Helsinki Hub: Xmas with Veikkaus

Text by Giorgos Riskas and Roope Sorvo, photos by Casimir Kuusela

It’s that time of the year again, when developers congregate to bid their farewells to the departing year in good old IGDA fashion. The final Helsinki Gathering of 2018 was sponsored by Veikkaus and in addition to the usual free drinks this event included physical loot boxes and a fun non-traditional Christmas feast where the main ingredient was hot dogs. Their new, pirate-themed game Kultaranta occupied the demo corner, and featured as the common center point for the presentations.

The seminars were opened by Veikkaus studio head and a game development veteran Henri Lindgren, whose presentation Veikkaus Game Studio in a Nutshell went into detail about their development cycles, team structures and company philosophy. The focal point of the presentation was the shift from slot machines towards the mobile-first game design Veikkaus has been doing for the past year.

Lindgren’s previous experience in mobile F2P games has proven to be a powerful tool in leading his current studio to success. When asked to share a few hints on how to inspire teams instead of simply managing them, Lindgren used safety, freedom and responsibility as the key to success.

Following Lindgren was Sakari Tiikkaja, lead game artist at Veikkaus. In his presentation, Our Approach to Game Design and Creative Design, he went through the journey of a Veikkaus game, from raw concept to finalized, concrete assets. A key component on this journey is a 5-Step Design process influenced by Tim Brown and Roger Martin and further based on the work of designer Feng Zhu.

Tiikkaja believes that the aforementioned process could definitely be applied to games outside the field of gambling as well. When asked to name the biggest benefit of their workflow, Tiikkaja answered: “It is important to crystallize the concepts and find the boundaries of an IP early on in the development. This way, the developers don’t need to blindly grasp in the darkness.”

After Tiikkaja the stage was given to lead game artist Senja Heikkinen and senior game artist Henrik Hackenberg, whose presentation Case Study: Kultaranta delved into various trials and tribulations the game had during its development. While primarily a recitation of the art design for Kultaranta, going from early sketches and mood boards to the finished product, the presentation also explored topics such as designing a game simultaneously for three different types of slot machines and working with the ever-changing, yet endlessly strict Finnish gambling laws. However, at least when it comes to the latter, Hackenberg thinks that the situation has improved. “Instead of handing each gambling company an unique monopoly, the Finnish law has recently been unified so that there’s less fear of stepping on one another’s toes”, he says.

Happy holidays and joyous new year. See you in 2019!

IGDA Finland Appoints New Chairperson and Board!

On behalf of IGDA Finland, I am proud to accept the position of Chairperson and delighted to announce the new elected Members of the Board of IGDA Finland - big congrats to Vesa Raudasoja, Oskari Tamminen, Tuomas Roininen and Joni Finne!

A big THANK YOU goes to Juha Vainio, Jussi Loukiainen and Daniel Fischer for incredible work in the Board for past two years!

New adventures await, and we are preparing incredible events across Finland for our beloved community of game developers, cheers!

Yours,

Natasha Trygg

IGDA Appoints New Chair, Vice-Chair of Board of Directors

English version follows below.

Kansainvälinen pelinkehittäjien järjestö IGDA (International Game Developers Association) on nimittänyt suomalaisen Vesa Raudasojan hallituksensa uudeksi puheenjohtajaksi.

Aiemmin maailman suurimman pelinkehittäjien etujärjestön varapuheenjohtajana toiminut Vesa Raudasoja on pelialan konsultti ja yhteisökehittäjä. Hän on yli vuosikymmenen ajan kehittänyt kansainvälistä yhteistyötä, rakentanut yhteisöjä ja auttanut ihmisiä pelialalla. Hän on ollut mukana kasvattamassa IGDA Finlandia yhdeksi koko kansainvälisen järjestön suurimmista paikallisosastoista, jossa oli yli 1 700 jäsentä ja 12 paikallista keskusta. Hänet palkittiin IGDA:n elämäntyöpalkinnolla vuonna 2015. Hän on myös Finnish Game Jam ry:n hallituksen jäsen ja aktiivi sekä Devs.tv-palvelun perustaja.

Kansainvälisen IGDA:n edellinen puheenjohtaja David Seltzer jatkaa hallituksessa emeritus-puheenjohtajana. Nykyisestä hallituksen jäsenestä, Emily Greeristä, tulee uusi varapuheenjohtaja. Lucien Parsons jatkaa rahastonhoitajana ja Renee Gittins hallituksen sihteerinä.

”Vaikka olemme surullisia Davidin lähdöstä, olemme varmoja, että IGDA:n uusi johtajisto tulee tekemään suuria asioita”, sanoo IGDA:n johtaja Jen MacLean. ”Vesa jatkaa omistautumistaan kansainvälisen peliyhteisön parhaaksi ja Emilyn menestys peliyhtiön perustajana ja toimitusjohtajana ovat tehokas yhdistelmä IGDA:n tavoitteiden edistämisessä. Autamme jatkossakin pelinkehittäjiä kaikkialla maailmassa luomaan onnistuneita työuria.”

