The foundation for the Finnish game industry was laid already in the ‘80s so we have a long-standing tradition of pumping out international success stories. Oulu, as the centre stage for the Nokia boom in the ‘90s, is no exception, and we have a lot of both local and foreign talent in the area. To help some of that potential find its way into the industry, Resistance Games has teamed up with BusinessOulu to organise a series of events to offer people interested in the field a hands-on experience from a business perspective. The events will be held at a local business development hub BusinessAsema.
The idea is to bring people of different skill sets together and facilitate teams, so you don’t necessarily need a team to join – although you can enter the programme as a team as well. You can participate no matter what your desired role is, whether you’re a coder, designer, artist, producer or something else entirely. Participation is free of charge.
The events will proceed in two stages. The first stage will be facilitated by our very own Creative Director Jussi Autio, who will hold a series of seminars to coach the participants on various aspects of the business side of creating games. Each of the five seminars will have its own theme, introducing one aspect of building the business, and include a workshop as well as some good old networking.
The events approach each topic with plenty of examples and give ready-made, tried-and-true templates for the teams. Coaching is incubator-style and will cover everything you need to know, including but not limited to roadmaps, budgets, funding, and defining your target audience. The programme will have you approach things business first: lay the foundation around your business model, then start building the game idea on top of that.
The second stage covers training the teams in each of the different fields of expertise, such as business, game design, programming, and graphics. Because of the team-oriented approach in this phase, it will only happen if teams are formed during the first stage. A group of coaches from Resistance Games will also be joining this stage.
For more information and the sign-up link, head to the programme’s page on the BusinessOulu website.