IGDAJKL Archives - Jyväskylä Digi and Game Center

13.3.2023

Game Audio Awards 2023

Last Friday, on the 10th of March, Game Audio Awards were held for the first time in a few years. The last time it was organized was in 2020. This caused some electricity in the air, as the event was eagerly anticipated.

The event was held at Hotel Lasaretti in Oulu, Finland. The event is the biggest of its kind in all of Europe.

The evening started with toasts when entering the hall. After taking seats at the preselected tables, the show started. First, they showed a clip of Lukas Stasevskij, who is a part of Game Music Collective, playing a song from the Last of Us with a cello. The video was filmed in war-torn Kyiv in Ukraine. This setup caused massive goosebumps. Lukas has been all over Finnish and international media for the last year for the work he has done for Ukraine.

Next up were speeches from the event’s sponsors: Housemarque and Fingersoft. Especially Ville Rauma’s speech concerning the importance of entertainment in these stressful and difficult times was a good reminder for all of us. That is what the whole event is basically for: to come together in a well-organized event, enjoy great food and drinks, get to know new people, and celebrate last year’s very diverse game music and audio design.

The Jury in 2023 consisted of six highly awarded individuals: Rob Krekel, Panu Riikonen, Ville Sorsa, Panu Aaltio, Kristofer Eng, and Joel Schoch. The jury members have individually participated in the music and audio departments of games/franchises such as The Last of Us, Uncharted, and Control. They also have lots of experience working in the film industry.

The category of best game sound design had ten nominees: Angry Birds Journey, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (2022), The Callisto Protocol, Dome Keeper, Dying Light 2 Stay Human, The Forest Quartet, MARVEL SNAP, Metal: Hellsinger, Oakenfold and Total War: Warhammer III.

Eventually, the winner was published and it was: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (2022)

The second category was the best Game music. It also had ten nominees: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II (2022), Card Shark, Chorus, Dying Light 2 Stay Human, Floodland, Friends & Dragons, Horizon Forbidden West, Metal: Hellsinger, Trek to Yomi and Vampire Survivors.

The winner of this category was: Metal: Hellsinger.

The evening had some live music as well. Producer/Oboist Saku Mattila and Guitarist Ossi Maristo from Game Music Collective played some songs for us.

After the official part of the event was over, we got to enjoy some more live music, this time from Lasse Junnila. Also, during the set people were enjoying the music and socializing at the same time. These kinds of events are great for networking.

Game Audio Awards (GAA)

An event that focuses on Audio and Music departments of the games
Was arranged for the 8th time in 2023
Biggest of its’ kind in all of Europe

Learn more about Game Audio Awards

https://gameaudioawards.com/

Learn all about Game Business Co-operative Expa:

https://expa.fi/

8.2.2023

Making games is all about community

Last weekend was something lots of people have been waiting for since last year, Finnish Game Jam 2023. It has played a crucial role in the gaming industry for a long time.

Global Game Jam is an event where like-minded people gather around at the same place for a limited amount of time. Usually, the Global Game Jam lasts for a whole week, but national chapters can be shorter. The purpose is to create a game (video game, board game, etc.) of which theme is revealed during that period. Annually, Global Game Jam has tens of thousands of participants globally.

Finnish Game Jam is the Finnish chapter of the Global Game Jam. The event lasted 48 hours. (3.2.2023, 17:00 – 5.2.2023, 17:00). We here at Game Business Co-operative Expa have been organizing Jams in Jyväskylä for a decade. This year’s Jam was the 10th time. It means that we have lots of experience organizing online, offline, and hybrid Jams. This year the Jam was a hybrid model so people could participate online via Discord and offline at the Digi & Game Center.

The weekend flew by in a heartbeat. This year we had plenty of first-timers participating in the Jam. After discussing with the participants, it became clear why people participate in Jams year and year again. It is all about the community. The Jams are social events. People come with their friends and spend some quality time together. It is also easy to find new friends at these events, as everyone shares mutual interests in creating games. Therefore it is also common to come alone. The organizers always ensure that everyone who wants finds a team to join. It is also possible to create a game alone if it’s what the participant wants.

Many participants enjoy the challenge of coming up with a game in 48 hours. Usually, the game development process takes months or even years. The tight schedule challenges teams and individuals to work more efficiently.

The participants’ backgrounds vary a lot when it comes to prior experience level. Some have been participating annually since the first local Jam in 2013, while some came for the first time this year. Some participants are working in big local gaming companies. Some are upcoming professionals, students, etc., or working in a different field.

