March '09 Presentation: Dive into indie business

Once again people behind the Finnish game industry gathered to listen to IGDA Finland's Presentations, this time taking place at Diana-auditorio, Helsinki. Followed by the monthly Gathering event at Cuba Cafe, the presentation was held on March 10th and it was organized in association with Remedy Entertainment. The inspiring line-up consisted of Paavo Perttula from Tweehouse, Petri Purho from Kloonigames and Jani Kahrama from Secret Exit.  There were 13 were new visitors in a total of 97 participants, more than filling up every seat! Paavo Perttula presented their business plans for a social-interaction-oriented MMO game targeted for young audiences. Having offices in Helsinki and Santa Monica in California, Tweehouse secures their revenue sources by offering design and implementation services and live services alongside their own game development. They are developing their own multiplayer platform called Trunktech specifically designed for developing, deploying and managing massively multiplayer applications. Paavo also showed us their intuitive map editor which can be used to easily create large, interactive game worlds and to publish them in realtime as well.

Next up was Petri Purho from Kloonigames and the Post Mortem of Crayon Physics Deluxe. Petri begun his presentation with a relaxed and humoristic touch and told about his life before original Crayon Physics. In 2006 he got into prototyping game development which meant creating one new game every week. Petri told us this worked well for him and he started publishing a new game each month on his blog at kloonigames.com. In June 2007 he created Crayon Physics in five days which sparked so much attention and interest that Petri decided to make a better version of it. Crayon Physics Deluxe prototype video gained fame on Youtube and spawned a number of clones, both commercial and non-commercial ones. Crayon Physics Deluxe won the Seamus McNally Grand Prize in 2008.

The third presentation was given by Jani Kahrama from Secret Exit on indie game development and their experiences with it. Secret Exit started off with two people but hired two more when they received funding. They told us that the amoung of competition in indie development is huge and the marketing opportunities are lacking. Good timing is essential and to push the sales the developers should aim to remove all obstacles at the same time as opposed to one after another. Jani explained that their game Zen Bound got lots of positive feedback but the public visibility was low. They did make the front page feature and that multiplied their sales by four. The lesson in the presentation was to advertise on all available channels at the same time and to wait for sales increase and then ride on the sales with, for example, lowering the price just as the peak is beginning to fall off. Zen Bound won the IMGA award “Excellence in 3D”.

Q&A session followed the presentations. After the presentations people headed off across the street to have a party at the IGDA Finland Gathering in Cuba Cafe!

April Gathering: Tuesday 7th

Ahoy game industry pros and hangarounds, Interested in the latest game industry buzz and news from GDC09 along with good company? The best place to catch the latest news is to join the IGDA Gathering which will be held at Cuba Café on the 7th of April. The sun always shines at Cuba and they also have a great selection of drinks. Remember that IGDA members will get a good discount on mojitos and tap products!

We would also like to remind you that the current rounds of both EU and Nordic Game development funding will close in April. Don’t miss the deadlines! Click the links to find further information:

EU: http://ec.europa.eu/information_society/media/producer/develop/interactive/index_en.htm NORDIC: http://nordicgameprogram.org/?id=23

IGDA FINLAND APRIL GATHERING Place: Cuba Café, Erottajankatu 4, 00120 Helsinki (map: http://igda.fi/?page_id=5) Time: Tuesday, 7th of April, doors open at 19:00

March Gathering - Presentation Afterparty

[singlepic=407,320,240,,center] Crowds were flocking in from the preceeding IGDA presentation just around the block to fill the Cuba Café nearly to the brim on March 10th. It was great to see so many faces from the presentation showing up at the Cuba to have great time with the game industry collegues.

In total, a good 153 of you turned up of which 17 were new visitors.

[singlepic=412,320,240,,center]

Even the cold and damp weather outside wasn't enough to bring the mood down and the chattering went on for the late hours. It was perhaps no wonder that the evening's hot potato was the energetic speeches given by Petri Purho and the folks from Tweehouse and Secret Exit.

Check the rest of the snapshots at the gallery or at Flickr. Stay tuned for the next gathering on April 7th at Cuba Café!

February Gathering: There's something in the air

[singlepic=363,320,240,,center]

A cold weather was to be endured as the developers found their way to Cuba Café in Helsinki on February 10th. Fortunately the good atmosphere and drinks at the venue kept people warm and cozy, showing no signs of the frisky wind outside.

This time around, 8 new visitors found their way to the event, with the total number hitting a good 99.

[singlepic=386,320,240,,center]

Alongside the friskiness the gathering had a touch of fresh air as we got to welcome new Recoil Games' developers from abroad and our guest from Denmark. Hopefully you had a good time and you'll join us again at the next event!

As a rare occurrence there were also multiple startups also interested in the general atmosphere and looking for possible business opportunities. A great night to do so as all of the biggest Finnish game companies were well represented at the scene.

The evening progressed well until the small hours of wednesday. As always, everyone seemed to have a pleasant time. It was nice to see that you don't need to be a native to survive the cold! ;-)

[slideshow=33]

You can check out the rest of the snaps at the gallery or alternatively at Flickr.

Get your calendars out (or on) because the next gathering will be held at Cuba Café on March 10th! Further information will be released shortly after. See you there! ;-)

IGDA Finland Presentations and Gathering on 10th of March

IGDA Finland in association with Remedy will spoil you on Tuesday March the 10th! Besides gathering we will also arrange IGDA Finland Presentations session with a kick-ass line-up. Be sure not to miss it! GDC09 is coming closer with thinner line-up of Finnish speakers. If you do not have a ticket to GDC there is no need to worry because we’ll bring the most interesting presentations to you for FREE! Finnish game development scene is booming and IGDA Finland Presentations will be showcasing three excellent games: Zenbound, Tweehouse and Crayon Physics Deluxe.

Jani Kahrama (Secret Exit): Zenbound Secret Exit just got Zenbound out through iPhone App store. Zenbound also won the IMGA award “Excellence in 3D”. Jani Kahrama will talk about the development of Zenbound and iPhone gaming.

Petri Purho (Kloonigames): Crayon Physics Deluxe Petri Purho won Seamus McNally Grand Prize last year and is going to talk about Crayon Physics Deluxe and indie development at GDC09. This is your chance to hear the presentation before the masses!

Paavo Perttula (Tweehouse): Tweehouse The third speaker is Paavo Perttula from Tweehouse. Tweehouse MMO just got 350 000 € from Tekes. It is a MMO startup focusing on social play for kids. Paavo will talk about their unusual business model and technical solutions.

IGDA Finland Presentations session will be held at Diana-auditorio from 17.30 to 19. The presentations will be in English and no pre-registration is needed. After that it is IGDA Gathering as usual at Cuba Café across the street. See you there!

IGDA FINLAND PRESENTATIONS Place: Diana-auditorio, Erottajankatu 5, 00120 Helsinki Time: Tuesday, 10th of March, 17:30 – 19:00

IGDA FINLAND MARCH GATHERING Place: Cuba Café, Erottajankatu 4, 00120 Helsinki (map) Time: Tuesday, 10th of March, doors open at 19:00