He’ll have you believe he is the original narrative designer, the man who brought the notion of narrative design to video games through the somewhat overlooked but rather successful game Company of Heroes (2006). Well the stand-alone expansion to it, Opposing Fronts (2007), as a junior doing his first job in a major studio. He has numerous arguments for this, such as that he apparently wrote the position description after having talked to the lead, but there are three major problems with his claim.
- The aspects of the role were not really what we consider Narrative Design by the modern definitions – it was more of a secondary writer position.
- The role of actual narrative design is widely recognized as having being practiced by different individuals under different titles and the official title only came about as game design expanded to the point where more and more specialist roles are required.
- Matthew Toner was credited as the Narrative Designer for RIFTS: Promise of Power (2005)
This trend of self-mythologizing and over promising to an almost comical degree has come to define Dinehart’s behaviour throughout the entire saga. Since this entry is used as a reference, and the sagas continue – this entry will be updated as necessary, with information being shuffled around for easier parsing.
Background
It is difficult to be sure of a lot about Stephen’s background due to his tendency to stretch truth or just outright fabricate information as park of marketing, but there do appear to be some clear details.
He spent his youth in a variety of locations including Chicago, Lake Geneva, Florida and an unspecified Cherokee reservation. In his youth he developed a passion for games, particularly Gamma World and he did study them formally (and was a David Lynch Scholarship student) before getting jobs on the Constantine game (unpaid internship with a thank you credit) and eventually broke into the video game industry.
Since then he has shifted around a lot, claiming participation on many projects with unclear credentials to it and shifted from games to theme parks to tabletop games to now teaching Film and Animation as an Assistant Professor at University of Tampa.1Meet Stephen Dinehart, Assistant Professor, University of Tampa https://www.ut.edu/directory/dinehart-stephen
Wonderfilled Inc
A company established in Wisconsin by Stephen Dinehart, it is the successor to Wonderfilled Limited – a Florida company established by the same for his contracting on theme park and related gigs. It maintains two web sites.
The corporate site presents it as a folio for consulting services though seems to mix in Dinehart’s salary work at Evermore Park, some unspecified and uncredited work of Rovio and the publishing of GiantLands as three equal projects.
The store page, WFD Games, which uses the framework originally created for TSR Games (archive), is used primarily to sell GiantLands and provide promises of big things to come. The site was in fact, so closely matched that at the time of the changeover, TSR branding remained.2My Twitter (8 July 2021) https://twitter.com/wincenworks/status/1413027319589924873
TSR LLC
Dinehart’s actual role in TSR is unclear. It is clear that until July 2021 he was the one primarily handling their social media, graphic design and branding. At the time he claimed to be the CCO (Chief Creative “Office”)3My Twitter (27 July 2021) https://twitter.com/wincenworks/status/1419987747696091143 and until his Narrative Designer site went down at the end of July 2022, it provided a summary that implied Dinehart considered himself pivotal in the “revival” – even the “creator”. 4Narrative Designer – Samples (Archived 2 December 2021) https://web.archive.org/web/20211202224552/https://narrativedesigner.com/samples
Transphobia
While he is no more reactionary than Justin LaNasa and his inner circle – he also was the one who started launched the infamous “You’re disgusting” tweet at a trans woman interrogating his actual stance. He then went on to defend this stance with claiming people were bots or “foamers” sent by Wizards of the Coast, then that online people were not “real”.
Importantly, he has never retracted on this and did more or less double down on it from time to time.5My Twitter (15 July 2021) https://twitter.com/wincenworks/status/1415466675189653506 (Comment deleted off the original Facebook Post)
Oh and just for the record, he was against marriage equality too.6My Twitter (16 July 2021) https://twitter.com/wincenworks/status/1415941417973665792
Wikipedia
Previously Stephen Dinehart enjoyed a substantial presence on Wikipedia – however it that came to an end when, after a particularly comical attempt to change the entire entry of Narrative Design to be entirely about himself – following investigation, it was discovered that the page was 1. insufficiently important and 2. likely made entirely by Stephen using sockpuppet accounts to avoid Wikipedia’s conflict of interest rules. The page and many of the other pages he created were deleted.
