Oulu is a city located in central Finland.
There is a place called “Game Campus” where the next generation of game creators learn, and where Oulu’s game companies gather.
I was fortunate enough to participate as a media member at the presentation of a game called “OGL Gate3” held at Game Campus in Oulu on December 8th.
http://www.dreamnews.jp/press/0000143689/
In this article, we will introduce OGL Gate3 and Oulu City’s efforts to support the game industry.
Game development under the aurora! What is Oulu City?
Countries with thriving game industries include Japan, the United States, and South Korea, but Flanders is also a country with a very thriving game industry.
Many of you have probably heard of the game titles “Angry Birds” and “Clash of Clans.” Both are world-famous smartphone app games, but both are developed and released by Finnish companies.
Oulu is a city with a population of approximately 250,000 people located in central Finland, where the game industry is thriving.
Although Finland is located in the central part of the country, the entire country lies in the north.
Winter in Oulu is covered in snow.
If you’re lucky, you can even see the Northern Lights in Oulu.
I was lucky (really lucky!) to see the aurora borealis.
When visiting Oulu in winter, be sure to check out the aurora forecast website.
http://www.aurora-service.eu/aurora-forecast/
Oulu, where you can also see the Northern Lights, is the fifth city in Finland and the largest city north of central Finland. It also has a thriving gaming industry, and Fingersoft, famous for its hill climb races, is actually an Oulu company.
Related article
We visited Fingersoft, a game company in Oulu, Finland, and asked about their new games and local contributions.
The city considers the game industry to be one of its most important industries, and is implementing various support measures.
What is “OGL (Oulu Game Lab)”?
Game Campus occupies an entire block of Oulu City, and within it are game-related companies and offices for students studying at OGL (Oulu Game Lab).
OGL is a game education program offered by Oulu University of Applied Sciences, launched in 2012.
Students can learn how to create games for business purposes and earn credits as they progress through the program.
OGL is supported by local gaming companies such as Fingersoft, as well as by Business Oulu, an affiliated city agency.
This author’s media visit was also made possible through the mediation of Mr. Takako Uchida of BusinessOulu.
The city of Oulu’s efforts in the gaming industry can be described as an extremely advanced approach to the game industry, which can be described as an ideal collaboration between industry, academia, and government.
*If you would like to hear more about Oulu City’s efforts in the game industry, please contact Takako Uchida of BusinessOulu. (takako.uchida@businessoulu.com).
“Education (human resource development) is more important than anything else in order to develop the city’s industry.
OGL (Oulu Game Lab) is an educational program that lasts about 4 months, but it helps people grow significantly from a global perspective.
I hope that SQOOL’s participation in Gate 3 will help many Japanese people learn about the value of this educational program and come to experience it for themselves.
If you are interested, please contact us. ”
How about developing a game while looking out at a scenery like this?
The salmon soup in Oulu, which is also a port city, is exquisite!
Now, let’s introduce Gate3.
Gate3 is a serious business presentation
Gate3 is a game presentation that is part of the curriculum of OGL, a game education program provided by Oulu University of Applied Sciences.
There are 3 stages to the presentation: Gate 1, Gate 2, and Gate 3. In other words, Gate3 is the final presentation.
When many people hear the presentation of games created by students, they think of an event with a relaxed atmosphere, but Gate3 is completely different.
If you pass Gate 3, you can continue development toward commercialization, but if you fail to pass Gate 3, the project that took several months will end here.
“Game business education” tailored to business
One of the concepts of OGL is to teach “practical game business”. If the presenters are serious, so are the judges.
The judges are executives and experts from game-related companies, but there are harsh comments that you wouldn’t expect from a student.
“I can’t see my strengths in games I’ve seen before.”
“If you don’t have a business strategy, all time schedules are meaningless.”
“Why do players play that game?”
“With that progression system, wouldn’t the number of users decrease as the stage progresses?”
“If you’re making a movie, you have to focus on one point or we won’t spend that much time.”
and so on. I would probably be heartbroken if I were told this.
OGL representative (Lab Master) Anna Salomaa says:
“In order to learn game development as a business, it is important to experience giving up from time to time.
In real business, there are time limits and competition, and you have to win within that. ”
I feel that many startup events and hackathons in Japan end with everyone praising their efforts over the past few days, deciding on a winning team, and having a party, but OGL Gate3 is different from that. reverse.
It exists as a place where our seniors seriously teach us the necessary sensibilities in business, such as the idea that projects that are good but not good for business should be discarded, and the process of “working hard” has nothing to do with business evaluation. This is where I feel the strength of Finland, which is a small country but has multiple world-class products.
The judges’ harsh comments must have been a valuable experience for the participating students.
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