31.12.2007 ELVI-project comes to its end
After almost three years, the ELVI-project ends on December 31st, 2007. We're proud and happy to have helped nine new companies to emerge in the region, as well as having organized the biggest game conference in Finland and have pushed the game industry to a significant growth in the Oulu region. This is a good place to continue. Download the ELVI final report (PDF, in Finnish, 9,5MB) 20.11.2007 Game industry jobs in OuluWant to enter the game industry? Does your code hold water? Tuonela Productions is seeking for SW designers Farmind is looking for coders Don't hesitate... 15.11.2007 Northern Game Conference a success Northern Game Conference, organised by the ELVI-project and the Department of Information Processing Sciences at the University of Oulu, apparently became the largest Finnish game industry conference ever. On top of being the most northern game conference ever held, NGC gathered over 150 participants for two days in the Lasaretti Hotel's Aurora Hall. Both speakers and visitors were more than happy of the proceedings. Audio material from the NGC will be put available at the NGC site 18.10.2007 Tekes offers demo funding Tekes gives a helping hand to game developers for demo development with a new 100 000 EUR financing service, of which Tekes will cover 50 percent. In addition, Verso Games Export Workshop will help game companies to grow global. Tekes is also planning to launch a larger development program for developing business expertise in game companies. The new program would start in 2008. More information: Verso site, or contact Keith Bonnici (firstname.lastname@tekes.fi), tel. +358 (0)10 60 55777 15.10.2007 Mediadesk funding - application deadline is Nov.15th Mediadesk product development support for 2008 (Call 16/2007) is directed to independent European production companies. The buraucracy has been reduced somewhat, which is happily noted. Funding is direct non-reimbursable support. The call for applications published in September has two deadlines: November 15th, 2007 and April 15th, 2008. Interactive works should apply under their own call (Call 17/2007). More information (in Finnish) from the Mediadesk site. 24.9.2007 ELVI report on regional game industry available ELVI-project has published the regional report on game industry in Oulu. The report presents the feedbnack of the project's actions until June 2007, and knowledge that has accumulated during the project. The report is available (in Finnish) here (PDF). 17.9.2007 Farmind develops DS title for Activision Oulu-based Farmind Ltd. announced their forthcoming "World Series of Poker 2008: Battle for the Bracelets" for Nintendo DS, to be published by Activision. The company is currently finalizing the game for a fall release date. Farmind is the first company to emerge from ELVI-project. Their first game, "Puzzle Scape" was released for PSP earlier this year. 29.8.2007 Northern Game Conference held in Oulu, Finland on November 8th-9th ELVI-project and the department of information processing sciences in the University of Oulu co-arrange an international game conference in November. The most northern game industry event ever, the NGC Oulu focuses on industry changes, financing and investing, development and subcontracting issues and the new wave of mobile gaming. For more information about and registering to the conference, check this out (site opens September 1st). Still need more info? Ask away. 28.5.2007 The next OPC: Otto K, May 31st, from 6.30 PM onwards The next OPC will be held in a slightly more mobile atmosphere, as the fresh Adobe User Group North Finland presents possibilities for companies in software development, user interface design and naturally, games! Register here. 28.5.2007 ELVI financing and becoming global - seminar cancelled The seminar scheduled for May 31st has been cancelled due to lack of registrations. We are sorry for any inconvenience. The seminar will be moved to late August. Note - A freeform OPC will be held in the evening! 16.4.2007 AVEK's Digidemo funding deadline is April 30th AVEK's Digidemo funding for interactive game design and development is now applicable. The deadline is April 30th. More information here (in Finnish). 20.3.2007 Next Oulu Peli Connection: April 19th We are glad to announce that the next gathering for the booming game industry in Oulu will be held on April 19th in 45 Special. After the Connection, you can participate Farmind's promo party there, without any additional fee! How good is that? Very. Main speaker: Simon Prytherch. So, sign up. 20.3.2007 Pitching Workshop, University - April 18th-19th, 2007 All those seeking publishers are welcome for A-class sparring as ELVI expert Simon Prytherch (Empire Interactive, eg. Flatout franchise) arrives for a two-day workshop on the subject of pitching. Register yourself here. Detailed schedule to arrive soon... 20.3.2007 ELVI launches an additional product development funding round Companies accepted to ELVI project can still apply for product development funding. As ELVI-projektiin hyväksyttyjen yritysten on mahdollista hakea vielä tuotekehitysrahoitusta. Kuten tavallista, tuotekehitysprojektin kokonaisbudjetti ei voi ylittää 20,000 EUR, josta ELVI-rahoituksen osuus on puolet. Takaraja hakemuksille on 8.4.2007. Lisätietoja täältä. 