Jobs.Igda.fi and Mentor Network for women in games!

I would like to remind you that IGDA Finland provides job board jobs.igda.fi for all game industry related positions. Now Finnish game companies are starting the Mentor Network for women. IGDA Finland proudly supports this initiative. If you would like to work in Finnish game industry, mark November the 1st 6PM to your calendars. Register through Facebook or by sending an email to sonja . kangas igda fi. Mentor Network will organize a kick off cocktail event in Helsinki. ANY woman interested in working in game industry from students to freelancers and professionals of various fields is warmly welcome to the cocktail event to hear more. We want to find the brightest talents and help Finnish game industry to grow and flourish! Mentor network for women interested in game industry positions

Mentor network is organizer by a few Finnish game studios not IGDA - IGDA membership is not needed.

Our objective is clear: we want to attract more women to games business, as employees, co-founders and founders. Game industry is not what it used to be. There has been positions for management, design, art, sound and programming talents in games. Additionally we need game economy experts, cultural specialists, marketing & communication experts and sales skills to make Finnish game industry to grow and bloom. New ideas and perspectives are more than welcome, too!

The range of game categories and genres cover the whole spectrum of human life. Play takes place on smart phones on the move, as snack sized Facebook entertainment during the workday, as social pastime and hobby. Gamification puts game mechanics outside traditional games and only the sky is the limit.

The industry needs more diverse know-how. We want to help you to understand how exciting this industry is with a lot of global growth potential. We want to hire you!

Sonja Kangas, SPM Digital Chocolate (sonja (.) kangas (@) igda (.) fi; 0400759817 Other mentors: Elina Arponen, CEO Tribe Studios Heini Kaihu, SVP Habbo Product Sulake Arja Martikainen, HR Director Digital Chocolate Mari Mäntylä, Lead Designer Digital Chocolate Tiina Zilliacus, CEO Gajatri Studios

*********** Pelialan mentorointiohjelma naisille

Huom! Mentoriohjelma on suomalaisten pelialan yritysten yhteistyön tulos. IGDA ei ole järjestävänä tahona eikä IGDA-jäsenyyttä vaadita osallistumiseen.

Tavoitteemme on selvä: haluamme innostaa enemmän naisia työskentelemään pelialalla ja perustamaan pelialan yrityksiä. Peliteollisuus ei enää ole sama, mitä se oli kymmenen vuotta sitten. Pelialalla on ollut haastavia positioita hallinnan, suunnittelun, grafiikan, ohjelmoinnin ja äänisuunnittelun eksperteille. Lisäksi pelialalle tarvitaan enenevässä määrin peliekonomian ymmärtäjiä, kulttuurintuntijoita, markkinointi ja viestintäammattilaisia ja myyntitykkejä, jotta suomalainen peliteollisuus kasvaa ja kukoistaa entisestään. Uudet ideat ja näkökulmat ovat myös enemmän kuin toivottuja!

Pelikategorioiden ja lajityyppien määrä kattaa koko ihmisen elämänskaalan. Erilaisia pelejä pelataan mobiililaitteilla matkalla, haukkapalarentoutumisena Facebookissa työpäivän keskellä, sosiaalisena ajanvietteenä ja harrastuksena. Gamification eli pelillistäminen on yksi tapa laajentaa pelimekaniikkojen hyödyntämistä pelien ulkopuolelle, jolloin vain taivas on rajana.

Suomen peliteollisuus tarvitsee lisää monipuolista tietotaitoa. Mentoriryhmänä me haluamme auttaa sinua ymmärtämään kuinka mielenkiintoinen ja haastava toimiala pelit on ja miten paljon tällä globaalilla toimialalla on kasvupotentiaalia. Haluamme palkata sinut!

Sonja Kangas, SPM Digital Chocolate Muut mentorit: Elina Arponen, CEO Tribe Studios Heini Kaihu, SVP Habbo Product Sulake Arja Martikainen, HR Director Digital Chocolate Mari Mäntylä, Lead Designer Digital Chocolate Tiina Zilliacus, CEO Gajatri Studios

IGDA Finland supports game education!