Web3
Amongst other things, Dinehart is a big advocate for NFTs – not just as artworks but also apparently at the tickets to this theoretical theme park that GiantLands is going to launch.7David Flor (@BrainClouds)‘s Twitter (21 February 2022) https://twitter.com/BrainClouds/status/1495524680190545921
Presently there is a GiantLands page on OpenSea which is trying to sell NFTs of the cover art, and a random artwork by an artist who has previously expressed that he wants nothing further to do with the project. It has a creator fee of 10% attached to it, and Dinehart has confirmed that the artists will see none of it.8My Twitter (20 Feb 2022) https://twitter.com/wincenworks/status/1495317072301428739
Dubious Credentials
Due to my unsolicited commitment to investigating and documenting all of this, I have come across that Stephen’s claims to claiming to be the inventor of Narrative Design are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to his claims of extraordinary but otherwise unsubstantiated credentials.
There is a definite trend of escalation – a junior position gets escalated to a lead position, having worked early on and getting let go, is transformed into being the top lead figure. Oddly also, despite his claims Narrative Design is above writing, he often changes his title to “writer”.
(❌ are ones that are removed, ☹️ are still remaining at last check, verified credentials have 👍🏻)
Video Games
I want to preface this section by pointing out that video game is a pretty terrible industry for crediting – many studios have rules that you need to meet specific requirements to be credited, and sometimes you get stuck with an unhinged group who withhold credits to punish you for not liking being fired.
| Claimed Credential | Status/Conclusion |
|---|---|
| Unpaid and unsolicited volunteer assistant on Constantine (2005) 👍🏻 | He has a “special thanks” in the credits (Mobygames) and was an unsolicited, unpaid assistant according to now deleted tweets. |
| Producer on Constantine (2005) Added himself on Wikipedia as “Francone” ❌ Claims title of “Production assistant” on IMDB ☹️ | It appears he helped some unspecified people who touched a few projects at this time. |
| Writer on Company of Heroes (2006) Added himself on Wikipedia as “Francone” ❌ Claims title of “contributing writer” on IMDB ☹️ | He was hired after the release of the initial game so made no meaningful contributions to the base game. (Mobygames and Dineharts own claims) |
| Narrative Design on Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts (2007) 👍🏻 | Confirmed (Mobygames), though this was a junior position writing scripts for barks, cutscenes etc. He did not invent the discipline of Narrative Design as he often claims. |
| Lead Writer on Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts (2007) Add himself as “Writer” on Wikipedia as “Francone” ☹️ Claims title of “Lead Writer” on IMDB ☹️ | Presumably this is to buff up his credentials since the junior position of Narrative Design on a successful game wasn’t good enough. |
| Additional Design on Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor (2009)👍🏻 | Confirmed in credits (Mobygames) |
| Main Designer/Writer on Company of Heroes: Tales of Valor (2009) Added himself on Wikipedia as “Francone” ❌ Claims title of “Writer” on IMDB ☹️ | Dinehart shared “additional design” with 5 other people, who were all beneath the 7 designers, 2 senior designers and 3 main designers. (Mobygames) |
| Day 1 Special Thanks for Narrative Design on F.E.A.R. 3 (2011)👍🏻 | Dinehart received a Day 1 Special Thanks for Narrative Design (Mobygames) |
| Writer on F.E.A.R. 3 (2011) Added himself on Wikipedia as “Francone” ❌ Claims title of “Writer” on IMDB ☹️ | In an interview with DeadDomain he revealed he was let go early in the creation of the game, and it appears they hired a replacement Narrative Designer (Cory Lanham) |
| Production Assistant on The Matrix Online (2005) Claims title of “Production Assistant” on IMDB ☹️ | Unable to find any confirmation of anything, it appears this was another project where he was an unpaid assistant (as per Constantine) |
| Production Assistant on Batman Begins (2005) Claims title of “Production Assistant” on IMDB ☹️ | Unable to find any confirmation of anything, it appears this was another project where he was an unpaid assistant (as per Constantine) |
| Production Intern on The Lord of the Rings: The Battle for Middle-Earth II (2006) 👍🏻 Claims title of “Production Assistant” on IMDB ☹️ | Appears he upgraded himself from “intern” according to Credits (Mobygames) |
| Narrative Design on Warhammer 40,000: Dawn of War – Soulstorm (2008) 👍🏻 Claims title of “Writer” on IMDB ☹️ Oddly he is the only crew member listed that I can find. | He did work on Narrative Design in this one, and there is no writer credited, so it’s not clear how accurate his self promotion is. (Mobygames) |
| Writer on Marvel Heroes (2013) Claims title of “Writer” on IMDB ☹️ | This was a games-as-a-service product that went for 3 plus years, so he could have been a late addition but does not appear in the credits (Mobygames, 2015 Credits on YouTube) |
| Writer on Prey (2017) Claims title of “Writer” on IMDB ☹️ | From what I’ve gathered, Dinehart did work on the Prey sequel that Human Head Studios had in the works but was taken off them when 3D Realms went bankrupt. Dinehart appears to feel this entitles him to claim to be a key writer of the game independently made by Arkane Studios. |
Awards
This one does have some minor overlap with his claims to working on games, and he claims so many of these – with some of them being so old that it’s hard to determine what they even would have been. So I’m focusing on the industry awards that are verifiable.
