IGDA Finland October Gathering with Unity and GameFounders

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9th October was a day of tricks and treats for the game folk in Finland.

October’s IGDA Finland Presentations are now behind us, and they were a success! All 250 tickets were reserved in advance. The theme of the evening was Unity 4, and a few lucky ones even won themselves a full Unity Pro 4.0 license. Just in case you inexplicably missed the event, let’s recap.

Nick Jovic and his merry men from Unity Technologies gave us a taste of the next generation of their platform. Colossal Order’s very own Damien Morello shared his tips and tricks for Unity, and you even get a chance to put your freshly gained knowledge to good use: Antti Lihavainen opened VIOPE’s world wide Game Programming Contest.

What comes to the post-Unity Gathering in Bar Cuba, the words of a fellow attendee sums things up nicely: ”It's a bit crowded.”

Nick Jovic was in the mood for a popquiz, and awarded correct answers with Unity’s t-shirts. We learned, for example, where the company’s main office is situated (San Francisco, for future reference) and where Unity will established their newest office (Berlin, now you know).

The other big thing came from across the Baltic Sea. Kadri Ugand from the Estonian game accelerator GameFounders first greeted us with kind words and then dropped the proverbial bomb: the second round of GameFounders program is now officially open!

Thank you for spending an evening with us! This time the number of attendees in the Gathering went up to 261. See you in November!

IGDA Finland October Gathering with Unity

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October draws near, and so does the next IGDA Finland Gathering. This time we have organized a set of presentations for you to enjoy.

Pre-event: IGDA Finland presentations @ Bulevardi 31, Helsinki The presentations will revolve around Unity, the game development tool we all know and respect. As the launching of Unity4 approaches, we felt it appropriate to venture deeper into the mysteries of this popular software that hit 1 million registered users in April 2012. We have managed to gather an interesting line of speakers. The schedule and topics are as follows:

Speakers: Regional Sales Director Nick Jovic, Unity: Latest News Product Evangelist Russ Morris, Unity: Unity 4 Workflows -- Tips & Tricks Field Engineer Ken Noland, Unity: Inside the Tech - Hidden Gems

Damien Morello, Colossal Order:Unity Engine in a production environment Antti Lihavainen, Viope: Viope Game Programming Contest

PS. If you want to win something cool: please bring your business cards with you! We'll do a draw at the end of the Unity presentations.

Time: 9.10.2012 at 17.00-19.00 Place: Bulevardi 31, 00180 Helsinki Seminar is organized by IGDA Finland Eventbrite Event: Link  

IGDA Gathering in Bar Cuba

After the presentations it's time to indulge in cold drinks and hot topics just around the corner. The main sponsor of the October gathering is Unity. They will pamper us with drink tickets and other tangible utilities. We will also hear a few words from our other contributor GameFounders, a feisty startup accelerator that focuses on game developers. GameFounders startups will be showing their Unity projects on iPads. Can you handle so much luxury?

Bar Cuba. 7PM. Be there to share the passion with us!

IGDA Finland October Gathering Time: 9.10.2012 at 19.00 Place: Cuba Bar, Erottaja 4, Helsinki Finland

IGDA September Gathering with Mental Moustache, Tekes and Joensuu Science Park

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Summer is finally over. For us igdaphiles this is very good news.

The fall season was kicked off with a set of interesting events on 4th September. The magical trio Tekes, Neogames and Finpro, organised the Games Outbreak seminar at Korjaamo in Helsinki. The seminar was also the launching event of Tekes' Skene programme. Tekes is planning to help keep Finland's game industry alive and kicking, visit here to find out the details of the masterplan.

Afterwards the thirsty crowd headed for this falls very first IGDA Gathering in Bar Cuba. The sponsor of this gathering (and the generous bringer of drink tickets) was Mental Moustache, an independent game company based in Outokumpu. Heikki Koljonen, the CEO and mastermind extraordinaire of Mental Moustache, entertained us with a delightful trailer of their new game title Spincraft. We were all cordially invited to the beta testing as well.

There were over 220 visitors in Bar Cuba, a good start for the season. We were thrilled to see you for the first time after the summer, let's hope we keep bumping to each other throughout the long winter. See you around!

IGDA Finland September Gathering with Tekes, Mental Moustache and Joensuu Science Park

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Winter is coming. After a relaxing summer it’s time to get back on the horse as we start the new season!

Pre-event: Games Outbreak seminar @ Korjaamo, Helsinki

Digital transformation is changing the game market rapidly and Finnish game companies are at the top of this global trend. Come and see how Tekes' new Skene programme will accelerate the growth of the Finnish gaming industry. What's hot in gaming business globally? Find out about the latest gaming trends.

Time: 4.9.2012 klo 12.30-18.00 Place: Korjaamo, Helsinki (Töölönkatu 51 a-b, 00250 Helsinki) Seminar is organized by Tekes, Neogames and Finpro Programme and Registration: https://tapahtumat.tekes.fi/tapahtuma/gamesoutbreak

Gathering in Bar Cuba!

After the seminar the fun and games continue in this fall’s very first Gathering in Bar Cuba. Our sponsor for the night is Mental Moustache, a game company that has been brewing right under our noses, and Joensuu Science Park. Joensuu Science Park offers services that help small and medium-sized business to develop in the Joensuu region. Mental Moustache is releasing a new game soon, and in the Gathering they are willing to share with us some of their Moustache Mentality in the form of free drinks. The action starts at 7pm. Come ride towards the sunset with us!

IGDA Finland September Gathering Tuesday, September 4th, 2012 at 7PM Cuba Bar, Erottaja 4, Helsinki Finland (map: http://igda.fi/?page_id=5)

Angry Birds Space at IGDA Finland June Gathering

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Let´s go where no bird has gone before! Last week the Finnish game community proved its vitality through a collective pilgrimage to a certain exotic bar in Erottaja. This spring's final IGDA gathering in Cuba Bar left us wistful but excited, as the evening was a flying success.

Bar Cuba was filled with space-oriented wildlife as Rovio was the sponsor of this gathering.  Early arrivers were able to grab themselves an Angry Birds Space T-shirt and a deck of beautiful Angry Birds playing cards. Three wise men from Rovio,  Sami Lahtinen, Mikko Häkkinen and Jaakko Iisalo,  offered us a short (to not keep us from using the drink tickets they also provided) but pithy look at the development, launch, and success of Angy Birds Space. The audience was also offered a glimpse of the future. Who is Alex? Why is he Amazing?

One more gathering-related announcement before the summer break. IGDA gatherings are on a trajectory even flying birds could be jealous of: this gathering managed to lure a crowd of 295 people. We couldn't have hoped for a better way to end this season!

A big thank you to Rovio for sponsoring, and another big thank you for all you who joined the fun. See you in Fall 2012!