Save the Date! Fall Meeting November 29th

IGDA Finland members are warmly welcome to join the statutory annual fall meeting of IGDA Finland ry. The meeting will be held on Wednesday, 29th of November, 2017, from 6 PM until 7 PM, at Business Meeting Park Forum (Forum Mall, Glass Corner entrance, Mannerheimintie 20 B, 00100 Helsinki, meeting room MARSKI 2).

The main purposes of this meeting are to confirm the plan of action, the budget and the membership fees for the next calendar year, and to appoint new board members to replace the ones retiring. We also urge you to send additional agenda items in advance on topics you want to address in the meeting.

If you have any questions regarding the event, please contact juha.vainio@igda.fi.

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THE AGENDA FOR THE ANNUAL MEETING ON NOVEMBER 29, 2017

1. Opening the meeting
2. Appointing a chairman, a secretary, two minutes inspectors and, if necessary, two tellers
3. Verifying the meeting is legal and decisions made are valid
4. Confirming meeting agenda
5. Confirming the plan of action, revenue estimate and budget as well as joining and membership fees for the next calendar year
6. Appointing new board members to replace retiring members of the board
7. Addressing other emerging matters
8. Ending the meeting

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It's the #XmasJKL Time of the Year - Get 15% off!

#XmasJKL is an annual game industry business event held in Jyväskylä organized by Peliosuuskunta Expa & the IGDA Finland Jyväskylä Hub. This year the event will be held November 17-18 at Musica (M) in Jyväskylä.

IGDA Finland members get a 15% discount when using promocode IGDAFIN when buying tickets through Eventbrite!

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/xmasjkl-the-finnish-game-industry-seminar-2017-tickets-33657191566

For a full list of speakers and additional information, visit the event website: https://www.xmasjkl.com/

Get 25% off Athens Game Festival

The inaugural Athen Games Festival will take place October 28-29, 2017, at the Helexpo Exhibition Center in Marousi, Greece. Greek and foreign game developers, researchers, academics, publishers and journalists will be supporting and promoting games and digital culture. 

AGF participants will find:
 
•    Presentations by influential people from the global game industry
•    Meetings with executives of major international corporations in the field
•    Exhibitors from Greece, Cyprus and other countries
•    Networking events such as Pitch and Match and the Athens Games Festival Party
•    Exciting, competitive challenges to get your game discovered like the Nordic Game Discovery Contest

During the Athens Game Festival, the Game Art Collection (GAC) will take place for the second consecutive year: Digital Game Developers will participate in an exhibition aiming to highlight the talents of Greek and foreign 2D artists and musicians, with "Superheroes of Greece" as a theme!

The Athens Game Festival is organized by the General Secretariat for Media and Communication of the Ministry of Digital Policy, Telecommunications and Media, with the contribution of the White Nights Conference. 

For more information, visit https://athensgamesfestival.gr and subscribe to our newsletter. 

IGDA Finland members get 25% discount using promo code IGDA25 when registering here: 
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/athens-games-festival17-tickets-36064684442

Last Call for the Free Buses to Pocket Gamer

The awesome folks at Pocket Gamer have extended the free bus sign ups until this Thursday, September 14th.  Drop everything and sign up for a bus now!

Wait, free buses are cool and all, but I still need to buy a conference pass, right?

Well, yes you do. But they're also offering 30% off tickets when you sign up using promo code: IGDA_FINN17. Or just use follow this link. Can't you just feel the love?

As previously mentioned, this year the event has expanded into VR and PC, so it's three conferences in one. For more info on the conference visit:

• http://www.pgconnects.com/helsinki
• http://www.xrconnects.com/helsinki
• http://www.pc-connects.com/helsinki

See you next week!

Get 15% off Your Ticket to White Nights Moscow

There is just under a month left before White Nights Moscow, which means it's time to start planning your trip! On October 10-11, 2017 the conference will gather leading game industry professionals in Congress Park at the Radisson Royal Hotel in Moscow. Over 1,300 attendees are expected.

The show will feature three lecture tracks and a big Developer Exhibition with over 100 talented teams from all over the world presenting their games to game industry gurus. Every team participating in the showcase will receive an exclusive, free mini-booth.

