21.8.2023

Special Speaker Event: Professor Tae-Jin Yoon: “Female Game Players in Korea: Can they shoot guns?” (24.08.2023)

Special Speaker Event: Professor Tae-Jin Yoon: “Female Game Players in Korea: Can they shoot guns?”

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Guest: Professor Tae-Jin Yoon
Topic: “Female Game Players in Korea: Can they shoot guns?”

Date: Thursday, August 24th, from 11:15 to 12:00
Where: LIVE @ Digi & Game Center, Matarankatu 2
– STREAM on Expa’s Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/expajkl

Professor Tae-Jin Yoon (Graduate School of Communication and Arts, Yonsei University) will be visiting University of Jyväskylä – Jyväskylän yliopisto in August and will also give a public lecture on the topic “Female Game Players in Korea: Can they shoot guns?” at the Digi & Game Center on Thursday, August 24th, from 11:15 to 12:00.

Tae-Jin Yoon is also the president of the Korean Game-n-Science Institute, and he has been teaching and writing about media-related topics for over 20 years. Yoon’s research has explored topics such as TV shows, video games, esports, webtoons and the “Korean wave” phenomenon.

Welcome to join and listen to his intriguing presentation!

Digi & Game Center

#JYU #digigamecenter #esportsfi #keynotespeech #gaming #culture

The event is FREE and open for all, language of the event is English! – Invite your friends, questions welcome throughout the event.

Be there – Socialize – Get Expa!

27.6.2023

Peliosuuskunta Expa / IGDA Finland Jyväskylä Hub Special Meetup with Epic Games (04.07.2023)

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Guest: Ari Arnbjörnsson, Evangelist at Epic Games
Topic: Epic Games and Unreal Engine
Time: 18:00
Interviewer: Wanda O Rly (Valtteri Lahti, chairman of Expa)

Date: Tue 04.07.2023
Where: LIVE @ Digi & Game Center, Matarankatu 2
– STREAM on Expa’s Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/expajkl

SCHEDULE
17:30 Doors open
18:00 Streaming starts, interview with Ari Arnbjörnsson
18:30 Q&A with Ari Arnbjörnsson
19:00 Free mingling on-site

Hope to see as many as can at the site Digi & Game Center to meet Ari in person!

#DemoCornerJKL is open for all to showcase their things at event

The event is FREE and open for all, language of the Meetup event is English! – Invite your friends, questions welcome throughout the event.

Be there – Socialize – Get Expa!

20.6.2023

#XmasJKL – The Finnish Game Industry Business Seminar 2023 (10.11.2023)

#XmasJKL 2023 is COMING!(10.11.2023)

#XmasJKL is the most relaxed business seminar in the finnish game industry. The seminar is held on, Ilokivi, Jyväskylä, Finland.

#XmasJKL is also a networking event where you can listen and learn from the best in the business and meet the great game industry people.

Put your Christmas hat on and join us!

Event and Tickets details will come later!

Read more: https://www.xmasjkl.com/

The event language event is English!

Be there – Socialize – Get Expa!

Peliosuuskunta Expa / IGDA Finland Jyväskylä Hub Meetup #8 / 2023 (28.11.2023) – TBA –

Peliosuuskunta Expa / IGDA Finland Jyväskylä Hub Hybrid Meetup #5 / 2023

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Guest: TBA
Topic: TBA
Time: 18:00
Interviewer: Wanda O Rly (Valtteri Lahti, chairman of Expa)

Date: Tue 28.11.2023
Where: LIVE @ Digi & Game Center, Matarankatu 2
– STREAM on Expa’s Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/expajkl

SCHEDULE
17:30 Doors open
18:00 Streaming starts, interview with TBA
18:30 Q&A with TBA
19:00 Free mingling on-site

#DemoCornerJKL is open for all to showcase their things at event

The event is FREE and open for all, language of the Meetup event is English! – Invite your friends, questions welcome throughout the event.

Be there – Socialize – Get Expa!

Peliosuuskunta Expa / IGDA Finland Jyväskylä Hub Meetup #7 / 2023 (31.10.2023) – Fireside chat with One Trick Entertainment

Topic: Fireside chat with One Trick Entertainment – How to start a game company with zero experience

Guests: Esko Maijala & Oskari Pelli

Company: One Trick Entertainment

Time: 18.00 (doors open at 17.30)

Date: Tue 31.10.2023

Where: LIVE @ Digi & Game Center, Matarankatu 2

– STREAM on Expa’s Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/expajkl

SCHEDULE

17:30 Doors open

18:00 Streaming starts, interview with Esko Maijala and Oskari Pelli

18:30 Q&A with Esko and Oskari

19:00 Free mingling on-site

One Trick Entertainment won the Rookie of the Year award by Finnish Game Awards 2022. On September 7th, they released their first game Lempo – a Finnish mythology themed horror exploration game available on Steam. On October 31st, they will join us at Digi & Game Center to discuss their entrepreneur journey and the production of Lempo

#DemoCornerJKL is open for all to showcase their things at event

The event is FREE and open for all, language of the Meetup event is English! – Invite your friends, questions welcome throughout the event.

