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The Game Wave Festival is an international event taking place for the second year in a row from September 27th to October 2nd in Tallinn, Estonia at Tallink Spa & Conference Hotel. The first three days of six-day-event are dedicated to the game jam.
The Game Wave Festival is a business, education and entertainment event for the gaming industry professionals. It first took place with great success in September 2021 in Jūrmala, Latvia attracting participants from 25 countries.
“Game Wave Festival is an expressive way to celebrate glorious game development heritage, culture and traditions, meet new and old faces, and have fun. It is professional, oriented to have serious business talks, and cozy, to make friends with almost all attendees. I am happy to welcome all of you to the 2nd Game Wave Festival!” — Ints Viksna, Chairman of Board at Latvian Technological center.
The festival is mainly B2B, however, it is designed to avoid the “stiffness” these types of events sometimes have. Game Wave Festival attempts to capture the fun and relaxed ambiance we’ve experienced in other global and regional game events. GWF is large enough to get an overview of the main tendencies in the Nordic and Baltic region, and small enough to make friends with all participants – The friendships you will make in GWF, will follow you all your life.
Main event and B2Match
- 30.09. – 02.10. The Main Event: Conference, workshops, expo, pitching competitions, business meetings and game jam final presentation.
- The conference and interactive events are divided into 5 tracks: General, Art (visual, audial, haptics), Unreal Engine, XR and Board Games.
- The online matchmaking platform is available for all participants all 6 days, and the meetings can also be booked on-site. Registered members of the matchmaking will be able to participate both on-site and online.
- GWF uses the B2Match meeting and event management platform that works both on web browsers and mobile devices. This platform also handles video calls and conference streaming, so all functionality needed by the participants is neatly in one place.
- There will be a private Business area for business ticket holders in Tallink’s Fidel Bar with a nice view of the old town.
The first three days of the six-day-event are dedicated to the game jam
Awesome game jam runs from September 27th to 29th. The game jam’s theme and diversifiers of the jam will be decided by the jam sponsors. However, the game jam does not end on the 3rd day, instead, the final ceremony is on the 6th day of GWF. This is by design so that the teams can improve their games by attending workshops and even pitch them in and get feedback in our “Early stage games mentor pitch”.
Three unique game pitching opportunities:
- 1 to 1 board games author and publisher pitch in a private, closed space, where publishers can take their time to test the game and converse with the authors.
- Early stage mentor pitch for anyone not ready for any other pitches, but still willing to train, test their prototype and get feedback. Jammers are welcome.
- Nordic Game Discovery Contest Baltic semi-finals where developers from Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania can showcase their games to publishers and industry experts and compete for a place in the finals.
Three special event parties, including Business Afterparty and Pool party
- The Business Party (29.09.2022) will be available for organizers, speakers, partners and business ticket holders only.
- The Pool party (30.09.2022) will be available for organizers, speakers, partners, business ticket holders only and pool party ticket holders. There will be access to the pool area, sauna, hot tubs and a quieter area by the bar.
- The Afterparty (01.10.2022) will be available for almost everyone (except for student ticket holders). It will feature Marioke, a feast table and a quieter area for business conversations.
The 3 day expo for game companies, art, technology & education
The expo will be of interest to anyone who has a professional or a hobby curiosity about topics related to game companies, art, technology and education. Learning from last year’s success and good feedback, GWF will place staff members to guard the hall, so that the expo participants are not tied down at their booths for 3 days.