For more info on the Developer Exhibition visit: http://wnconf.com/en#exhibition

The conference program will feature presentations by representatives of Obsidian Entertainment, Playrix, BlackStorm Labs, King,  Nevosoft, Playtika, Google, Social Quantum, Appodeal, Pixonic, MyTona, Amazon, Unity, AppsFlyer, Facebook, Wargaming, Epic Games, Game Insight and other leading companies.

There will be a separate block in the program devoted to esports and blockchain in games.

Developers will also get a chance to win trophies and great prizes in the Indie Game Cup international tournament. To participate please apply before September 22. Please note that you must to be present at the event if you wish to take part in the contest.

Ticket prices kick off at EUR 150. Use promo code IGDA-Finland to receive a 15% discount when registering here: http://wnconf.com/en#registration.

Attendees requiring Russian visas can learn more information here: http://wnconf.com/#visa

PG Connects: Free Bus and Discounted Conference Tickets

If you work in the mobile, PC or VR/AR games industry, Pocket Gamer Connects is the place to be this September. Taking place September 19-20 in Wanha Satama, Helsinki, it will deliver talks and panels, an expo area, free meeting system, massive party, indie pitch sessions and loads more. Celebrating its fourth year in Helsinki, PG Connects has become a popular fixture in the industry calendar.

This year the event has expanded into VR and PC, so it's three conferences in one. For more info on the conference visit:

• http://www.pgconnects.com/helsinki
• http://www.xrconnects.com/helsinki
• http://www.pc-connects.com/helsinki

IGDA Finland and Pocket Gamer want everyone to have a chance to take part in this event, so to make everything more accessible and convenient for our friends outside the Helsinki area we are organizing bus rides from hubs all around the country. The buses, provided by Pocket Gamer, are completely free of charge - you just need to register in this form and turn up. The deadline for register for bus is September 11th, so don't wait, sign up now. 

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/free-bus-ride-to-pgc-xrc-pc-connects-helsinki-2017-tickets-37088922967

A bus ticket doesn’t guarantee entry to the event - you’ll need a conference pass for that. As the event is so close, full price tickets recently rose in price. But fear not! The PGC Team wants to see IGDA members there, so they’re offering a 30% discount on this price to all IGDA members. Simply go to this exclusive URL and book your place now:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/pocket-gamer-connects-helsinki-2017-tickets-31316271812?discount=IGDA_FINN17

They are also still accepting sign-ups for the Big Indie Pitch, VR Indie Pitch and PC Indie Pitch, so if you have a game project you’d like to showcase to expert judges, get in touch!

Get 20% Off Northern Game Summit

The Northern Game Summit (NGS) is an annual game conference and networking event held in Kajaani, Finland on October 5-6, 2017.

Kajaani is located 550 kilometres north from the capital of Finland, Helsinki. The Northern Game Summit doesn’t brag about its size, but rather on its easy-going and intimate environment where participants really have direct access to all the 500+ attendees. The event has three parts, the Business Mixer (a pre-party on the evening of October 4th), the Bonus Stage Party, and the NGS 2017 itself, which has six different tracks: Design, Production, Art, Audio, Business, and Technology.

The Northern Game Summit has attracted great speakers from all around the world including industry veteran John Romero, voice actor Adam Harrington (famous from Tales from Monkey Island and Wolf Among Us), Chris Evans from Blizzard Entertainment, Patrick Rose a Business and Product Analyst at Bandai Namco, Entertainment Europe, Eevi Korhonen a Game Designer at Remedy Entertainment and Timo Heinäpurola a Senior Engineer at Reforged Studios. A complete list of speakers is available on the conference website here: https://goo.gl/PBm7Td

This year’s panel discussion is about game psychology and how does games and gaming have an influence on the human mind. This will definitely be an interesting conversation and a worthy closure for the NGS 2017.

The Business Mixer is the NGS pre-party and game developers and others can mix’n’match there on October 4th before the conference. The Bonus Stage Party is an official conference party on October 5th that will have great people, Marioke, food, open bar and a small number of exhibitors.

IGDA participants can buy any ticket with 20% discount. Use promocode NGS-IGDA2017 to get it.

