WildChords at IGDA Finland April Gathering

Bring out your guitars! For many people it was just another Tuesday night in Helsinki, but game lovers know better. Old and new friends alike found their way to Bar Cuba to converse, relax, and participate in sudden brainstorms.

After most of the visitors had settled in the stage was claimed by Ovelin, the melodious sponsor of the evening. Cristoph Thür, co-founder and CEO of Ovelin, was so kind as to entertain us with a few words and a demonstration of their acclaimed iPad game WildChords. The innovation of WildChords is to learn to play the guitar the fun way through gameplay objectives. Be afraid, Guitar Hero.

Ovelin donated visitors a few drinks and a guitar pick, and one especially cozy corner of Cuba was reserved for those who wanted to try the game for themselves. Evening was not short of wildlife as Ovelin´s exotic mascot Carsten the Crocodile was also present, ready to pose for the multitude of cameras.

We had 140 human visitors and one crocodile. Maybe in the next IGDA gathering we will hear live guitar music from one of you? Thank you to everyone and see you in May!

  Photos by Stuart McQuade

Gangs of Boomtown at IGDA Finland March Gathering

Drawing by Jussi Simpanen

Howdy partners!

Another successful IGDA gathering brought Wild West to the heart of icy Helsinki! Evening's Western theme had inspired many outstanding costumes ranging from sheriffs to bandits. We were thrilled to see that so many of you had succumbed to our whimsy and dressed up for the occasion!

The evening was action packed. Digital Chocolate offered a few rounds of drinks and gave out Gangs of Boomtown soundtrack CDs. Head of Digital Chocolate Helsinki Studio, Kaj Häggman and Gangs of Boomtown Producer Miika Tams talked about the production of the game and shared some latest news from Digital Chocolate office in Ruoholahti. We also had a video link to Punit Soni from Google+ who is managing Games and Mobile products at Google. He greeted IGDA Finland crowd and the whole Finnish game industry all away from San Francisco, US.

Gangs of Boomtown was released as promised, and when you combine that with great conversation and live country music it comes as no surprise that the event attracted a crowd of 216 game enthusiasts.

A big thank you to Digital Chocolate for sponsoring the evening, and an equally sized thank you to all who participated. See you next time!

More photos: March Gathering 2012

IGDA Finland April Gathering: time to party with Ovelin!

Ovelin, a company behind the widely-praised, award winning WildChords is yet another success from Finland. Ovelin got €1.1M seed funding from True Ventures in February 2012 enabling them to develop Wildchords further. Besides Wildchords, Ovelin is working on other ways to make world more musical. It surely is quite an achievement not only to make it in the competition but to innovate and create an original product, too. Ovelin is going full speed ahead with Wildchords and the next products. IGDA Finland April party is a fantastic opportunity for you all to see what the future holds for Ovelin. You'll have a chance to try Wildchords if you haven't already. Also if you dream of being a part of the success story, better be at Cuba on 3rd of April and meet the team behind Wildchords!

IGDA Finland chapter is one of the most active IGDA chapters in the world. We have the greatest parties, see you in April! Ps. You do not have to be a member to join the pub events at Cuba bar.

IGDA Finland April Gathering - time to party with Ovelin Tuesday, April 3rd, 2012 at 7PM Cuba Bar, Erottaja 4, Helsinki Finland (map: http://igda.fi/?page_id=5)

Game industry events on mobile gaming & game metrics!

Check out these game industry happenings in Tampere and Lappeenranta!_______________________________________________________________ GAME METRICS EVENT IN TAMPERE, MARCH 20TH

Sign up to the event! FREE bus from Helsinki and back, sign up to the bus! Cancelled. The schedule for High Score TechTalk: 18:00 – Doors open 18:15 – 19:00 Joakim Achrén, Game Design through Key Metrics 19:15 – 20:00 Jouni Mannonen, Bike Baron Post Mortem 20:00 –> Jack the Rooster 22:00 Bus back to Helsinki

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POCKET GAMER MOBILE MIXER IN TAMPERE, MARCH 26TH Sign up! March 26th in New Factory starting at 5pm. Think. Drink. Connect. Welcome to the very first ever Pocket Gamer Mobile Mixer in Finland. Created in association with Manse Games and Support from Papaya Mobile and Rovio, the event offers a vibrant mix of industry insight, heated debate and the chance to knock back some complimentary beers with the cream of the Finnish games industry.

The main event Battle Panel: Casual VS Core; Which makes the best social game? Also on the agenda:

• Introduction to Mobile social gaming from Papaya Mobile (Oscar Clark)
• Rovio reveal the latest on the Angry Bird's Space Program (Ville Heijari)
• The latest figures from the analytics expert at Flurry (Richard Firminger)
• Symbio ask develop for Windos Phone? Vision + gives short glance of their new; revenue share based investment model without dilution

Sign Up at: http://pocketgamertampere.eventbrite.com/ The event kicks off at New Factory from 5:00pm at New Factory (Väinö Linnan Aukio 15, third floor) and continues behind the corner at 7pm at Jack The Roosters (Satakunnankatu 13).

Applifier and Audiodraft are sponsoring the bus transportation from Helsinki to Tampere and back to Helsinki. The bus leaves from Helsinki next to Kiasma at 3pm. Sign up for the bus.

This event is sponsored by; Rovio, Nokia, Visio+, Symbio, Audiodraft, Applifier, Img Systems _______________________________________________________________

SKINNARILA GAME SUMMIT IN LAPPEENRANTA APRIL 18TH A game industry event and seminar series will launch 18.04.2012 at Lappeenranta! In the first seminar of the series, name of the game is: "Combining passion, learning and business in mobile game development: How to start your business in super-fierce industry and still be able to gather butter on top of your bread?". During this first seminar, our objective is to gather viewpoints from industry professionals and the audience on how they have approached the challenges faced by start-up in mobile gaming industry. Detailed topics include, but are not limited to: agile learning, gaining visibility and mixing game design and monetization. Speakers and registration dates of seminar will be published during March 2012.

IGDA Finland March Gathering & Release Party!

And the hero rides off into the sunset…

BAM! BAM! On 13th of March Gangs of Boomtown will occupy Cuba bar. So get ready for some serious saloon brawling, spineless townspeople, the evil villains, unbribable sheriff and the duel to end it all!

What happening on Tuesday?

Drink tickets and Gangs of Boomtown soundtrack for first 200!

7PM door are open and DJs start to play 8.30PM Presentation; Digital Chocolate and Google 9.30PM live Country Music!

Digital Chocolate's Gangs of Boomtown release party will take place at the IGDA Finland March Gathering. We will have wild west action packed evening! The team behind the game will be present along with some sheriffs and cowboys. Digital Chocolate sponsors a couple of rounds of drinks and there is a band playing country music! Whohoo! Surely an evening not to be missed!

Play the game on Google+: Gangs of Boomtown. The dawn is also just breaking for Google+ as a gaming platform. Digital Chocolate and Google will share early settler experiences on how to round gamers into your circles on Google+.

IGDA Finland March Gathering / Gangs of Boomtown release party Tuesday, March 13, 2012 at 7PM Cuba Bar, Erottaja 4, Helsinki Finland (map: http://igda.fi/?page_id=5)