Casual Games Summit

Sessions | Speakers | Advisors

Monday & Tuesday, March 23-24, 2009
Room 135, North Hall

The game industry as a whole is making clear efforts to appeal to the vast population beyond core gamers. As more and more players enter the casual space, competition in some parts of the casual game industry are becoming more and more crowded. This year’s program will evaluate opportunities and challenges of Red Ocean (established markets, audiences, and players) and Blue Ocean (newly recognized or created markets addressing new segments) approaches in casual games, looking at hot topics like publisher’s funding criteria, optimizing the portal, the state of monetization, common design pitfalls, connecting people through casual games, and emerging platforms and business models. Chart your course, take a deep dive and ask yourself: which sea are you sailing on?

Highlighted Sessions:

• Games that Connect People
  David Rohrl (Zynga), Hugh de Loayza (Electronic Arts\Pogo), Kenny Rosenblatt (Arkadium), Jim Greer (Kongregate), Nathan Fahrenthold (iWin)
• Business in a Red Ocean: Surviving the Squeeze
  Speakers: Wade Tinney (Large Animal Games), David Rohrl (Casual Games - Zynga), Dan Prigg (RealGames, RealNetworks), Ofer Leidner (Oberon Media)
• Red Ocean or Blue Ocean?
  Speakers: John Welch, Ofer Leidner (Oberon Media), Daniel Bernstein Sandlot Games), Dan Prigg (RealGames, RealNetworks), Sebastien de Halleux (Playfish)
• Designing for the Blue Ocean
  Speakers: Kenny Shea Dinkin (PlayFirst), Jane Jensen (Oberon), Brian Goble (Hip Soft LLC), Margaret Wallace (Rebel Monkey, Inc.), Jason Kapalka (PopCap Games), Nick Fortugno (Rebel Monkey), Todd Kerpelman (EA/Pogo), Chris Early (MS/Windows Gaming), John Welch, Dan Prigg (RealGames, RealNetworks), Steve Meretzky (Playdom)

To view all Casual Games Summit sessions, click here.

Casual Games Summit Reception

Join the movers and shakers driving the growth of the industry!
Network with attendees, speakers and sponsors immediately following the Summit.
Monday, March 23
6-8pm
Lower Lobby, North Hall

Casual Games Summit Advisors:

Kenny Shea Dinkin
Vice President & Creative Director
PlayFirst

As PlayFirst’s Vice President and Creative Director, Kenny oversees the game portfolio's creative and aesthetic considerations including game design, art, audio, character, and story development. Before becoming Creative Director, Kenny was PlayFirst’s VP and Executive Producer where he directed content strategy and oversaw creative direction and game production for the first 24 PlayFirst titles, including the award-winning Diner Dash®, Chocolatier®, and Dream Chronicles® series. Kenny brings over a dozen years 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 and Carmen Sandiego, as well as licensed properties such as Scooby-Doo, Batman and the Powerpuff Girls. 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.

Dave Rohrl
Director of Game Design, Casual Games
Zynga

Dave Rohrl is currently working as the Director of Game Design for Casual Games at Zynga, the leading creator of games for social network. Dave has been producing and designing games for the last 15 years and has been totally focused on the casual market since 2000. A veteran of Pogo, PopCap, and The Learning Company, he has led design and development on more than 40 published games including such well-known casual titles as Word Whomp and Tumble Bees, and has served as managing producer on a dozen more.  Dave also founded Pogo's downloadable game business and PopCap's San Francisco development studio. And he dresses very, very casually.

Steve Meretzky
VP of Game Design
Playdom

It’s hard to have a serious conversation about gaming without mention of Steve. It’s also hard to have a humorous conversation about gaming without mention of him. Steve’s contributions to the industry began in 1981 at the legendary adventure game company Infocom, where his titles included Planetfall, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (a collaboration with Douglas Adams), Leather Goddesses of Phobos and Zork Zero. Prior to joining Playdom, Steve co-founded Boffo Games and held senior creative posts at Blue Fang Games, Floodgate Entertainment and WorldWinner.com. Over his prolific career, Steve also consulted with teams at Activision, Blizzard, Disney, EA, Harmonix, Hasbro and Legend, to name a few. A former board member of IGDA, Steve is co-organizer of the annual Casual Games Summit at the GDC and the annual Game Designers Workshop. Steve holds a BS in construction project management from MIT, but otherwise assures us that he did not waste his four years there.

Check back for session and speaker updates!

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