July is WN Eastern Europe Conference Month

From July 1-31, WN Eastern Europe will bring together game developers, publishers, investors, platforms, service providers and other game industry pros from more than 100 countries.

You can catch all the action live streamed in the WN Hub. Lectures will be held online-only format from July 1-3. There will also be a physical event in St. Petersburg from July 9-10, which will also be live streamed (so you can enjoy it from the safety of your home). Experts from Raw Fury, Activision Blizzard, Unity, SEGA, Tilting Point, Ten Square Games, MY.GAMES, Facebook, and many other leading companies will deliver the insights on different aspects of game development.

Online networking and recorded lectures will be available the entire month from July 1-31.

The WN Hub and its meeting system is already open which gives you the opportunity to add your game to the Devs Showcase yourself. Three steps to include your game to the Devs Showcase:

• Register to showcase on the website

• Log in to the platform following the instructions that will be provided immediately after registration

• Add your game from My Profile

This is an opportunity to find partners and investors.

Basic tickets are FREE and provide access to the online lectures.

For more information visit the conference website.

Get 10% off PG.biz Master Classes

The folks at PocketGamer.biz at running five half-day master classes taking place 8-10 June, from recognized industry experts.

Sessions include Building a Game Pitch with Arran Topalian, How To Run An Effective Playtest with Pascal Luban, Mastering Data For Engaging Game Design with Poornima Seetharaman & Vimal Sathish, Cognitive Science and a UX framework to Improve Your Game with Celia Hodent, and Designing for LiveOps Success with Crystin Cox.

For more information and to sign up visit: https://www.pocketgamer.biz/pages/masterclasses/

IGDA Finland members can enter the following code: IDGAPartnerMC10 to get 10% off.

Have a Connection with Type 1 Diabetes? JDRF Wants to Talk

JDRF is the world’s largest nonprofit funder of research toward cures for type 1 diabetes (T1D), one of the deadliest auto-immune diseases on the planet. T1D is a potentially fatal autoimmune disease that affects up to 38M people worldwide. JDRF’s mission is to improve lives today and tomorrow by accelerating life-changing breakthroughs to cure, prevent and treat T1D and its complications.

In 2019, the charity launched JDRF Game2Give to bring together video game developers and players in the fight against T1D. The program was started by two game industry execs, Telltale Games cofounder Dan Connors and recent IGDA Board Chair Hans ten Cate, who are both fathers of children with T1D. Former Kongregate CBO Josh Larson, also a T1D dad, joined as JDRF Game2Give’s director in 2020.

To date, JDRF Game2Give has raised more than $1.1M through Humble Bundles, Twitch charity events, and online game tournaments. The team also built the first-ever charity game in Roblox to take the place of traditional in-person charity walks during COVID-19.

JDRF Game2Give and its growing group of game industry volunteers are actively seeking out IGDA members who care about curing type 1 diabetes, to help raise awareness and money toward crucial research. If you have a T1D connection or simply want to collaborate in support of a good cause, please reach out at gaming [at] jdrf [dot] org.

Speaking Opportunity at Digital Dragons

Digital Dragons will be taking place online from September 7-8. They have a rolling speaker application progress that will continue until the end of July. This is a great opportunity for anyone looking to get more experience in public speaking at industry events. Visit the conference website for more information and anyone interested in speaking should sign up here.

Free Business Meet Up Hosted by Digital Dragons

The Digital Dragons Business Meet Up is happening on May 13-14, so get ready to meet new business partners!

This a business-focused event dedicated to game developers, VC funds, and publishers. The goal is to support game developers in these challenging times, and provide them with optimum business opportunities by allowing them to present their games to international investors and publishers.

The two-day event will feature panel discussions on the funding of industry projects. The key element of the event is a matchmaking platform for networking. It offers an opportunity for Game developers and investors, and publishers and distributors alike to arrange direct business meetings. Tags will help you find the partner you are looking for and make scheduling meetings more efficient.

The event is hosted using PINE, a comprehensive online event and matchmaking platform.

Participants will be able to arrange 30 min 1 on 1 meetings. The matchmaking event will take place on May 13-14 but you can start arranging your meetings now to find an investor, publisher or an interesting project.

Register now and join the Business Meet Up on May 13-14.