THIS WEEK (21&22/2019) IN THE FINNISH GAME INDUSTRY

Play Finland’s Weekly Newsletter
In this report we will combine week 21&22/2019 from the Finnish Game Industry.
News are gathered from the Play Finland group posts during the week. That is why we recommend you to post by yourself (however not flood) your Finnish Game Industry related news to the group. It also guarantees that your news will be visible in the weekly newsletter /news compilation. Play Finland is at the moment one of the main channels for sharing information inside the industry.

Events:

• 11th June Jamologyseminar at Aalto University
• 14-16th June Eko Game Jam / Helsinki
• 17th June; Reactor invites people to Artificial Overmind, build an AI in Python that can play StarCraft II, outsmart the other players, and rise in the rankings.
• 18-20th June Finnish Game Day 2019 in St. Petersburg, Russia.  The signup for Finnish studios here

See also The Game Industry Events calendar: http://www.neogames.fi/en/events/eventcalendar
Neogames is creating a tool for the city of Helsinki summarising all key games industry related events in Helsinki
Open jobs & Recruitment

• Critical Force is looking for a producer!
• Looking for Jobs: Niko Nikkilä, Experienced writer looking for jobs and gigs within the game industry
  
• Does anyone know an awesome UA person looking for a new opportunity? Frogmind latest games (Rumble Stars and Badland Brawl) are doing better than anything they have had before and they are already spending quite big budgets on UA. Would love to ride this together with an actual UA person/specialist/lead/whatever he/she wants to be called. If you know someone like that or if that is you, now would be a great time to join our studio of 22 devs & the best possible partner in the world (Supercell). You can reach them at jobs@frogmindgames.com.
• Get your self matched in Game Factory Talents. Find your place in the Finnish Games Industry
  • Games Factory Talents have introduced a new platform to make your talent visible for the game studios. They are building a community of developers to showcase, making it easier for the game studios to find the talent they need.
  • “Instead of building a platform only for job seeking game industry professionals, we wanted a platform where the game studios could come and meet the talent even before they start the long and expensive process of advertising an open job position. Our Talent Board features industry professionals from all levels of experience to most of the various positions studios might be looking to fill”, explains Kim Bäckroos, CEO of the newly formed Games Factory Talents.
  • New talent is being added to the Talent Board constantly, and Games Factory Talents are inviting all industry professionals and game studios to take part. Head over Games Factory Talents to look at the talent and job positions available and make yourself visible for the hiring studios.Follow Games Factory Talents on social media for the latest news and information on any upcoming talent acquisition events.
  • https://www.linkedin.com/company/gamesfactorytalents
  • https://www.instagram.com/gamesfactorytalents
• Jobs in Games: Rovio’s Heini Kaihu on how to get a job as head of studio.
  • if people are interested in taking part in ‘Jobs in Games’ series feel free to get in touch with Craig Chapple!
• Curious on how to enter the Games Industry? On March 1st, during the Futures Day, one of the topics discussed on our stream was just that! Take a look and see what industry veterans have to say on the topic. If you know what your skills are, and just need a place to apply them, take a look at http://www.devs.tv/jobs/ for the current list of all jobs available in the Finnish Game Industry!

Releases;

• FakeFish‘s Barotrauma is now out on Steam!
• Joakim Achrén first podcast is live in EliteGameDevelopers
• Instance Games latest game “All That’s Left” that has just ben published to Itch.io, for free with the option to monetarily support us, indie developers.
• Kimble Games Drag Bikes Online Android is available in Finland

Announcements;

• Growth Company of 2019 in Finland: Small Giant Games!
• Oceanhorn – The Adventure Video Game was featured on the Apple WWDC19 Keynote
• The Nordic Games Awards brought together developers and industry professionals from around the globe. Studios from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden competed to decide the winners.
  • Red Stage Entertainment’s Skábma – Polar Night won the People’s Choice Award at Nordic Game!
• Digi-demo funding decisions announced here. Congratulations to all!
• You can now apply to be an official member of Women In Games Finland ry! Anyone who accepts their purpose and mission, and agrees with the rules of the association can become a member.
• Open call for Artist in Residence, Games as Art
• Licia Prehn has been actively campaigning for accessibility – and now she’s nominated for a Women in Games Award for it

Discussions;

• Paula Penttinen is looking for recommendations where to order hoodies
  

Other News;

• Extended version of Ludum Dare 43 winning entry Total Party Kill is coming to iOS, Android, PC and Mac on 3rd of July!
• The Shortcut paid a visit to Still Running office
• Devs.TV is looking for feedback regarding their first episode.
• Uusimmassa Retro Rewind -lehdessä avataan erästä vähemmän tunnettua ja muistettua palasta suomalaisen pelialan historiasta: Playcard-pelejä.
• Dealflow Finland platform makes your company visible for thousands of investors. The investors can an easily find and contact your company through the platform. The service is free of charge and created for companies looking for international expansion. The service is operated by Business Finland, the most important public funding agency for research funding in Finland. Business Finland’s global network of experts in London, Stockholm, Dubai, Tokyo, Seoul, Palo Alto, Singapore and Shanghai continuously presents local investors relevant Finnish companies looking for international growth.
• Rival Games Ltd, multiplatform company behind for example Alien: Blackout and Thief of Thieves: Season One . Both games have been praised for various creative aspects: writing, design, art, audio, etc., and are based on 3rd party IPs. and Thief of Thieves has also won multiple awards (e.g. Best Creative Achievement at Finnish Game Awards).
  • Due to unexpected situations Jukka Laakso (jukka.laakso@rival-games.com) is offering his team for work-for-hire projects. Team specialties include:
  • – Narrative (branching, world building, etc.)
    – Art (2D, 3D, concept art)
    – Design (Level Design, Game Design)
    – Audio (music, SFXs, audio design, mixing, mastering, the whole package)
    – Programming (from prototype to shippable product)
    – Biz Dev (3rd party IPs)
• Check out Starbase, a hybrid voxel/vertex-based space MMO with a fully destructible and infinitely expanding universe. Coming to Steam Early Access in 2019 + Discord
• Joakim Achrén is starting work on games business online courses and would like to get your feedback on which courses would be most helpful. 
• Miri Greenberg is conducting a research for her bachelor’s thesis on engagement with the gaming community. The questionnaire is answered anonymously and is confidential.
• Hittipeli Cities Skylinesin suunnittelijalla on nyt oma startup – Karoliina Korppoo yhdistää romanttisen kirjallisuuden ja pelit
• Zsuzsa James invites Finnish Games Studios that are coming to E3 to (invite only) kickoff event for you on Monday, June 10th @ 5pm – 9pm. Their current RSVP list includes Funplus, Netmarble, Gumi, Tencent, Jam City, NCSoft and FoxNext, with more coming in. Message for zsuzsa.james@formin.fi to get more details.
• China Game Day was a great success, MyGamez thanks to all the speakers, sponsors and attendees!

This is the weekly summary of news from the Finnish game  industry. If you want to have your news on the list, post them on the Play Finland Facebook group. The summary will be posted every Friday afternoon. Check out previous week’s list.