the casual game space, Dave enjoyed a successful career as a producer/designer of edutainment titles for THE LEARNING COMPANY.

Casual Games Summit Sessions

Day 1: CASUAL GAMES TODAY
Monday (February 18, 2008)   10:00am — 6:00pm

Intro to Casual Games (Part I)
Time: 10-11am

• Definition
• History
• Audience demographics
• Design principles - Nick Fortugno (Rebel Monkey)
• Look & feel principles (art, audio, writing)
• Overview of tools/engines - David Fox (iWin)

Coffee Break - 11-11:15am

Intro to Casual Games (Part II)
Time: 11:15am-12pm

• Historically successful business models, by platform - James Gwertzman (PopCap Games)
• Roles in the value chain - James Gwertzman (PopCap Games)
• Major players in the category

Keynote: "The Promise of Casual Games" - John Welch (PlayFirst)
Time: 12-12:30pm

Lunch - 12:30-2pm

Business Today
Time: 2-4pm

• Web Downloadables
  Speaker(s): Paul Thelen (Big Fish Games Studios)
  Time: 2-2:30pm
  Are web downloads going away? How are the alternatives to try-and-buy working? Will web downloads continue to be the “lead SKU” with other markets following in the footsteps of successful downloadable games, or is that changing?
• Console Downloads & Derivative Markets
  Speaker(s): Edward Allard (PopCap Games)
  Time: 2:30-3pm
  XBLA paved the way; now the newer consoles want a piece of the action. What should content providers expect? How do you design for this market?
• Advertising/Advergaming
  Speaker(s): Kate Connally (AddictingGames)
  Time: 3-3:30pm
  Can you compete with really free?
• Business Today Panel
  Moderator: Dave Rohrl
  Panelists: Edward Allard (PopCap Games), Kate Connally (AddictingGames, MTV Networks), Paul Thelen (Big Fish Games Studios)
  Time: 3:30-4pm

Coffee Break - 4-4:15pm

Design Today
Time: 4:15-6pm

• Design Today Panel
  Moderator: Kenny Shea Dinkin (PlayFirst)
  Panelists: Ellen Guon Beeman (Carbonated Games - Microsoft Casual Games), Nick Fortugno (Rebel Monkey), Juan Gril (Joju Games), Daniel James (Three Rings), Todd Kerpelman (EA/Pogo), Steve Meretzky (Blue Fang)
  What are the three most important principles about designing for each business model. Include examples of games that did this well and did this poorly on each business model.
  
• Web Downloads
• Ad-Supported
• Subscriptions
• Console Downloads
• Micro-transactions
• Mobile
• Skill Games
  
• The Year in Casual Game Design
  Speaker(s): Nick Fortugno (Rebel Monkey) & Juan Gril (Joju Games)
  More 3-in-a-row, a gazillion hidden-object games, and a couple of tycoon games. Was there any innovation in casual game design last year? There sure was! While most of it has been incremental, there have been quite a few innovative ideas thrown out there by brave developers. And even those small incremental innovations are making casual games more interesting than ever. In this session we are going to look some of the most successful casual games of the year and dissect them.
  

 

Day 2: CASUAL GAMES TOMORROW
Tuesday (February 19, 2008)   10:00am — 6:00pm

Keynote: "The Changing Face of Casual Games" - Chris Early (Microsort Casual Games)
Time: 10:05-10:35am

Redefining the Casual Game (Part I)
Time: 10:35-11am

• Filling the Void
  Speaker(s): Arthur K Humphrey (Last Day of Work)
  There’s a growing number of games that fall into the space between the historically casual and the historically hardcore. VIRTUAL VILLAGERS, CHOCOLATIER, GEOMETRY WARS, etc. has shown that there really is an audience in the between-space, but who are they, what do they want, and how do you make money in this space?
  

Coffee Break - 11-11:15am

Redefining the Casual Game (Part II)
Time: 11:15am-12:30pm

• The New Demographics of Casual Games
  Speaker(s): Gabe Zichermann (rmbr.com)
  Time: 11:15-11:40am
  Kids (is Club Penguin a casual game site?). Oldsters (is Wii SPORTSports a casual game?). Aging Gen-Xers (is transitioning from hardcore to casual going to become a predictable life-phase?). How do you reach these new markets? Are these markets converging, or is this a splintering of casual games into many niches?
• Avoiding Hardcore’s Mistakes
  Speaker(s): Eric Zimmerman (Gamelab)
  Time: 11:40am-12:05pm
  The tragedy of the commons (how to avoid a content glut). Only focusing on your best customers and over time creating an industry that supports only "hardcore casual" players. A "production values race" that constantly raises the bar of what constitutes a marketable game, until no one is profitable any more. How can we balance innovation with supporting our loyal customers? Tie back into the day one keynote, are we "keeping the promise of casual games" or breaking the promise?
• Redefining the Casual Game Panel
  Moderator: Steve Meretzky (Blue Fang)
  Panelists: Arthur K Humphrey (Last Day of Work), Gabe Zichermann (rmbr.com), Eric Zimmerman (Gamelab)
  Time: 12:05-12:30pm

Lunch - 12:30-2pm

The Markets of Tomorrow
Time: 2-4pm

• New Patterns of Play
  Speaker(s): Chris Houtzer (RealNetworks Inc.)
  Time: 2-2:30pm
  Casual MMOs, community, UGC, Facebook, casual gaming "on the go," etc. What are the new ways that people are playing? Who are they? How big are these markets?
• New Opportunities for Monetization
  Speaker(s): Daniel James (Three Rings)
  Time: 2:30-3pm
  Given the new play patterns that are emerging or that are expected to emerge, what are the opportunities for new ways to monetize these players … micro-transactions, subscriptions, advertising, etc. What are the extra costs, like higher customer care costs, that accompany these new revenue streams? How do these opportunities blend with the download model to create a hybrid revenue stream?
• Funding Models
  Speaker(s): Margaret Wallace (Rebel Monkey)
  Time: 3-3:30pm
  What are alternate monetization strategies for getting your game (or company) funded? How will the VC money that’s poring into casual games change the landscape?
• Markets of Tomorrow Panel
  Moderator: Kenny Shea Dinkin (PlayFirst)
  Panelists: Chris Houtzer (RealNetworks Inc.), Daniel James (Three Rings), Margaret Wallace (Rebel Monkey)
  Time: 3:30-4pm

Coffee Break - 4-4:15pm

Visions of the Future
Time: 4:15-6pm

• Storytelling in Casual Games
  Speaker(s): Kenny Shea Dinkin (PlayFirst)
• The Growing Asian Market
  Speaker(s): James Gwertzman (PopCap Games)
  How to increase the chances that your game will successfully cross the ocean.
• The Future of Casual Games Press Coverage
  Speaker(s): Joel Brodie (Gamezebo), Dean Takahashi (San Jose Mercury News)
• Visions of the Future Panel
  Moderator: Dave Rohrl
  Panelists: Joel Brodie (Gamezebo), James Gwertzman (PopCap Games), Kenny Shea Dinkin (PlayFirst)
  What are the next big things? What’ll we be talking about in two years that we’re not yet even thinking about?

Register for the Casual Games Summit

To register for the Casual Games Summit, you will need to purchase an All Access Pass or Summits and Tutorials Pass.