Be there – Socialize – Get Expa!

Peliosuuskunta Expa / IGDA Finland Jyväskylä Hub Meetup #6 / 2023 (26.9.2023)

Peliosuuskunta Expa / IGDA Finland Jyväskylä Hub Hybrid Meetup #6 / 2023

Guest: Antti Makkonen, Director of Games, AirConsole https://www.airconsole.com
Topic: In Car Gaming Opportunities
Time: 18:00
Interviewer: Wanda O Rly (Valtteri Lahti, chairman of Expa)

Date: Tue 26.9.2023
Where: LIVE @ Digi & Game Center, Matarankatu 2
– STREAM on Expa’s Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/expajkl

SCHEDULE
17:30 Doors open
18:00 Streaming starts, interview with Antti Makkonen
18:30 Q&A with Antti Makkonen
19:00 Free mingling on-site

Description:

Antti has been a founder of two startups and worked in the games industry for more than 10 years in leadership positions in companies like Rovio, Scopely, and others making games for the masses. Currently making car rides more fun than ever with gaming!

#DemoCornerJKL is open for all to showcase their things at event

The event is FREE and open for all, language of the Meetup event is English! – Invite your friends, questions welcome throughout the event.

Be there – Socialize – Get Expa!

Peliosuuskunta Expa / IGDA Finland Jyväskylä Hub Meetup #5 / 2023 (29.8.2023) – Estève Pannetier, GreenElephant.org

Peliosuuskunta Expa / IGDA Finland Jyväskylä Hub Hybrid Meetup #5 / 2023

Guest: Estève Pannetier, Co-Founder at GreenElephant.org

Topic: Take control of your flow while designing and releasing games!

Time: 18:00 (doors open 17.30)

Date: Tue 29.08.2023

Where: LIVE @ Digi & Game Center, Matarankatu 2, Jyväskylä, Finland

– STREAM on Expa’s Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/expajkl

Schedule:

17.30 Doors open
18.00 Start/intros

18.05 What is Flow?

18.10 Flow in Game Design Strategy

18.15 Collective Flow in Teamwork and Communication with your team

18.20 Myths about Flow (and what to do about them)

18.30 Q&A

Description:

As a game developer you’ve most likely reached flow while playing games yourself, but how to keep the flow while creating games yourself? Estève Pannetier is a seasoned team-leader and game strategist who has consulted and coached developers in Ubisoft, Supercell and a number of independent gaming companies to help teams tap into the collective intelligence of flow. In this session you’ll learn rules of thumb on how to understand, measure and communicate about flow, both in designing and releasing games. Bring your notepads and questions to get the most out of this session!

#DemoCornerJKL is open for all to showcase their things at event

The event is FREE and open for all, language of the Meetup event is English! – Invite your friends, questions welcome throughout the event.

Be there – Socialize – Get Expa!

24.4.2023

Peliosuuskunta Expa Annual Cooperative Meeting 2023, 6pm (02.06.2023)

Peliosuuskunta Expa Annual Cooperative Meeting 2023 (2.6.2023)

Heads up – Join to the Peliosuuskunta Expa’s new board and make a impact to the Game Industry Scene in Central Finland!

Annual cooperative meeting shall be on 2nd of June 2023 at Digi & Game Center.
We are looking for new Board members and volunteers to join our ranks to make Jyväskylä, Central Finland Game Industry scene more awesome!

Are you interested to be a Peliosuuskunta Expa’s board member?

There are many different areas of responsibility on the board, so you can join with many different backgrounds.

Read more in the documentary Peliosuuskunta Expa board benefits, responsibilities, roles and operations:
hallitus edut, vastuut, roolit ja toiminta:

Feel free to apply, fill out the form:
https://forms.gle/NFDkVxq2G2Hr6Y7E9

SIGN IN TO THE COOPERATIVE MEETING here:
https://forms.gle/bobVw4WLZCsN3AG76

Topic: Annual cooperative meeting – New Board
Time: 6pm

Date: Thurdsday 02.06.2023
Where: LIVE @ Digi & Game Center, Matarankatu 2

SCHEDULE
Start at 6 pm, be there 5.45pm latest
+ Sauna

Be there – Socialize – Get Expa!

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/