IGDA Finland February Gathering - 20th February 2007

Dear developer colleagues! Next IGDA Finland Gathering is again fast approaching! The heart of winter is upon us - at least it has been this week. But come rain or snow, sunshine or storm, you can rely on the IGDA Gathering bringing you joy. So come join us at the IGDA Finland Gathering in two weeks! There's no special programming this month, just good company, great conversations and cool beer.

IGDA FINLAND FEBRUARY GATHERING

Place: System Rock, Keskuskatu 4, 00100 Helsinki (map) Time: Tuesday 20th February, doors open at 19.00

Don't forget to bring your handheld consoles!

Come one, come all! Jyri - IGDA Finland Chapter Coordinator

G&S lecture Tue 6.2.07 Eric Zimmerman

In next Games and Storytelling lecture 6th Feb at 5:15-7 pm. we'll have Eric Zimmerman talking about“Gaming Literacy: Game Design as Model for Literacy in the 21st Century”

Venue: University of Art and Design Helsinki, Media Centre Lume, Sampo auditorium, Hämeentie 135 C. Videoconference venue in Tampere: University of Tampere, lecture hall 1096, PinniB, Kanslerinrinne 1.

In his lecture Eric Zimmerman will talk about how game design can be seen as a model for an emerging set of literacies that are centered on systems, play, and design.

Eric Zimmerman has been working in the game industry for more than twelve years. He is the co-founder and CEO of Gamelab, a game development company based in New York City that focuses on experimental and innovative games. Gamelab creates and self-publishes award-winning singleplayer and multiplayer games that are distributed online, on mobile phones, and through retail, including the hit downloadable game Diner Dash. Pre-Gamelab titles include SiSSYFiGHT 2000 and the PC title Gearheads. Eric has taught courses at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New York University, and Parsons School of Design. He has lectured and published extensively about game design and game culture and is the co-author with Katie Salen of Rules of Play: Game Design Fundamentals (MIT Press, 2004) and The Game Design Reader: A Rules of Play Anthology (MIT Press, 2006), as well as the co-editor with Amy Scholder of RE:PLAY: Game Design and Game Culture (Peter Lang Press, 2004).

The lecture is in English.

Free admittance.

Welcome!

More information:

Web pages: http://www.gamesandstorytelling.net/

January Gathering - After Action Report

The January Gathering was a success keeping in mind we did not have any sponsors this time. We had a nice 107 total attendees. The mood was relaxed and filled with chatter about the coming GDC'07 and FGDA. FGDA being a working name for Finnish Game Developers Association that is being formed as we speak. KP Hiltunen from Neogames was present and spreading flyer's and word about FDGA. For more photos click HERE

There was a lot of younger folk in the Gathering and that kept the evening exceptionally energetic. Some handheld console gaming was present and people kept steadily flowing in. People stayed in pretty late and the lack of sponsors did not dampen the mood at all, neither did the small ongoing snowstorm outside later that evening.

Association to represent Finnish Game Developer Companies

NEOGAMES ANNOUNCES: It´s time to establish Association to represent Finnish Game Developer Companies. Meeting in RTI auditorium in Pasila Radiokatu 5 D monday 5.2 at 15.00.

Idea about association representing Finnish Game Developer Companies has been discussed several years. Because of the recent years economical growth of Finnish Game Industry and the rise of creative industries generally it seems that now is an appropriate time to actually do something to this matter. Join us in founding meeting of Finnish Game Developers Association (working title). The founding meeting is held 5.2 .at 15.00 in Pasila Radiokatu 5D.

More information on the spot. and also from Neogames website: http://www.neogames.fi/tiedotteet.htm (in Finnish) Meeting is hosted by Neogames

Look Back at 2006 - A Record-Setting Year

2006 was a Record-Setting Year for Finnish Game Industry. What a year it was!

Countless awards, great reviews for many Finnish developed games and the developers themselves. When was the last time you remember a Finnish game receiving 10/10 in any major review source? When was the last time Finnish developers & their games were nominated 17 times on IGN's Best of Year awards?

And IGDA Finland has done great as well. We have managed to grow in every area - memberships, size of invitation mailing list, maturity & size of volunteer organization and most importantly in our attendance.

In my earlier post, I was just looking at Fall 2006 numbers, due to the fact that we organize our IGDA activities based on seasons which run from August to July. So we usually track our activities in three periods: Fall, Spring and the full Season.

But if we take the numbers for the whole year, from January 2006 to December 2006, they are nearly as impressive:

- 11 organized events - total of 1301 attendees - Average attendance of 118.27 - Minimum attendance 53 - Maximum attendance 210 - Memberships grew from 87 to 180 (106.9% yearly growth) - Invitation list grew from 480 to 587 (22.29% yearly growth)

These growth numbers would not have been possible had we not developed our organization further during the year as well. Here's a list of the major changes in our organization:

- 6 person Advisory Board formed - 2 new people added to the Advisory Board - 2 Student Volunteers stepped up to become Chapter Coordinators - 4 new Student Volunteers joined - Total number of volunteers rose from 21 to 25 (includes Advisory Board, Chapter Coordinators & Student Volunteers)

A big thanks to all people who are involved and volunteer their free time with such dedication - You are the force that keeps IGDA Finland going! With a historically successful year like 2006 behind us, I look forward to the challenge of matching, maybe even exceeding, that success in 2007. Above all else, I hope you all keep coming to the IGDA Gatherings!

- Jyri Ranki, Lead Coordinator