While there are certainly variations in standards for who qualifies, and situations where people want to clarify why you’re not metioned, the industry ettiquete is be very cautious claiming anything where you’re not in the credits.
| Award claimed | Investigation |
|---|---|
| Golden Ticket for Best New Family Attraction: “Mario Kart: Bowser’s Challenge” Claimed for September 2023 on his Linkedin ☹️ | Golden Tickets do not include individualized casting, for winners, at least they didn’t in 2023. Dinehart’s Linkedin used to list him working from 2017 – 18, meaning five years elapsed between when he left and an award was issued. |
| THEA Award for Technical Innovation: “Mario Kart: Koopa’s Challenge” Claimed for 2021 on his Linkedin ☹️ Claimed for 2022 on his University of Tampa profile page ☹️ Claimed on the Wonderfilled X/Twitter account and his personal account ❌ | THEA Awards are publicly available and, after checking multiple times, I cannot find Dinehart’s name on any of the credits for the 28th THEA awards. This is probably because according to his Linkedin (historically) he only worked on the project in 2017 – 2018 |
| THEA Award for Theme Park Land: Super Nintendo World Claimed for 2021 on his Linkedin ☹️ Claimed for 2022 on his University of Tampa profile page ☹️ | THEA Awards are publicly available and, after checking multiple times, I cannot find Dinehart’s name on any of the credits for the 28th THEA awards. This is probably because according to his Linkedin (historically) he only worked on the project in 2017 – 2018 |
| THEA Award for Water Park: (Specified) Claimed for 2019 on his University of Tampa profile page ☹️ | This appears to be a claim for the Volcano |
| ELANS – “Best Writing in a Game Production” Nominee (2007) Claimed on his Linkedin Profile ☹️ Claimed on his University of Tampa profile page ☹️ | This one is tricky since the CAEAA hasn’t kept good records for the Elan nominations – probably because the criteria for nomination in 2007 were: 1. Product is made by a Canadian company; and 2. Someone submits a valid nomination Also it appears that the nomination was for Company of Heroes (2006), as the Opposing Fronts award for innovation was allocated in 2008. Dinehart didn’t work on the base Company of Heroes game. |
| Game of the Year, Ten Ton Hammer (2013) Claimed on his Linkedin Profile ☹️ Claimed on his University of Tampa profile page. ☹️ | This appears to be claiming the award that Marvel Heroes was assigned… which again, Dinehart does not appear in the credits of. |
| Game of the Year, PC Mag (2007) Claimed on his Linkedin Profile ☹️ Claimed on his University of Tampa profile page ☹️ | This appears to be a reference to Company of Heroes (which Dinehart again, did not work on) winning the 2006 Game of the Year award from PC Gamer Magazine. (Which was given out in 2007) |
- 1Meet Stephen Dinehart, Assistant Professor, University of Tampa https://www.ut.edu/directory/dinehart-stephen
- 2My Twitter (8 July 2021) https://twitter.com/wincenworks/status/1413027319589924873
- 3My Twitter (27 July 2021) https://twitter.com/wincenworks/status/1419987747696091143
- 4Narrative Designer – Samples (Archived 2 December 2021) https://web.archive.org/web/20211202224552/https://narrativedesigner.com/samples
- 5My Twitter (15 July 2021) https://twitter.com/wincenworks/status/1415466675189653506 (Comment deleted off the original Facebook Post)
- 6My Twitter (16 July 2021) https://twitter.com/wincenworks/status/1415941417973665792
- 7David Flor (@BrainClouds)‘s Twitter (21 February 2022) https://twitter.com/BrainClouds/status/1495524680190545921
- 8My Twitter (20 Feb 2022) https://twitter.com/wincenworks/status/1495317072301428739