On Friday December 13th we gathered together at Finnish Game Jam Awards to celebrate not only jam games but also all the great people in the community!

All of the awarded games have been made in different game jams organized by Finnish Game Jam during the 2019 season.

Games

Life Of John
Long John Award
FGJ19 Kuopio

• JP Hakoluoto

Home is a place that keeps us warm and safe. But what happens when you end up without a proper home and even your temporary dumpster gets taken away? Life Of John provides a unique and emotional experience while reminding us that helping others when they are at their lowest point might save humanity. Life Of John is a beautiful narrative experience with simple yet interesting gameplay. This immersive game essay created in a one-man team clearly stands out from the Finnish jam games of 2019.

Poopster
HamsterBoy Award
ASM Game Jam ‘19

• Samuli Jääskeläinen
• Pekka Kujansuu
• Pyry Takkunen
• Julia Rässa
• Jari Miranda
• Arttu Kurttila
• Juho Korhonen

What do you get when you combine hamsters, pears and awesome game technology from the ’80s? A game about pooping hamster with sweet Game Boy tunes. The Poopster is a very wholesome retro package of graphics, gameplay, and music. It was made during Assembly Game Jam 2019, at the best Finnish jamming place to explore commercially obsolete old hardware and to show to the world how the jammers don’t let the platforms of the past to be forgotten in silence.

Human Rescue
Reversed Roles Award
FGJ19 Next Games Helsinki

• Pekka Kujansuu
• Petri Räsänen

Who is the dog’s best friend? Human! Rescuing humans from the streets is the job of a truly virtuous dog! Human Rescue a simple jam game with great gameplay and polished cartoony visuals. The attraction of the game lies in its role-reversing core: In Human Rescue you are tasked to adopt humans and use them to adopt even more humans. Who would let humans roam around the streets aimlessly and without guardians anyway?

Where The Birds Are
Birdhouse Award
FGJ19 Games Factory Helsinki

• Aleksi Pekkala
• Olli Etuaho
• Harri Dammert
• Brandon Startz
• Kirsi Ekberg

We know very well that winter in Finland can be tough – especially for the small birds! For our pleasure, the birds that do not migrate stay behind and delight our forests with their tweets, from their homes. Where The Birds Are is a very Finnish, minimalistic and calming piece of game art. In this game, you are tasked to set up birdhouses to trees and solve the puzzle while music grows as you advance and see where the birds are. Calming games are still a rarity and such pieces definitely stand out from the jam crowds!

Mochabot Organic
Barista Bot Award
Pocket Jam #4

• Henri Sarasvirta
• Christina Lassheikki
• Leo Krechmer
• Tuma Heinonen
• Virpi Väinölä

Finnish appreciate games, coffee, technology, and sustainability – so why not games about barista robots with organic beans! In Mochabot Organic players receive the orders and brew the coffee with the help of a cute, relentless barista bot. This jam game is served with a minimalistic color palette and a great art style in a package of multiple minigames that soothe your caffeine-induced brains.

Sleeping Bunny
Midwinter Dream Award
FGJ19 Games Factory Helsinki

• Arhi Makkonen
• Henri Viitanen

Winter is here… and we all need to keep warm, bunnies too. Furthermore, what would be a better winter hobby than sleeping by the warmth of a fireplace? Sleeping Bunny takes the player on a wintery journey to save a bunny from cold and sleep deprivation. This jam game offers consistent and stylized art with simple and elegant gameplay – a jam game at its best! Simple yet surprisingly challenging gameplay of Sleeping Bunny lets the player unravel the goal on their own and minimalistic, as well as atmospheric audio space, supports the immersive narrative of the game. Playing a piece like this puts smiles on our faces and goodnight dreams in our heads. 

Special Awards

Julius Jämsen
Jamtivist Award

What would game jams be without music? And even more importantly, what would music be without jamming together? Julius Jämsen brought the jam-lovers together with a power of musical jamming at Jam Jam 2019. If there has ever been a sleazy song about game jamming, we are confident that it cannot beat the ooze of love that this international and multilingual eight-minute song has to offer. A true jamactivist act of bringing people together deserves an acknowledgment of the Jamtivist Award 2019!

IBM
Future Award

Game jams use technologies from present and past, but how about the future? We have been told that the future is quantum and quantum is playable! Goes without saying that anything that we can use for play, we jammers, love! In February 2019, IBM provided the first-ever live access to and developer support for the quantum computers at the Quantum Wheel game jam. We were humbled by such privilege and now very eager to see what the quantum future will bring for us jammers. We believe that combining the power of future technologies and bravery of the jammers can take us far and let us have fun while doing it!

Outstanding Support Awards

• Futureplay
• Veikkaus Game Studio
• Neogames

Finnish Game Jam organization would be nothing without the community. Every year and every jam is a joint effort of organizers, participants, jamtivists, jamthusiasts, jam friends and lovers – supporters of all sorts. This year our biggest supporters were Supercell, Veikkaus Game Studio, and Neogames.

Another FGJ great event is over. We want to thank all the winners and all the event participants. It would not happen without you! Thank you!