IGDA Finland is collaborating with exiting events and networks in Finland! One of them is a collaboration IGDA Finland does with City of Helsinki Youth Department and Bugbear Entertainment.

In June 2011, City of Helsinki in collaboration with Bugbear Entertainment and IGDA Finland organized a game development club at Happi venue in Sörnäinen, Helsinki. The club was open for any 15-25 year old interested in game development. Bugbear provided production, design and programming experts to help the young. IGDA Finland volunteers Vesa-Matti Raudasoja and Joona Pulliainen coordinated the club.

The club lasted a month. There were 12 participants who formed into four teams. Participants were hobbyists and gamers with little knowledge on either programming, composing music for games or art. The team could decide the platform, genre, story and mechanics by themselves. One of the games developed during the month called "Dangerous Dungeons" was developed further. It participated in Summer Game Jam 2011 organized by Stencyl game editor and won!

The second round is currently ongoing at Happi. IGDA Finland volunteer Vesa-Matti Raudasoja is running the show together with Bugbear talents. If you are interested in getting into game industry and you are 15-25 year old but what or how -- check out Happi website for more information: pelitalo.nettiareena.fi/.

Finnish Game Industry newsletter by Walkthru & IGDA Finland

This is something we are very happy and excited about! IGDA Finland together with IGDA industry partner Walkthru will start putting out news from Finnish Game Industry through IGDA Finland channels. The newsletter will be written in Finnish and the first one is coming out within a week! Stay tuned!

The newsletter will cover topical issues from Finnish game industry, everything from news to good feeling and buzz. If you want to share some news and positive wibes from your studio, let us know! The writing part will be done by Walkthru and layout & distribution by IGDA Finland.

Introducing a new IGDA Finland affiliate: Walkthru!

Now that the summer is finally upon us and most of the country is enjoying it's well earned vacation, the IGDA coordinators and volunteers are working hard on the next season, trying to come up with new and exciting ways to make your time at he gatherings even more enjoyable. On that note, I would now like to take the time to introduce a brand new IGDA Finland studio affiliate; Walkthru! Without further ado, let's get down to business!

What is Walkthru? Walkthru is an independent, Finnish localization company specializing in video game translations and language testing. All of our partners have studied Finnish and English at university level and have paid their dues in numerous translation and testing projects. We keep up with the latest developments in the field, as game translations require both excellent linguistic skills and a deep knowledge of games and the gaming industry. Our goal is to ensure that everyone can enjoy skilfully localized versions of their favourite games.

Localization Localization should improve the experience of players from different linguistic areas and cultures, and it should not be an obstacle for the development teams. Instead, localization should be considered a method that helps the developers in reaching an even wider audience and communicating their message through linguistic barriers.

The smooth incorporation of accurate cultural references, such as sports teams, songs and notable landmarks, can significantly enhance the experience of the intended audience. Even marketing material is much more effective if it is well translated and cultural factors are taken into account. The localization process ensures that a game is linguistically and culturally appropriate for the target region; the design of the game remains unchanged, but all texts are adjusted to the target culture. Localization aims at equivalent texts, and in this regard it is usually neither practical nor beneficial to resort to literal translations. The best results are achieved when the ideas behind the words are communicated in the target language and the fluent translation allows the players to enjoy the game in that language as much as those who play it in the source language. As language is an important game element full of nuances and meanings, it should be treated with due respect. A careless translation can ruin the game experience as much as a good translation can improve it. Games are increasingly part of the mainstream culture, but in order to truly reach the masses they have to be available in the language of the local audience – just like books and movies. Our mother tongue is the vessel of our emotions and feelings, our heritage. That is why a truly Nordic game culture can only emerge through local languages.