6.2.2007 Next Game Connection: March 15th 2007 ELVI-project holds the next Game connection in restaurant Otto K on March 15th 2007. Guest speaker is chief editor of Finnish Pelit-magazine, Tuija Linden. Free admittance. Register yourself now and send us an e-mail. 6.2.2007 Johan Sjöberg's workshop in Oulu on February 16th ELVI workshop on game company's marketing and designing marketing material will be held in the premises of the University's IT department. Workshop will be held by game designer and consultant Johan Sjöberg (Peligroso) from Sweden. The workshop begins at 10 AM and ends at 5 PM. Free admittance, ELVI concepts only. Haven't registered yet? Click here. 9.11.2007 ELVI chooses new experts ELVI-project received 15 applications for its expert call. After evaluating the applications, we chose seven experts for 2007. For details, visit our experts page. 30.11.2006 Call for experts deadline extended ELVI-project moved the deadline for its currently ongoing call for experts to December 7th. 9.11.2006 Farmind's first game in stores by Christmas Oulu-based console studio Farmind issued a public statement of their first game, Puzzle Scape. The PSP handheld console game is scheduled to be published in North America and Japan for Christmas. The publisher of the game is California-based O~3 Entertainment. According to Farmind, Puzzle Scape is the first Nordic PSP game. Farmind is the first company started from the ELVI-project, founded in November 2005. 8.11.2006 ELVI calls for experts for 2007 The ELVI-project runs a call for tenders for experts in game industry to give consultation to game companies and start-ups in the Oulu region. This call ends November 30th, 4 p.m (EET). More information on the call can be found here. 8.11.2006 ELVI Game Connection November 29th The ELVI-project and POEM Foundation invite all those interested or active in game industry to ELVI Game Connection event. The informal evening is held in restaurant Tervahovi, Hallituskatu 13-17, Oulu. We have invited indie specialists Joel Kinnunen and Lauri Hyvärinen from Frozenbyte, the people behind Shadowgrounds , to give their opinion on garage necessities in game industry. The rest of the world is allowed inside at 8 p.m, and the evening continues with light jazz, played live from 9 p.m onwards. Invitation flyer (in Finnish). 10.10. 2006 POEM funding call active until end of October Northern Film and Media Centre offers funding for both private persons and business applicants. Persons can apply for screenplay or design-related funding, while actual production funding applies to companies only. For more information, applications and guides, visit POEM site (in Finnish). 9.10. 2006 Call for Creative Futures, 10-11.10. 2006 For two days, Cream-project of the University of Oulu organises an interdisciplinary seminar on finding new ways to rein the creative futures. Call for Creative Futures is held in hotel-restaurant Lasaretti's festival hall during October 10th-11th. Keynotes from networker and organiser extraordinaire, Sara Diamond (President, Ontario College of Art & Design, Canada), rector Mauri Ylä-Kotola (University of Lapland) and rofessor Pirjo Ståhle (Finland Futures Research Centre) 12.9.2006 ELVI-project distributes 60 000 EUR in second product development funding round The second product development funding round for ELVI - Environment for Lucrative Virtual Interaction was published for applications today. Companies registered in Oulu can apply funding for their ELVI-approved product concepts. Meant for development of game products or their integral parts, the funding totals 60 000 EUR. --Funding applications are freeform and must contain product content design, business plan and project and funding plans for the whole production, with specifically mentioned ELVI-respective parts of the production funding and development, states project manager Suvi Latva as the application criteria. The funding from ELVI-project is under EU's De Minimis regulations. Funding can be directed to wages or subcontractual costs. Final deadline for applications is October 3rd, 2006. Applicants may seek consultation from ELVI-project before submitting their application. More information on ELVI funding and applying for funding are here. 5.9.2006 ELVI Game Connection in October ELVI-project organises the first Game Connection event on October 9th. The meaning of the event is to showcase ELVI concepts, the Finnish Game Industry Cluster organisation Neogames, and the content business project Sile. EGC will be held in lecture hall L5 in the University of Oulu. A map of the university is available here. Programme: 10.00 Welcome coffee by ELVI project manager Suvi Latva 10.10 ELVI responsible leader, Tony Manninen opens event. 