Pelialan koulutus ja klusterin muodostaminen eng

Game education & cluster formation

Teemu Saarelainen, senior lecturer

Information technology / GameLab

Kymenlaakso University of Applied Sciences

Outline

Short history

Current state

Goals

Education

Projects

Future prospects

T.Saarelainen 12.11.2012

Short history of game business @Kotka

2005-2006

Small game related projects by companies, proactive measures and education efforts begin

2007

One major player, Nitro Games, is formed as a spinoff from Nitro FX (digital media & ad company)

All programmers in the area graduated from KyUAS

A 3D-simulator project using game engine technology is started as a joint effort at KyUAS Energy & Software Labs



2008

KyUAS begins regular game programming studies in small scale (6-12 credit units)

Content of the courses are kept tightly around core competences (C++, OpenGL, game engines)

Education is arranged together with Nitro Games’ lead developers

Lots of co-operation between the university & companies



2008-2010

Only a couple of companies involved in the video games business: Nitro Games & SongHi Entertainment Ltd.

Nitro Games publishes several PC-games: East India Company, Conquest of the Americas, Pirates of Black Cove

Songwriting and composing company Tempo Music starts producing music and audio for games

SongHi Entertainment publishes an online game for making music

Game business is slowly growing in the region…



2011

The game business grows heavily in Finland and also in the Kymenlaakso region

Lots of new companies are formed: Kukouri, Nordic Solutions Systems, Skyrock Games, Heliwood, Seepia, Routa Games, …

Cursor-led projects develop infrastructure and facilitate company growth

Examples

South-East Finland Game Cluster (Kaakon peliklusteri)

ICT-service producing networks (ICT-palvelujen tuottajaverkostot) www.playahub.com

DigiService


http://www.playahub.com/

Current state (fall 2012)

A joint development facility for game business: LevelUp

• 285 m2 of space for development, demos and meeting space

• equipment, software, mobile platforms, …

• located at Datariina

10+ companies, focused around Datariina

Game business directly employs more than 60 people, indirectly probably more than 100…


Current state (fall 2012)

Education is offered both in the regional colleges as well as in the Kymenlaakso University of Applied Sciences

Education attracts people: 2.7 applicants / available seat

KyUAS GameLab has the same tools and software as the game companies and LevelUp

GameLab can be used as a testing and development platform for projects – the students are the workforce!

GameLab can also test new technology and tools


GameLab


Goals

KyUAS goal is to develop game education and expertise to form a spearhead and an attractive force

Education needs growing businesses and jobs in the area – and vice versa!

Game programming specialization at KyUAS relies also on other universities’ game education

Game education will be implemented in ”standardized form” with other universities and regional colleges

KyUAS takes part in national game business R&D –projects and supports regional development


Education

Information technology programme, 40 seats / year

Game programming and network technology specilizations

Speclilization studies 90 credit units, lot more than before

Work practice 30 cu + thesis 15 cu

Total of 135 credit units – equals over 2 years !!!

Especially for game programmers but a graduated software engineer can also work in other application areas

Studies include plenty of business related projects


Education


Projects

KyUAS involved in two game business projects:

South-East Finland game cluster (regional project, 1M€) – Improves education infrastructure and content to better respond game business needs.

Game Cluster (Southern-Finland ERDF, 2.6M€) – Game production innovation & development, game industry development & education environments, improving business capabilities, publishing/distribution business development, communication & marketing.


Project efforts (1/2)

Utilizing novel development environments

Student game idea competitions, sparring & mentoring

New game companies and their development & demo support

Networking and sales at international events

Expanding investor network and getting more investments for the region


Project efforts (2/2)

Starting publishing/distribution business

Improving education cooperation and content

Joint networked learning environment

Business-oriented game research

Marketing and communications


Future prospects

There’s a growing shortage of game professionals:

http://www.remedygames.com/jobs

http://rovio.fi/en/careers/Open-positions

http://www.bugbear.fi/join_us.html

http://www.redlynx.com/careers

http://skyrockgames.com/jobs-biz/

…

http://game-pro.fi/


http://www.remedygames.com/jobs




http://www.bugbear.fi/join_us.html

http://www.redlynx.com/careers




http://game-pro.fi/

http://game-pro.fi/

http://game-pro.fi/

Future prospects

The game industry is growing in the Nordics, but especially in Finland the companies have an excellent reputation

Game studios in Kymenlaakso are already globally networked

Growth is limited mainly due to resources and investments – novel funding instruments are being formed (i.e. Tekes Skene)

Most importantly game studios need to produce AAA-quality game demos which enable publishing deals

Marketing is key – getting visiblity e.g. in the mobile app space is extremely difficult without a publisher

Game industry is in a good position and has a real chance to become one of the major business areas in the region


Thank you! Questions?

Events this week:

• Game developers’ gathering tonight (8.11.) @Kotka, Pub Eduard, 18:00. Visiting company: Sulake

• Sulake Game Jam, 9.-10.11. @KyUAS GameLab

GameLab: http://gamelab.kyamk.fi

GameLab @Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KyAMK.GameLab

Teemu Saarelainen

[email protected]

+358 44 702 8555


http://gamelab.kyamk.fi/

https://www.facebook.com/KyAMK.GameLab



Pelialan koulutus ja klusterin muodostaminen eng

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