IGDA Finland: February Gathering

Hi folks, next IGDA Finland Gathering is on Tuesday, February the 2nd. The Gathering is titled "Meet the Gamers". As you know, game developers have to think of the potential audience for their product. Too often developers think that the typical gamer is "someone like me". What if that is not the case? Now you have a golden opportunity to chat with other gamers and see what type of issues they like in games, why they play games and what they would like to experience in games. IGDA invited Women Gamers (Pelinaiset) to visit IGDA Gathering. Pelinaiset is a group of women & girls who are into gaming. You will soon find out that there are as many tastes as they are players. This is a perfect opportunity for you to learn something new! Besides chatting with gamers, we have some 8-bit gaming and a 8-bit music quiz for you. Also Lipshack booth will be open for the night!

Warmly welcome – see you on Tuesday the 2nd of February IGDA FINLAND FEBRUARY GATHERING Place: Cuba Bar, Erottajankatu 4, 00120 Helsinki (map: http://igda.fi/?page_id=5) Time: Tuesday, 2th of February, doors open at 19:00

Whooo-Yeaaaah! “The Best IGDA ever!”

The first IGDA Finland Gathering in 2010 was held on 12th of January. Even if it was freezing cold outside, Café Cuba provided cozy warmth indoors. The beginning of a year has typically been a bit quieter compared to the fall season. So it was also in January 2010. Instead of 150 persons we had just little over 70 persons joining the IGDA party. Then again we all know that it is not about the number of people but the explosive atmosphere! Besides having good time (special thanks to Eevi Korhonen for the great kick off! :D) – and goofing, also business and networking wise the evening was a good one. New contacts were made and potential partnerships started. Thank you everyone for the great party! Whooo-yeeaaaah!

More photos from the event: Igda Finland photo archive.

The Finnish Game Jam crew was also present promoting the first Finnish Game Jam! The 48 hours Jam session will start already on 29th January! It is not yet too late to join the fun!

"Amazing weekend of game jamming is approaching! You have still some time to register to the event which will be participated from 129 locations and 37 countries! The registration to Finnish Game Jam is in process and continues until 25th of January, 16:00. The weekend is surely an unforgettable experience. Do not miss your chance to be a part of it!"

Hop on by registering here: http://finnishgamejam.fi/registration

IGDA Finland: January Gathering on 12th

Hey all! It is time to shovel your way to Cuba Cafe to meet the coolest gang, see who will be attending to GDC2010 or Finnish Game Jam and what's up with Finnish game developers. IGDA FINLAND JANUARY GATHERING Place: Cuba Bar, Erottajankatu 4, 00120 Helsinki (map: http://igda.fi/?page_id=5) Time: Tuesday, 12th of January, doors open at 19:00

So IGDA Finland party is already tomorrow at Cuba Cafe (Erottajankatu 4). Warmly welcome IGDA members and non-members! Remember that the Gatherings are open for everyone but only IGDA members get good discounts on drinks.

December Gathering: Partying with Futuremark

IGDA little Xmas party held on 8th of December was arranged in collaboration with Futuremark and oh boy what an ending for the IGDA Finland fall season we had! There were lots of things happening besides sipping drinks and enjoying Christmas food with other developers. Nearly 200 developers and guests joined the party and Cuba Cafe boosted lots of activities from Shattered Horizon tournament to Lips singing game, game music quiz and more.

Futuremark released their first game titled Shattered Horizon only little over a month ago and they were kind enough to share their feelings and ideas regarding it with other game developers at IGDA Finland December Gathering. Futuremark set up four seats for gamers to try out the game. Those who were able to beat the Shattered Horizon developers won drink tickets :) Additionally Microsoft Lipshack singing room was open for sonorous game developers and IGDA activist Tuomas Karmakallio set up computer music quiz with nice number of participants. People enjoyed Shattered Horizon and the singing booth was packed throughout the night with people performing stunning duets and choir singing until late. We got lots of good feedback and will arrange music quiz sessions and other fun activities also in the future. Huge thanks to Futuremark! They put a lot of effort to the event and it showed. People stayed at Cuba until late and quite a number also continued the evening until early morning hours at other venues. We would also like to thank all of you joining IGDA Gatherings. The fall 2009 season was really good with high number of participants on each Gathering. We will continue arranging good parties in 2010 – if you have comments or suggestions how to make them even better ones, please let us know! Either send an e-mail or leave anonymous feedback to our feedback box at Cuba. See you in 2010!

More photos from the event: IGDA Finland December 2009 Gathering photo set

November '09 Presentation: Demo Techniques and Game Jamming

Word from another event in the series of IGDA Finland Presentations was well received and altogether 112 people visited the Kino K-13 and listened to Remedy Entertainmen's Jay Ranki and Sam Lake, followed by Gorm Lai from Nordic Game Jam. The atmosphere was anxious in the lobby of Kino K-13 when people were waiting to get in the auditorium. First up was Remedy and their presentation about techniques they use in their demo presentations. They started with a short playthrough demo of Alan Wake where Jay was playing and Sam explaining different techniques used in the presentation along the way.

The main point binding together a demo presentation is control. You need to keep the reigns on the show from the get-go and all the way up to people leaving the room. Below is a list of the key points in the presentation by Remedy Entertainment:

Prepare well, spend several weeks at minimum for preparations

• Write everything down beforehand and practice it until it feels natural and spontaneous
• Keep everything relatively short and to the point
• Highlight key features - show less, polish more
• Play for 15 minutes
• Plan jokes and funny moments beforehand to engage the audience

You're not only showing a game - you're giving a 15min entertainment rollercoaster

• Don't change the routine for any reason
• No questions during the demo
• Minimize randomness, do not improvise
• Place staff at the door getting instant feedback from audience and to spot VIPs

About the content to present the audience with

• Prepare the audience with a short introductions of people, characters and the setting
• Avoid spoilers. You can lie and show different content than what is really going to be in the game
• Try to finish with the biggest bang possible - you have to get at least two "holy shit" moments from the audience
• If necessary, modify existing content to achieve this
• After the demo, have a short QA session

Useful tips to keep in mind

• Bring-your-own: machines, cables - something always goes wrong, so you need backup equipment too
• Point out when to applaud - awkward applauses are very uncomfortable for the audience as well
• Business cards for demo team
• Give out extra swag, something physical to take home as a reminder

The second presentation was given by Gorm Lai from Nordic Game Jam which is a part of a global phenomenon called Global Game Jam. Game Jams are events where game industry people and people who like making games as a hobby gather to form random groups and create small yet innovative games in a short timeframe.

Game Jams are all about creativity. There are no 'real world' constraints like money or marketing audiences. Professionals, students and enthusiasts will all benefit from participating in the event. The exposure and new contacts gained during such a hectic event like this will surely be helpful for an aspiring game developer.

Nordic Game Jam 2009

This year there were once again a large number of excellent titles popping up from different Game Jam events around the world. A few of these were shown on the screen at the presentation, but the best way to familiarize oneself is to browse the archives on NGJ'09 site. At the end of each event, awards are handed out to best games of two categories.

• Bring From Home Games List - NGJ'09 Awarded BFH Games
• Global Game Jam Games List - NGJ'09 Awarded GGJ Games