IGDA Finland Oulu Hub November Gathering

After a hugely successful October gathering we decided to play it a bit more conservative in November and arranged a classic pub night. This time we chose to occupy the restaurant Otto K instead of our usual place, just to explore possible future establishments for our gatherings. The place felt good and the staff was very supportive, so maybe we’ll give Otto K another chance some time during 2014.

The house was filled with around 20 local game developers who gathered around the tables to have more or less meaningful discussions with each other. The ice hockey game shown on the screen sparked some discussion about violence in games vs. violence in sports, but in general the tone of the conversations were quite casual.

At the moment we are working hard on planning and arranging the gatherings of 2014, so stay tuned and remember to play games!

- Antti Wilenius & the IGDA Finland Oulu Hub volunteers

IGDA Finland Turku Hub Gathering with TicBits

Winter is on us with it's dark and gloomy reach but there was no sign of it in the IGDA Finland Turku Hub gathering in November!

The Turku based company TicBits was our guests of honor this time giving a brief intro into how the wholly self-funded company has grown into 10 people with some very ambitious games coming up. After this, it was time to focus on the most important things: networking, sharing ideas and drinks.

TicBits is also 3rd on the Deloitte's Rising Stars in Technology Fast 50 Finland 2013  -list. The Turku scene could not be more proud!

Turku Gathering will be back in December!

December Gathering with Supercell

Things are getting heated in the Finnish game industry and one of the hottest companies in town is throwing Christmas party with us: Supercell!

New console generation is just around the corner and another year is upon us, which makes December Gathering the best place to meet up and reflect on the awesome past year. Supercell will make sure that you won't get thirsty while thinking! So come join us in the Club Adams for the most Super Christmas party this year with IGDA Finland and Supercell and lets ready ourselves for the year 2014. See you there!

IGDA Finland December Gathering & Christmas Party Time: 10.12.2013 at 19.00 Place: Club Adams, Erottaja 15-17, Helsinki Finland

Mobile Mixer event & IGDA Finland Networking event with Facebook

Slush and Splash! The audience of the November Gathering was presented with a double feature: Pocket Gamer Mobile Mixer mixed & IGDA Finland Gathering!

First up was the Mobile Mixer panel with variety of industry veterans talking about the present and the future of mobile game development. After the panel people had the opportunity to talk to panelists and get to know a bit more about the companies represented in the panel.

After the panel there was a brief moment to let the new info sink in. After that the IGDA Finland Gathering kicked into gear with Facebook presenting their mobile gaming platform. The presentation was short and sweet with code samples detailing the implementation using different frameworks.

Here are few links for the interested: Games hub of the Facebook developer site, Open source sample apps and tutorials for iOS, Android, Unity and Canvas. Oh and last but not least here is something special: Facebook presentation with code samples.

Stay tuned for updates on the greatest party this holiday!

Kicking off IGDA Finland Tampere Hub

It finally happened. With the first IGDA Finland Tampere Hub gathering held at 29.10.2013 now behind us, the whole organizing team can let out a sigh of relief. After months of planning we can say with utmost certainty that the team did a marvelous job at putting it all together. But it would not have been without all you folks taking part in the gathering and making it a night to remember. We would also like to express our gratitude towards our sponsor Fragment, a game development studio situated in Tampere. Thank you!

The event took place in Jack the Rooster, a local rock bar situated near the city center in Tampere. The doors opened at around 6 pm allowing the long queue of people to finally trickle inside and enjoy their first cool beverage courtesy of Fragment.

Once we had all the early arrivals inside, the program could commence. The official program consisted of an introduction to IGDA Finland by Tatu Laine followed by speeches from our sponsor Fragment.

Starting something new does not usually come without obstacles. First of all, due to the high turnout of people, we were having some issues with getting people inside as fast as possible. One of the biggest problems, however, was that people believed the kitchen to be open during the event. This was not the case and we will try to remedy this in the future.

Jack the Rooster proved a wonderful choice of venue. It really had that rock’n’roll feeling that we experience in the game development industry here in Finland. We were also able to negotiate great pricing for IGDA Finland members as well as our sponsors.

On a personal note, I would like to thank the whole organizing team for all the hard work they have put into making this happen! Tampere really has the spirit that becoming a great international game development hub requires.

Until next time, IGDA Finland Tampere Hub volunteers Timo Heinäpurola Annakaisa Kultima Minna Eloranta Arto Koistinen Mika Kuusisto Mikko Karsisto Jukka Mikkonen Jukka Kauppinen