💝 Our infinite gratitude goes to Next Games for generous support of the Finnish Game Jam 2025 and Post Play Party!
Your contribution made an invaluable impact, helping us create an inspiring and successful event. Financial support is crucial for non-profit associations and your consistency and willingness to support our community is truly heartwarming. And extra thank you for supporting also the Post Play Party on February 11th by IGDA Finland Helsinki Hub in Maxine, Kamppi!
We hope your 2024 was fruitful and Christmas holidays were warm and bright! And we wish you all your 2025 to be filled with inspiration and creative sparks. Happy New Year!
Here’s our highlights of 2024:
FGJ organized 10 game jams, meaning we were jamming together almost every month!
🌏#FGJ24 🦉Crossing Latitudes Jam 1️⃣1-Hour Game Jam 🏳️🌈Pride Game Jam 💻ASM Game Jam 🌲ProtoKoli Jam 0️⃣0-Hour Game Jam ⚛️Quantum Game Jam 🎓Finnish College Game Jam 🧑🎓International College Jam.
Altogether over 400 games have been created by approximately 2000 participants!
Our activity in 2024 was not limited to game jams, though. Finnish Game Jam sponsored two industry events, namely Taitaja Mästare and XAMK Game Track, where we also presented our traditional honorable awards.
And, just as we honor the outstanding games, we also traditionally recognize the most impactful efforts of our members throughout the year. In 2024 Laura Piispanen was named the Jampion of 2024 for her incredible contribution to the organization anf the Quantum Game Jam, and Teemu Kokkonen was named the Jamtivist of 2024 for his all-year-round (and beyond!) active participation in virtually all major events, taking on responsible roles throughout.
Game jams have been a subject for research held by our founder and Legacy and Vision board member Annakaisa Kultima, and some game jam stories have been presented at the GDC conference! Check the talk on GDC Vault.
We held JamJam, our traditional summer festival aimed at game jams brainstorming, networking, and fun, where a new concept for a jam in the wilderness was born. Without further ado this concept was realized under the name of ProtoKoli, a game jam held in Koli cabins, with creativity boosted by the fresh air, hot sauna, and endless greenery.
And finally, by the end of the year, we welcomed several new members who have already demonstrated fresh ideas, enthusiasm, and a strong willingness to take on new challenges!
💯 Finnish Game Jam is a non-commercial organization fueled by the passion and dedication of its members and volunteers to the game development community. We maintain one of the most vibrant and inclusive game jam networks in the world, connecting thousands of creative minds and uniting Finnish Global Game Jam sites under one umbrella. Organizing an event of this scale — spanning dozens of sites and bringing together over 1,000 participants — is no small feat. Your sponsorship can make all the difference in helping us continue this incredible tradition of creativity, collaboration, and innovation.
💥 Why Partner with Us? 🗨️ Unmatched Reach: In 2024, the Finnish region of the Global Game Jam alone gathered more sites and participants than all other Nordic countries combined! 🗨️ Proven Impact: Finland ranks #1 globally in games created per capita during the Global Game Jam, showcasing the immense talent we foster. 🗨️ Tailored Opportunities: We offer flexible sponsorship options that align with your goals – discuss your needs today with Eddie Reyes!
💥 What’s in It for You? By sponsoring Finnish Game Jam, your organization will: 🗨️ Amplify Your Brand: Gain visibility among thousands of passionate creators, industry professionals, and gamers. Showcase Your Values: 🗨️ Demonstrate your commitment to supporting creativity, inclusivity, and community-driven initiatives. 🗨️ Become an invaluable part of this celebration of creativity and game development. Contact Eddie Reyes for more information on how your support can drive positive change, for more information on tiers or discuss your custom package with him!
Finnish Game Jam 2025, or #FGJ25, will be traditionally held as a part of Global Game Jam during the last weekend of January (24th – 26th of January, 2025).
Global Game Jam is the world’s largest game jam event, occurring simultaneously in multiple locations around the world. Finnish Game Jam in it’s turn unites all Global Game Jam sites from Finland under one umbrella. In 2024, the Finnish region of the Global Game Jam alone gathered more sites and participants than all other Nordic countries combined! Finland ranks #1 globally in games created per capita during the Global Game Jam, showcasing the immense talent we foster.
Are you a sponsor?
If you are willing to sponsor Finnish Game Jam 2025 (or other upcoming jams), contact Eduardo Reyes.
Send your application at Global Game Jam site, and our Regional Organizer will contact you shortly with further instructions.
✔️ if you want #FGJ25 swag – application deadlline is January 8th ✔️ if you don’t want #FGJ25 swag – application deadline is January 13th ✔️ apply ASAP to avoid any issues or delays! Keep in mind that the upcoming holiday season will considerably slow the registration process down!
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A game jam is a game making event that brings together all types of game developers (beginners, hobbyists, students, and professionals), and creators of various fields (art, music, 3D modelling, storytellering, and others) to innovate new games in a single weekend. Typically participants work in small teams, or not so often solo, racing to produce as complete a game as possible with limited time and resources, but unlimited creativity. Join Finnish Game Jam 2025 with friends, join an ad hoc team, or do it solo, YOU ARE WARMLY WELCOME!