When people from such various backgrounds come together, it is no surprise that the Jams are also networking events. Many of the more experienced Jammers told that participating in these events has helped them find a job in the field. Employers in the game development field value the Jams significantly.

The Game Jams also play a crucial role in building the local ecosystem. These events make it possible for like-minded people to connect. It can lead to new companies in the field, which help build the ecosystem and provide tax income for the local municipalities and the country.

You do not have to be an expert in coding, game design, or any other field to partake in these events. We encourage everyone interested in making games to participate in the Game Jams. Who knows, what kind of possibilities may occur because of it?

Huge thanks to YAHAHA Studios for partnering up with us for this event.

Global Game Jam (GGJ)

An event that focuses on creating original games
Has been arranged since 2009
Has tens of thousands of participants from all over the world

Finnish Game Jam (FGJ)

Part of the Global Game Jam
Has been organized since 2010
Has local Game Jam hubs in various cities.

Interested in the Game Jams?

Check out all the games created in Jyväskylä’s Jam hub this year.

Read here, how your body may react to the fun but demanding 48-hour-long event.

Learn more about YAHAHA Studios:

https://yahaha.com/

Learn all about Game Co-operative Expa:

https://expa.fi/

14.4.2020

Why support Digi & Game Center?

Support us here (in Finnish): bit.ly/Save-DGC-Korona-Aid-Fin
Support us here (in English): bit.ly/Save-DGC-Korona-Aid-Eng

The Digi & Game Center (DGC) did what many in the digital and gaming industries are dreaming about. It brought together digital and gaming companies, part of game development education, the eSports training space called Game Pit, and the VR / AR / XR studio under one roof. DGC also provided office space for 16 companies at an affordable rent, which includes e.g., free use of meeting rooms. Also, Jyväskylä University of Applied Sciences (JAMK) has leased the other half of the office space for a game development project called Demo Lab.

Check out what it looks like inside DGC in 360 view here!

There is no similar ecosystem in Finland, where the aim is to increase the turnover of all companies through cooperation. In addition to this, DGC brings visibility to gaming and digital companies both in Central Finland, nationally, and internationally. This may sound pompous, but this community has been in development for seven years, so we are to be proud of it. One of the long-term goals of the gaming cooperative Expa was to build just such a community and premises. This goal was officially achieved with the opening of the DGC on 1.1.2020. The DGC was announced last July during the Business Rally Week organized by the City of Jyväskylä during Neste Rally Finland. Within a week, 80% of the offices had been booked, and by the end of the year, 100% had been reached.

Now the coronavirus has had a significant impact on Digi & Game Center’s revenue streams. To cover DGC’s expenses, various partner packages are sold, and premises are leased to companies, communities, and multiple events. Needless to say, at the moment, all of the above sales are on ice. For this reason, the crowdfunding campaign has been organized for the DGC, which is one way to fund the DGC’s journey that has just begun.

Where does the money from the Mesenaatti campaign go?

An excellent question with a simple answer: the money is used to cover the rental costs incurred by the DGC for the Game Business Co-operative Expa and other expenses such as accounting and salaries. Expa operates the DGC and is responsible for rents for the center’s shared facilities, which will accrue around € 15,000 over three months.

One of DGC’s companies, W1llou Agency, has also been employed in the campaign, and product rewards will be made in Finland. At the same time, we support Finnish companies as well as the buyers of the campaign.

For example, to achieve our minimum goal – € 15,000 – we need

300 buyers of Collect All! product package
OR
120 #XmasJKL ticket buyers
OR
10 buyers of the DGC Loves U visibility package
OR
2 namings of the Stage reward buyers + 2 namings of the meeting rooms

After deducting the taxes and other expenses such as ordering the product rewards, DGC will have € 9,000 left. With this, we can cover about two months of rent.

For example, to achieve our maximum goal – € 50,000 – we need

1000 Collect All! buyers of the product package
OR
34 buyers of the DGC Loves U visibility package
OR
20 buyers of the Gamification and Game Industry lecture
OR
10 buyers of the Collision of Worlds workshop

After deducting the taxes and other expenses such as ordering the product rewards, DGC will have approximately € 25,000 left. With this, we can cover about five months of rent, which already helps a lot.

So we are not talking about a large number of buyers, so the goals are very achievable! There are 25 days left in the campaign. It is shown that there is strength in cooperation, and the Digi & Game Center will be maintained here in Jyväskylä.

Support us here (in Finnish): bit.ly/Save-DGC-Korona-Aid-Fin
Support us here (in English): bit.ly/Save-DGC-Korona-Aid-Eng