Language testing

Language testing refers to a testing phase during which the localized game is reviewed by a native professional. You may wonder why a game needs to be tested if the translation is carried out by skilled professionals. The answer is that even in the best of circumstances, the localized version of a game must be checked for stylistic and technical problems. In video games, all text is situational and can have multiple functions. This means that when a text is separated from its context, it becomes open to different interpretations. One might expect that the translator could simply play the game while it is in the development stage and thus become familiar with its content. However, development teams often have to restrict access to their games for security reasons and, because of this, translators rarely have the opportunity to play – or even see material from – the games they translate. Unfortunately, this often means that translators have very little context to assist them in their task.

This is where language testing steps in. No matter how skilfully a game text is translated, language testing is absolutely necessary as it is only during testing that the text is seen in the precise audiovisual and interactive context of the game, and possible technical or stylistic problems can be detected and resolved. As the text is usually translated without any audiovisual and interactive context, adjustments by a language tester are the only way to ensure that the localized text precisely matches the in-game context. Through testing, the text of the game can be polished both technically and content-wise, and thus the player can have the same high-quality experience in his or her native language as the players of the original version. For the best result, both the translator and the tester have to be linguistic professionals specializing in games.

Walkthru, past and present The founders of Walkthru all studied languages at the University of Helsinki, specializing in English translation or philology. This has provided us with extensive knowledge of translation theory and practice, as well as of the English language and the culture of English-speaking countries. Our integration into working life has been swift, and we have been active in game translation for nearly a decade. Each of us has our own area of expertise, including sports, girls’ games and sci-fi. The projects we have worked on span from The Sims 2 and Harry Potter to Battlefield and Need for Speed.

After toiling away for years under our own separate companies, we decided to join forces, and Walkthru was founded in 2006. Our main goal has been to improve the quality of game translations by using more unified practices and standards. Game texts are often scattered among individual freelancers who work in isolation, are unaware of each other and have no means of ensuring that the translations are consistent and of uniform quality. The end result is a game with uneven style and incoherent terminology. This is the problem Walkthru set out to tackle.

We always ensure that each project is carried out by the same translation team, from start to finish. We also put a strong emphasis on proofreading and the constant monitoring and improvement of quality. Every translation is proofread by the second translator appointed to the project in question, and the translator always receives feedback from the proofreader. Consistent translation teams and regular feedback have been our standard procedures from the beginning. We founded Walkthru because we felt there were many things that we wanted to improve. The industry lacked standards and the accumulated know-how was often lost when people moved to game design or elsewhere in production. We are professional translators and consider this a long-term development. We want to become better at our job, and through these procedures we can improve our skills and assure that the same mistakes are not repeated over and over again.

Walkthru has grown rapidly and we have worked on numerous localization projects which have received excellent reviews, the Finnish version of Spore being one of them. Our associates include many publishers and localization companies, Electronic Arts among others. In the future, we aim to keep fighting for the quality of game localization, and hope that this trend will spread throughout the Nordic region. We have worked with localization professionals throughout the Nordic area in numerous translation and testing projects, and we have excellent contacts with the best translators and testers across Scandinavia.

We at Walkthru look forward to cooperating with the IGDA, and value the opportunities for networking that it provides. We wish to strengthen our relations with game developers everywhere and work towards mutually beneficial results. We are proud to support a community that is committed to making better games.

Announced Finnish Games Coming Up

Now that the year has gotten to a good start, it’s finally time to turn our eyes to the future and check out what we have in store for the near future. Without further ado, I present a compiled list of commercial PC and console games being currently developed by Finnish companies across the country. ALAN WAKE Developer: Remedy Entertainment Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios Platforms: Xbox 360, PC Release date: "When it's done" About the game: Alan Wake is a third-person action-adventure game where you step into the uncomfortable shoes of Mr. Wake, a successful horror writer with a serious case of the writer's block. To recuperate from this crippling predicament - and from his newly blossomed insomnia - he packs his bags and heads to the peace and quiet of a little town called Bright Falls. But after the mysterious disappearance of his wife, Alice, our heroic novelist plunges head first into a world of darkness and despair. In this nightside dominion he comes face to face with the horrors of his very own imagination, as his latest piece of literary work starts to come true.