The event has been sold out in the previous years, so get your tickets ASAP: https://goo.gl/oFqx7s

Get a 30% Discount to 4C: St. Petersburg

The 4C conference, co-organized by Wargaming and West Game Development Forum, will welcome speakers from leading companies such as Epic Games, Ubisoft, Supercell, Electronic Arts, Arkane Studios, and many others to foresee the future of the game industry.

The event will take place on September 22–23, at the Park Inn Pribaltiyskaya Hotel, in St. Petersburg, Russia. More than 80 industry professionals from the U.S., Canada, Australia, Europe, and CIS countries will share their expertise in developing, publishing, and marketing games. The roster of speakers will include representatives from Ubisoft (Sergei Titarenko, Development Director), Epic Games (Ben Lewis-Evans, UX Researcher), Arkane Studios (Eric Beyhl, Lead Environment Artist), IO Interactive (Maurizio De Pascale, Technical Director), and other big-name industry players.

4С: St. Petersburg will see, amongst others, a lecture by Glen Gathard of Pinewood Studios, who recorded Foley for the game Total War: Rome II, as well as, movies Guardians of the Galaxy and Edge of Tomorrow, and dialogue for Avengers: Age of Ultron, Skyfall, and Prometheus. Ralph Palmer, who worked as an animator at Disney on An American Tail, Pocahontas, and Tarzan, as well as the 3D versions of Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, will speak about character creation.

The disciplines for 4C’s thematic tracks have been announced. The guests of the conference will be able to attend presentations and panels dedicated to 11 areas of game development and publishing:

• Art
• Audio
• Business, data & marketing
• Foreseeing the future
• Game design
• Mobile
• New media
• Production & leadership
• QA
• Technology
• UX

Learn more about 4C: St. Petersburg and purchase tickets on the official website: http://www.conf4c.com

IGDA Finland Members qualify for a 30% discount. Use promo code 4CIGDA when buying your tickets. 

GameCamps Riga 2017

GameCamps is inviting developers, artists, sound designers to Riga to participate in a 48-hour hackathon from Sept 29 - Oct 1. Teams will build a working game prototype and pitch it to a distinguished jury of game industry veterans. The best teams will earn the possibility of getting up to 10000 Euros in financing along with business mentoring on how to run an international game company.
Game Developers based in Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Sweden, may be eligible for FREE travel, accommodation, food and feedback. 

The registration is open until 15th September, so sign up now!
Registration: 
https://www.b2match.eu/gamecampsriga2017

Game Camps is an initiative to strengthen cross-border ties between the Baltic Sea countries’ game industries. It’s express goal is to help establish at least 10 cross-border game companies over the next three years, working with no less than 240 aspiring game developers from Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Sweden. Game Camps is co-financed by the EU INTERREG Central Baltic program.

All in all, four Game Camps will be held – one in each participating country – and the grand final is in 2019 in Silicon Valley, California, where the best of the best will pitch to a group of investors and fight to secure funding for their game. The first event took place in Tallinn, Estonia, from April 4 - 6. In total more than 60 participants, nine teams were organized, three winner teams were selected. Future events are planned in Kotka, Finland and Visby, Sweden. 

For more information visit: http://www.gamecamps.eu

 

IGDA members get -20% at Devcom 2017!

Register today with -20% discount and participate at Devcom conference - August 20-24, 2017 in Cologne!

Devcom is a prestigious, five-day umbrella framework for a series of events focused around game development, game publishing, networking and community building.

More information can be found at their website.

PG Connects Returns to Helsinki with PC and VR tracks

PG Connects returns to Finland for its fourth Helsinki conference from September 19-20, 2017. 

This year will feature XR Connects, a dedicated VR/AR/MR sister event with 60 speakers, 4 tracks, an indie pitch competition, and a genuine industry cross-section of companies with which to engage. Additionally, we’re introducing PC Connects, an inaugural foray into the PC gaming scene. Best of all, one ticket allows full access to all conferences. Expect 2 Days with 8 Tracks, 100+ Speakers, 500+ Companies, 1,200 Delegates, and endless networking.

Get Involved

There are lots of ways to get involved with the conference, like entering the Very Big Indie Pitch for Mobile, PC or VR or submitting a speaking session on PC, Mobile or VR/AR. 

Take Advantage of the Special Midsummer Offer

Use promo code “MIDSUMMER” to save 20% on tickets, delegate tickets, which now includes indie tables at reduced rate. 

