THIS WEEK (18/2018) IN THE FINNISH GAME INDUSTRY

Play Finland’s Weekly Newsletter
In this report we will combine the week 18/2018 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:

• May 5th Game Över 11- pelitapahtuma Lahden pääkirjastolla
• May 8th Games First / Helsinki
• May 14th Doctoral defence of M.Soc.Sc. Annakaisa Kultima / Tampere
• May 14th GDPR-event at Rovio 14.5 afternoon 13-16. Registration gdpr@neogames.fi. if you are a member of Suomen Pelinkehittäjät ry I have also sent you info about how to get access to materials. If you are a developer but not a member you can ask access to materials by mailing request to gdpr@neogames.fi
• June 14th RovioCon
• 15th May OASIS Talk: A Closer Look at Big Data Practices in Games
• 16-17 May Bit1 Metropolia game event / Helsinki
• May 23rd Narrative Micro-Lectures #1
• May 23-25 Nordic Game Conference / Malmö, Sweden
  • IGDA members get 20% off for Nordic Game Conference 2018!!! This is how you do it:
    Hurry up, go to www.conf.nordicgame.com, push the “Register” button, check the “Organisation discount” box, choose “IGDA” from the drop down menu, and then enter the code “XJ7VnpGDsM” in the “Discount Code” box.
• May 25-27th SmirnovSchool / Theme Park May Workshop / Kouvola
  • Eugene Je (Evgeniya Zherebtsova), instructor, who is going to run one of the workshops in May, have some new art on her ArtStation, go check it out.
• May 29th Game Music Collective is giving to IGDA members 20% off from VIP tickets at their TURKU gig in Logomo! It includes concert and after-party https://holvi.com/…/produ…/ff4ed93f9b634abf906c18c43cfe590f/
  Use code: IGDAVIPxGMC, for receiving 33e VIP ticket
• October 19th Monetization in Games: Past, Present and Future – ft. John Romero / Helsinki

See also The Game Industry Events calendar: http://www.neogames.fi/en/events/eventcalendar
Open jobs:

• After winning Finnish Game of the Year and Big Screen Game of the Year at the Finnish Game Awards last week, Housemarque is looking for new talent to join the team working on an unannounced AAA project. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to get involved in a project of this caliber!
• 700+ game companies in the Nordics to get an overview of game development jobs available right now. Currently 440 job openings in Denmark, Sweden, Finland and Norway – browse through them at http://gameform.eu/
• More jobs at gamesjobs.fi

Announcements;

• Doctoral defence of M.Soc.Sc. Annakaisa Kultima
• Nordic Game Awards Finnish nominees are; Nex Machina (Housemarque), PAKO 2 (Treemengames) and  Ocmo (team Ocmo)

Releases;

• Ball Grabbers on STEAM
• Fun Academy first educational app for the little ones is now out for FREE download! 
• YATATOY wishes everyone in Play Finland a great Wappu with Bandimal
• NoReload Heroes released on STEAM

Other News;

• China Joy Trade mission (Neogames & Business Finland) on July 31st-6th August. DL for registeration May 21st.
• Zen Bound 2 – Nintendo Switch Trailer Release date May 24th.
•  if you want to secure 5 minutes meetings @Nordic Game with Maximum Games, iDreamSky, Yoozoo, Nexon, Headup Games, Dazzle Interactive, FGL among many others, then this is the time to apply!Final Deadline for submissions, 9th May!
  The selected studios will be notified on 14th May.And if you’re a publisher, and want in, send an e-mail at teddy@nordicgame.com
• Baltic Game Incubator – Patch 1 – will start 15.8. at Metropolia Leppävaara Campus. 3-5 game companies or teams depending on size will be accepted for the 4 months program. Main criteria we’re looking for is commercial potential, strong and performing team with bold international goals and need for assistance.
  • The Incubator is free for its participants. No equity, no strings attached, instead included is mentoring and pro guidance from industry heavyweights and structured program in addition to working space and hardware. The Incubator is funded by the EU project Baltic Game Industry which aims to help start-ups, mentoring stuctures and teams to create successful games.
    Apply before 25.5, apply form will be published next week. Get your decks, demos and links and info ready! Pitches and interviews for selected teams will be held on 6.6.We are also of course looking for more mentors and coaches. Contact juha.huhtakallio@metropolia.fi for more information about the incubator or if you’re interested in mentoring.
• Calling game executives who want to expand their network and knowledge. Tuesday, 22 May (the day before NG18).
• Games Now lecture series Spring 2018 game jam with guest speakers Arvi Teikari and Björn Lindholm.
• Space Frontier!
• Hittipelin suunnitellut Karoliina Korppoo saa edelleen neuvoja miehiltä siitä, miten pelejä pitäisi oikeasti tehdä
• Fingersoft’s Hill Climb Racing franchise rolls past one billion downloads
• Official IGDA Game Art SIG group is ready for your contributions

• Tuomas Erikoinen Blog post about not having to be good at drawing to make good looking games, with extra blast from the past featuring Angry Birds!

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.