International Game Developers Association (IGDA)

International Game Developers Association on maailman suurin voittoa tavoittelematon jäsenorganisaatio, joka palvelee pelejä kehittäviä henkilöitä. Yhdistys on jo 24 vuoden ajan edistänyt työuria ja pyrkinyt parantamaan pelinkehittäjien elämää yhdistämällä jäseniä toisiinsa, edistämällä ammatillista kehitystä ja tukemalla kehittäjäyhteisöön vaikuttavia asioita. IGDA Finland tukee Suomessa toimivia pelinkehittäjiä monin eri tavoin. Yksi näkyvimmistä tavoista on säännöllisesti järjestettävät avoimet kokoontumiset.

English version

The International Game Developers Association (IGDA) has appointed Vesa Raudasoja as new chair of the board of directors, promoting him from the vice-chair position at the world’s largest organization serving individuals who create games. Previous chairman David Seltzer will continue to serve on the board as chair emeritus, with current board member Emily Greer stepping in as new vice-chair while Lucien Parsons continues as treasurer and Renee Gittins as secretary.

Vesa Raudasoja is a game consultant and community developer based in Finland. His career covers more than a decade in international collaborations, community building and grass roots efforts helping people get involved in games. He helped grow IGDA Finland into one of IGDA's flagship chapters with more than 1,700 members and 12 hubs and was awarded with the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015. He is also a board member and evangelist with the Finnish Game Jam Association as well as co-founder of Devs.tv.

Emily Greer co-founded Kongregate in 2006 and took over as CEO in February 2014. Greer led the company’s rapid rise as a free-to-play web destination along with its expansion to mobile, PC and console game publishing, as well as the launch of the company’s new PC platform Kartridge. She is also well-known in the game industry for her presentations on the economics and psychology of free-to-play games.

Lucien Parsons is a games business and operations expert with a programming background and an MBA in Innovation Management from The Wharton School. With experience covering four continents, eight years of game development and 18 years of technical project management and production, Parsons has worked on everything from social media games and AAA titles at companies including ZeniMax to projects for the U.S. government and hospitals.

Renee Gittins is a multi-disciplinary leader with expertise in software engineering, creative direction and marketing at companies including X2 Biosystems and Xbox Games before becoming the creative director and CEO of Stumbling Cat. She is an outspoken advocate for diversity in the game industry and supports the growth of developers by organizing game-jams, panels, job fairs and other events as a board member of IGDA Seattle and by actively mentoring game development students at Foundry10.

“Although we are sad to see David go, we are confident the IGDA’s new leadership is going to accomplish great things,” said Jen MacLean, executive director, IGDA. “Vesa’s ongoing dedication to the international gaming community and Emily’s track record as the founder and CEO of a successful gaming company are a potent combination for furthering the IGDA’s goals of helping developers all over the world develop successful careers.”

Helsinki Hub: November Gathering

Text by Giorgos Riskas and Roope Sorvo, photo by Casimir Kuusela

The November IGDA gathering at the Helsinki Hub was a non-commercial celebration. There wasn’t a specific agenda for the evening so developers had time to meet with friends and relax while discussing their plans for the year that is rapidly reaching its conclusion.

With no sponsors or presenters, the most visible banner of the night belonged to the documentary The Name of the Game. The film tells the story of Nex Machina, the collaboration between the legendary arcade game designer Eugene Jarvis, and the Finnish game developer Housemarque. The movie was shot over the course of three years in five different countries, resulting in 200 hours of footage detailing the creation process of the game. “However, it is more about the characters and their journey than a straight up documentary about the game’s development,” emphasized Heikki Kareranta, co-writer and producer of the film. “We wanted to make a good story rather than just a documentary.”

When asked about how much the subject will resonate with general audiences, Kareranta replied, “People in Finland are especially interested in video games on a large scale, but the average Joe has little idea about their creation process. This gives them a sort of a peek behind the curtain.”

The first press screening was arranged earlier in the day prior to the IGDA Gathering.

The Name of the Game premiered on November 23.

In addition to the Hollywood bigwigs, a wig of another kind also graced the event with their presence: IGDA Women In Gaming (WIG) was among the attendees joining the gathering, as they have done many times in the past. Its main goal is to build a support network for women in the industry and the group recently reached the milestone of 1000 members in Finland.

Two developers presented their games in this month’s demo corner:

Stone is a story driven ‘stoner noir’ game developed by Convict Games. The player assumes the role of a hungover koala detective in a colourful society of anthropomorphic Australian fauna. The game draws inspiration from pieces of media of the same genre such as Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas and The Big Lebowski.

The game was in development for about a year and is now available for purchase on Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/agecheck/app/907770/

Chopball is a competitive multiplayer party sports game, currently in development by a studio that is tentatively calling itself Kanto Games. The gameplay combines elements of soccer and pinball while introducing a few interesting twists, such as breakable defenses in front of the goals. The game has been in development for a couple of months and aims for release in late 2019 as the studio’s first title.

See you in December!

23rd of November - Premiere of the movie THE NAME OF THE GAME in theaters across Finland!

The Name of the Game is a feature-length documentary about the team up between the legendary arcade game designer, Eugene Jarvis, and the Finnish game developer, Housemarque. The end result of the collaboration was the critically acclaimed PS4/PC title Nex Machina. The film gives the audience an unprecedented access to the unpredictable and plain crazy world of making a video game - uncensored.

The film hits theaters on November 23rd, and we urge everybody to go and see the film on the premiere weekend!