For more information visit: http://www.pgconnects.com/helsinki

Head to Vienna for the ReVersed Festival

The ReVersed Festival is a free and open gaming event for everyone of all ages, but of particular interest for game developers, enthusiasts, jammers and journalists. 

Organized in part by our friends at IGDA Austria, the event will take place from July 6-9th at the MuseumsQuarters in Vienna, Austria and will feature an indie showcases, a four-day game jam, and plenty of opportunities for networking. 

The event is entirely free for everyone, and is run on the blood, sweat and effort of their volunteer force. That said, they are looking for anyone interested in sponsoring the event. 

For more information visit: http://www.reversed.at

4C: St. Petersburg - Call for Speakers

The 4C Conference is back and this time it’s coming to St. Petersburg on September 22-23, 2017. The organizers are calling for speakers. The deadline is June 20th.

This year’s event, will bring together a great line-up of experts to give over 60 talks, hold panels, and participate in discussions covering a broad range of topics including art, design, technology, managerial and leadership practices, as well as, existing and emerging trends that will shape the industry for years to come. The first 4C conference, 4C: Kyiv 2016, was held in September 2016 and saw a broad lineup of over 50 reputable speakers from 14 countries speak in front of a whopping 800+ aspiring developers, video game enthusiasts, prominent media, and other opinion makers.

4C’s motto is: Create. Craft. Communicate. Collaborate.

4C: SPb is a conference for those who drive change, not just adjust to it. Listed among participants and speakers are world leading video game specialists and experts. Our goal with this event is to create a meeting place for the most innovative and aspiring developers from across the globe. We won’t be talking about the state of the industry today — we’ll be discussing what the industry will be like in 5 or even 10 years.

The event is sponsored by Wargaming, an award-winning online game developer and publisher, and one of the leaders in the free-to-play MMO market. They’re best known for the mega-hit game World of Tanks.

Additional information: 4C Call for Speakers  (PDF) & http://conf4c.com/

Are You the Next UA Superstar?

The Games Growth Hacker program aims to train new UA and mobile marketing talent for the Finnish gaming industry. 

During the program, trainees will work full time for 6 months at gaming companies and go through an 18-day training program held by industry professionals from companies such as Google, Rovio, Yousician, and Seriously.

No previous experience in UA, mobile marketing, or growth hacking is required. This program will train the participants, however applicants must be Finnish and unemployed to qualify. This is a good opportunity for unemployed members because past experience in the games industry, demonstrating a passion for games, and a positive attitude will help during the selection process. 

For more information visit: http://www.digitalexcellenceacademy.fi/koulutustrackit/games-growth-hacker/ 

Application deadline: June 4th

Wargaming Party 2017 and Bus Transportation Registration

Wargaming will be sponsoring bus transportation to the Parola Tank Museum from IGDA Finland Hubs. The buses are being coordinated by your local IGDA hubs.

In order to ensure a spot on a bus please do the following:

1. Register for the Wargaming 2017 Party on Eventbrite (registration is now closed)
2. Once you have a ticket to the event, register for bus transportation via one of the forms below.
3. Bus registrations are individual, you cannot reserve bus seats for multiple people.
4. Only register if you know for sure you can attend.

Bus transportation registration is now closed.

Bus transportation is free of charge, however a small fee of 5 euros will be collected from participants in Parola and donated to the Parola Tank Museum.

More info about the Wargaming Party 2017 here: https://www.igda.fi/new-events/2017/wargaming-party-2017

White Nights St. Petersburg June 14-15

IGDA Finland members get 15% off the White Nights St. Petersburg conference registration fee. The WNConf attracts unique blend of industry professionals and developers from Russia and other CIS countries as well as delegations from Israel, Greece, India, and Finland.  Attendees will include representatives from Game Insight, App Annie, Playrix, Unity, Pixonic, Epic Games, VK.com, Starbreeze Studios, Electronic Arts, Google, Goodgame Studios, Facebook, MoPub, Appodeal, and IBCC.