TRINE Developer: Frozenbyte Publisher: Nobilis Platforms: Playstation Network, PC Release date: Q2 2009 About the game: According to the developer "Trine is a fantasy action game where the player can create and use physics-based objects to beat hazardous puzzles and threatening enemies. Set in a world of great castles and strange machinery, three heroes are bound to a mysterious device called the Trine in a quest to save the kingdom from evil… The gameplay is based on fully interactive physics. The player can at any time freely choose whoever is best suited for the upcoming challenge or puzzle: The Wizard is able to summon objects to help solve puzzles and create new ways to overcome obstacles, the Thief uses her agility and dead-on accuracy to swiftly surprise the monsters, and the Warrior unleashes mayhem and physical destruction wherever he goes."

SHATTERED HORIZON Developer: Futuremark Games Studios Publisher: To be announced Platforms: PC Release date: To be announced About the game: Shattered Horizon is a multiplayer first-person shooter where players fight in zero gravity surrounded by the broken remains of orbital infrastructure and billions of tons of rocky debris thrown into orbit by a huge explosion on the Moon. With simple and intuitive controls players have complete freedom of movement, making full use of the distinctive environment to control the battle. Shattered Horizon rewards players with gameplay and tactics impossible in games constrained by gravity.

EARTH NO MORE Developer: Recoil Games Publisher: To be announced Platforms: PC, Playstation 3, Xbox 360 Release date: ~2009 About the game: Earth No More is an ensemble cast based First-Person Action-Adventure game of sudden Environmental Apocalypse. You are Will Foster, a federal agent tapped to respond to what appears to be a biological terrorist attack on Washington D.C. However, you soon discover that the attack isn't the work of human hands, but in fact is a new and destructive organism from deep within the Earth's crust, brought to the surface by mankind's relentless destruction of the environment. You and a band of survivors must work together, not just to survive in the changed world, but to defeat a far-reaching government conspiracy and save all of mankind from this cataclysmic disaster

EAST INDIA COMPANY Developer: Nitro Games Publisher: Lighthouse Interactive Platforms: PC Release date: Q1 2009 About the game: In East India Company, players will enjoy building the World's most powerful trading empire and engaging in fierce battles in both single player and multiplayer modes, all within a breathtaking cinematic environment. Players will fight, manage and rule their trading empires from Europe to the Far East with eight nationalities to choose from. Starting modestly, you will build your fleet, establish connections to far away countries, and keep rival nations at bay. Create diverse fleets and assign each of them specific trading routes. Control and upgrade well situated ports as you form your strategy for domination.

FINNWARS 2 Developer: Iceflake Studios Publisher: To be announced Platforms: PC Release date: To be announced About the game: FinnWars 2 is a standalone commercial sequel to one of the largest Battlefield modifications, being developed for PC and is powered by Iceflake's own next generation Mammoth game engine. The game is an action packed multiplayer experience, that concentrates to the legendary battles between Finland and Soviet Union in Eastern Front during World War 2. Also a great effort is put to games authenticity, and there's also a vast history section within the game.

CRAZY CIRCUS Developer: Farmind Publisher: dtp entertainment Platforms: Nintendo DS Release date: Q2 2009 About the game: The player inherits the family’s once famous circus because his father is sick and no longer able to run the business. Now it is up to the young director to lead the troupe and restore the circus to its former glory. He keeps improving the show and quickly, the circus regains its excellent reputation. New performers push into the ring, the public clapping frantically to every new sensations. The stunning performances attract the crowds in a way that finally, the circus arrives in the world’s most glamorous cities. Crazy Circus targets the whole family and all those longing for quick and fun gameplay.

That's it, folks. In case you spot an error in the article or if you think I've missed a game that belongs here with the rest, feel free to email me and I'll fix it right in. Please note that I haven't included any mobile titles or smaller independent games on this article, just because there'd be way too many to list. Besides, nobody would ever manage to finish reading it anyway.

Cheers, Samuli