We are happy to announce the election of the new Board for the Finnish Game Jam organization! Meet and greet incubent and newly elected members who will share their passion towards games and jams organising future events:
Our traditional gimmick 0-hour game jam was held last weekend during the daylight saving transition hour. Making a game in zero hours sounds impossible at first, but caffeine-fueled jammers have once again proved that it is indeed possible, especially with very relaxed rules (1 hour of actual development plus extra time for uploading and making an optional video). Altogether, 8 games have been uploaded to the jam’s itch page (some of these heroes worked solo!): Play Zero Hour Jam games
Game jams are amazing for boosting confidence in working on a tight schedule, and the Zero Hour Jam is the ultimate test, with high reward and zero risk. Join our Zero Hour Game Jam next year, or keep an eye on future posts—we are planning more jams SOON!
Finland is well-known for it’s game industry scene, encompassing both indie and AAA-developeres, multiple universities teaching gamedev and game design, and of course, non-commercial organisations, such as Finnish Game Jam ry, IGDA Finland ry, W Love Games ry, and others. All organisations have goals and purposes of their own, however they all are working towards information sharing, networking, and collaboration. Helsinki Games Week 2024 has been a great collective effort to acheive this.
IGDA Leadership Day, Pocket Gamer Connects, and We Love Games Conference had something to cater to all tastes and interests. Multitude of game demos to have fun with and help developers with feedback, endless opportunities for networking with industry professionals, mentorship cafes, chat corners, panel discussions, speeches, and workshops. All these events have been packed into an unforgettable week-long event.
Special thanks to Casimir Kuusela for the IGDA Leadership Day and W Love Games Conference photographs, and Solip Park for the Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki photographs.
Pocket Jam is still on pause this year meaning no making games together at PGConnects, BUT we offer an exciting opportunity to get a discounted ticket to Pocket Gamer Connects Helsinki conference!
#PGConnects returns to Helsinki on October 1-2! ⭐️ 1,500+ attendees ⭐️ 200+ speakers ⭐️ Networking opportunities ⭐️ Content on mobile, PC, console, AI and more
To celebrate this milestone, in collaboration with Department of Computing at Turun yliopisto – University of Turku and IGDA Future program of IGDA Finland, we are organizing a one-day IT conference “ENTANGLE: Bridging Quantum and Classical Computing” in Turku with line of esteemed guest speakers. Students can get a study credit for participating at the conference and the game jam.
Just a few days ago, 9 people pioneered a new form of a game jam, happening in the beautiful landscape in Koli. ProtoKoli combines the magic of Finnish nature with game making, all organized around the sense of community. Although originally envisioned as an event for game industry professionals and game dev educators, in the spirit of game jamming ProtoKoli is open for everyone.
The first edition of the jam took place between 16th and 21st of August, combined with the GMTK game jam which was going on at the same time. This gave an added spice to the event, with the jam theme becoming “Built to scale”, in addition to Koli’s nature inspired ideation. Overall, one game has been published, however, ProtoKoli brought a lot more.
So why was all this so special? Let’s break it down. We had:
1 cottage with sauna, mixed with
1 pure water lake with warm water, hosting
1 game jam lasting for 4 days and 6 nights, in
Awesome amounts of warm atmosphere, for
9 people (which of 7 at the same time), releasing
1 game, additionally making
5+ prototypes, and also
148 pixel art sprites, with
62,312 lovingly handcrafted pixels, that required
Kilos of delicious food to feed hungry jammers, including
46 eggs in 4 days and 6 nights of cooking, with surprisingly only
2 packets of coffee consumed, because we also achieved
7 km hiked up a hill (vaara), though we did have
1 morning runner, with
3 late night devs, and
at least 3 not-so-morning-people, ending in
11 AM as the average breakfast time.
Although the jam theme “Built to Scale” felt uninspiring for some, the sauna did its healing work, as the overall spirit of We’re here to have fun! loosened up the atmosphere and got the creative juices flowing. When one participant decided to make a retro Zelda-like game with a mysterious forest as the main environment, the sauna brought a team together – reunited after 10 years, two jammers hijacked the sauna chatted endlessly, setting the base for their collaboration on what ended up becoming a published game.
(To play Legends of The Goblin Shore 2, click or tap here.)
However, if by reading all this you thought that four days is a really long time, you are sort of correct. But then, do you know how awesome Koli is?
To follow and combine the two themes of the event, on Saturday we scaled (= climbed)the vaara of Käränkä, during a hill-climbing forest walk. We testify – the berries are tastier high up in the mountains!
On Sunday, we went on to climb the most iconic mountain of Koli, right at the national landscapes. Some of our attendants had to leave early, so climbing Ukko-Koli was in a way ending the first part of the game jam.
We also got to enjoy some amazingly tasty food (that we made all by ourselves – special love goes out to our food preppers <3)!
…And we also visited the Veistospuisto in Koli, which even had unicorns! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ
We can speak about this forever, but truly, this is one of those experiences that you just need to live it to feel it.
Sounds like your kind of jam? Keep an eye out for the next edition coming your way in 2025!
ProtoKoli was organized by Finnish Game Jam and Osuuskunta Vedenhaltijat with financial support from Usmin Fysioterapiapalvelu Oy, Jestercraft, Kooders and Boom Corp.
Special thanks to Riikka Lotta-Pehkonen for all the hard work in bringing everyone together, and all the jammers: Kiri Kälkäjä, Miikka Harjuntausta, Nevena Sicevic, Klaus Kääriäinen, Miikka Kostian, Harri Karhu, Antti Piironen and Olli-Matti Rautiainen.
We invite you to join us for this epic game jam on September 13-15 online!
13-15.09 – Quantum Game Jam 2024 Register on 
To celebrate this milestone, in collaboration with Department of Computing at 
For more information visit 
We also got to enjoy some amazingly tasty food (that we made all by ourselves – special love goes out to our food preppers <3)!