The Developer Exhibition is a great place for studios to showcase their games in order to meet and get feedback from leading publishers, industry gurus and fellow colleagues.  The best of the best will receive a trophy and receive prizes at the Indie Game Cup Awards Ceremony. The organizers are accepting applications for the Developer Exhibition and for the Indie Game Cup until May 19, 2017. Participation is free. Use the following form to apply: https://goo.gl/forms/xIFq8uIclmXxkbFr2

Use the promo code IGDA-Finland to get your 15% discount when registering here: http://wnconf.com/#registration

Finnish Game Awards 2017 - summary

Last evening at incredible Finnish Game Awards gala, "IGDA Finland Volunteer of the Year 2016" award went to - one and only - Minna Eloranta!!!

More detailed information about the awards and event can be found at Neogames-pages:

http://www.neogames.fi/suomen-peliparhaimmisto-palkittiin-the-finnish-game-awards-gaalassa/

Kajaani aiming for the stars with E-Sports!

It's gathering day 28th of March and Rock House Kulma is full of enthusiastic game industry veterans and students.

Kajaani is aiming to become the E-sports capital of Finland.
We are already famous for Critical Ops published by Critical Force Entertainment and a brand new Critical Force Academy starting next summer.
But it´s not all. Kajaani University of Applied Sciences in collaboration with Vuokatti
Ruka Sports Academy, is arranging the NORDIC eSports Academy Bootcamp
during the summer 2017.

We had a pleasure to have Touko Möttönen, former Kajaani University student and
Niklas Pehkonen to tell us more of this magnificent opportunity in our IGDA March
Gathering. Unfortunately our supposed guest Noel McAvennie couldn’t make it to the
event, but we took care of extra drinks for him.

Touko enlightened us about upcoming bootcamp.

The Nordic eSports Academy is a new Finnish summer school and tournament,
which takes place in Kajaani from 12.6 to 6.7 and culminates in 3-day CS GO
tournament in Vuokatti at the end (7.7 – 9.7). The bootcamp includes a series of
lectures, workshops and coaching sessions on a full time basis at KAMK for 80 to
100 students. The total prize pool for the tournament is 10,000€ and we’ll be bringing
approximately 10 to 12 of the best of the bootcamp teams together with a selected 8
to 10 guest teams. We’re hoping to bring some international teams as well as some
top Finnish teams to create something special. The camp is targeted especially for
amateur players, who aim to become professionals.

The bootcamp will be broken down into 5 modules: Business coaching, Physical
coaching, Mental coaching, Gameplay coaching and Testing. The Testing feature is
a new system developed by KAMK that measures a range of performance indicators
for each gamer while playing in a team. The end result will be a radar chart, much
the same as other athletes in traditional sports have to monitor ongoing performance
changes. This Testing system will be developed and exported with the idea that it will
become an industry standard so this is an opportunity for bootcamp teams to be
involved right at the start.

The various lectures, workshops and hands-on coaching classes will be undertaken
by a mix of local experts and international “gurus”. Ville “CISU” Leppälä, the former
Counter Strike player will do the coaching, while Mia Stellberg, a psychologist of
CS:GO team Astralis will handle the opening week lectures.

This is only the beginning of a new surge in local support for eSports, with major
plans afoot to develop eSports as an official sporting discipline that will be coached
at the Vuokatti Ruka Sports Academy, so we expect to see significant national
interest in what we’re doing as we launch the first bootcamp and tournament this
summer.

Samuli and Pauliina, after a hard evening of an IGDA Gathering

Written by:
Pauliina Lammi
IGDA Finland Kajaani Hub volunteer
 

Helsinki Hub April Demo Corner

We've got something special planned for the May Demo Corner, so don't miss your last chance to demo your game before the fall! Anyone interested in demoing next Tuesday April 18th should sign up using the following form:  

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeuhinlx3w3VOktbWzBaDa4JAsFTs8tAiOS6-1i-AkrwVnugw/viewform

Please read the form carefully before signing up!

April 11th IGDA Helsinki Hub gathering canceled, new gathering date April 18th

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Despite our best efforts we have not been able to secure a sponsor for the Helsinki Hub gathering tonight. We are working on a event for a later date this month, which we will inform more about as soon as we get the details figured out.

Our sincere apologies for the late notice, we were literally working to the last minute trying to make tonight happen!

UPDATE: The gathering has been moved forward by one week to Tuesday April 18th!