10.25 Neogames and SILE-project 11.15 Introducing the ELVI advisory board 11.30 ELVI game concepts and teams 12.00 Lunch 13.00 ELVI game concepts and teams 14.15 Game Expo: open debate and visiting in stands 15.45 Game Connection closing Registrations deadline is October 2nd. Send your registration here. 22.6.2006 ELVI-project product development funding to three companies ELVI - Environment for Lucrative Virtual Interaction chose three of the six applied companies for its product development funding. The companies that receive funding are SpeeLa Oy, HappyWise Oy and Farmind Oy. 30.5.2006 TEKES-workshop in the university TEKES and ELVI organise a workshop aimed at regional companies. The event aims to increase regional application to technology programs of TEKES, and presents some exemplary cases that companies could participate in. The event is free of charge. Programme available from the Fenix site from 12.5.2006 ELVI presents itself in DigiFrance 2006 ELVI-project makes a summary of regional industry development in Helsinki on June 2nd, in DigiFrance 2006, a French-Finnish collaboration seminar on game industry and research. ELVI's lecture is about regional collaboration models in a global industry. The event is organised by French Cultural Centre under the French embassy in Finland.  DigiFrance 2006 programme10.5.2005 Product development funding now available The first call for ELVI product development funding is on. Concepts accepted in the ELVI-project can apply for product development funding on a freeform application until May 31st. The application is then submitted to a week-long evaluation through our expert base, and the feedback is then discussed in the decisive meeting of the advisory board on June 21st. More information on the product development funding can be found here. 4.5.2006 ELVI Design Process finished The ELVI-project has developed a simplified checklist for its concepts, aimed to clarify the design and development process of games, as well as the eventual business of game development. In addition to that, the process list is used as a scheduling tool for expert evaluations and development funding in ELVI. The ELVI design process can be downloaded from here. 1.5.2006 New concepts to ELVI The ELVI Concept call for spring 2006 has brought new product concepts to the project. Three companies and one person have applied with concepts ranging from mobile games to participatory sideproducts to a play. Updates to our concept list are available soon from here. 18.4.2006 Got an idea for a game or an interactive entertainment product or service? The spring 2006 concept call nears its deadline, but there is still two weeks left to leave your gem of an idea to ELVI-project for expert consultation and product development funding. The next concept call is in August. More information about the call and applications are available here. 13.4.2006 Public funding deadlines approaching The spring is here, bringing alongside it the following deadlines for public funding for games: More information: Milla Moilanen, AVEK More information: Kerstin Degerman, Mediadesk Finland 12.4.2006 ELVI-project arranges a lecture on game law Mark your calendars for April 21st, as attorney of law Markus Myhrberg (ACE LAW Oy) presents some pointers and cases regarding game industry. The lecture lasts from 10 AM to 3 PM, with an hour-long lunch break from noon to 1 PM. No reservation required. The lecture is free of charge. 5.4.2006 DigiFrance 2006 calls for European co-operation in game industry Whilst the giants of game industry - Sony, Nintendo, Electronic Arts and Microsoft - dominate with a global market share of approximately 38%, Europe has its say as well. French-based companies alone either develop or publish 24% of global market titles, and others like Nokia and SonyEricsson are having a go. These facts form the idea of DigiFrance 2006, a two-day conference and expo, where audience and professionals can meet, exchange ideas and plan new projects. DigiFrance 2006 is held in June 2nd and 3rd in Kaapelitehdas, Helsinki. More info: 5.4.2006 IGDA North Finland in discussion ELVI-project has recently started planning an IGDA North Finland -chapter based in Oulu. Ideally, the chapter would benefit game developers and participants of the game industry in the whole North Finland. Currently, we're still in plans and want your feedback. 4.4.2006
14.3.2006
ELVI project which is supporting game development business is starting to give funding for product development. Funding can be given for game concepts which have been approved into the ELVI project. The funding is meant primarily for development and productisation. Good ideas can be turned into demo versions which help to present the idea to international publishers.
20.2.2006
31.1.2006
14.12.2005
Also new project manager Suvi Latva started at the beginning of year 2006. She expects the new job to be challenging but also very exciting.
1.5.2005
30.3.2005  |
