Ilokivi, Keskussairaalantie 2, 40100 Jyväskylä
Speakers
Juha Vainio
Head of the Control Franchise
Executive Producer of Control 2
Topic: “Strategic decisions of an independent studio”
Juha Vainio is the Head of the Control Franchise and the EP of Control 2 at Remedy Entertainment. He has over twenty years of management experience in software development and over ten years of production experience in the games industry.
As the Head of the Control Franchise he is currently e.g. overseeing the development of two Control game projects. On the original Control he was the Lead Producer heading the production and shipping the game.
At Rovio he worked as a Senior Producer on big mobile and web titles such as Angry Birds and Angry Birds Star Wars, and as the CEO of Epic Owl he shipped the still-profitable free-to-play mobile game Space Arena: Build and Fight with virtually no budget.
Richard Salo
Senior Business Development Manager
Topic: “The Epic Ecosystem of Games, Tools and Marketplaces”
Richard has spent the last six years at Epic Games, where he now leads Epic’s efforts in the Nordics from a business development perspective, focusing on Unreal Engine. Richard lives in Sweden and is also half-finish!
Before he joined Epic he worked at Quixel, which was later acquired by Epic.
Richard will take you on a deep dive into the Epic Games ecosystem and explain how Epic enables AAAs and Indies to create awesome games and experiences, as well as share the visionary path Epic is charting for the future, highlighting the tools and opportunities that continue to push the boundaries of what’s possible in game development.
Yumi Oishi
Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
Topic: “From Awareness to Action: Taking Steps Towards Neuroinclusion”
The games industry has a high prevalence of neurodivergent individuals, making neuroinclusion essential. This presentation explores neurodiversity fundamentals and shares practical insights from our year-long journey toward a neuroinclusive workplace. They will provide actionable steps for leaders, HR, and employees to get started.
Yumi is the Head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at Rovio. In her current role, she is responsible for designing and delivering the company’s DEI strategy across 6 countries and 500+ employees. By taking a structured, analytical and practical approach, she seeks to transform the organization one step at a time. Prior to Rovio, she worked at Google and Nokia in their Tokyo and Zurich offices within their HR function.
Adrian Weber
Virtual Production Supervisor
Topic: “Bringing real-time to film productions: How Game Engines change the way movies are made”
Adrian Weber is a Virtual Production Supervisor at Fireframe, where he has worked on diverse productions worldwide. His credits include notable projects like Poor Things and Constellation, collaborating with clients such as Netflix, Apple TV+, and Amazon. Adrian is dedicated to both advancing virtual production techniques and training the next generation of talent in this evolving field.
Dmytro Zhovtobryukh, PhD
CEO & Co-founder
Topic: “Measuring indie success: the case of Snowhound”
Dmytro Zhovtobryukh is CEO & Co-Founder at Snowhound Games, one of the most long-lived and stalwart game development studios from Central Finland, best known as the makers of Deep Sky Derelicts and Potion Tycoon original PC indie game titles. Ever since Snowhound’s establishment in 2015, Dmytro has led the company through ups and downs till present day, taking his main responsibility in business development, public relations and product management. Throughout the years he has sealed publishing deals for all Snowhound’s original video game IPs and helped the team develop and successfully launch them on a variety of platforms.
Natasha Skult
CEO & Creative Director
Topic: “Indie Game Business 101”
Natasha Skult is the CEO & Creative Director of MiTale, a game and software development company from Finland, focusing on interactive storytelling and narrative-driven experiences in mixed reality and gamification. She is an active member of the Finnish and international games industry as Chair-Emeritus of IGDA and Lead Organizer of W Love Games Conference. Besides industry work, she is also active in academic research and finishing her doctoral degree on the topic of “Interactive Storytelling With Quantum Computing” and teaching courses in game design and game (digital) art production at University of Turku in Finland and Ashesi University in Ghana.
