Young Talents from Ida-Virumaa Excelled in Video Game Development Competition
This May, the Tehnopol Startup Incubator’s Film and Multimedia Accelerator organized a video game development competition, IDA Game Jam, in cooperation with the Ida-Viru Entrepreneurship Center and GameDev Estonia. Seventeen teams participated, and the team from the Ida-Virumaa Vocational Education Center (IVKHK) won the competition.
In the Game Jam, participants created a video game from scratch, following a given theme within a set time frame. They had 48 hours to develop a working game prototype, with the theme for the first day being “Ida-Virumaa Blockbuster.”
The results astonished even the mentors, who included prominent figures in the PC gaming industry such as Jordan Morris, Andrejs Rusinovskis, Naum Markovich, Tigran Ahhumian, Sam Afshari, and Ahmed El Shenawy.
IDA Game Jam Top Five Teams:
- Esoteric Estonian Games (IVKHK)
- Ajajo Interactive (code/Jõhvi)
- CatPenguin (Tallinn University)
- Jam (code/Jõhvi)
- Pink Socks
Andrejs Rusinovskis, one of the key mentors and co-organizers of IDA Game Jam, and head of GameDev Estonia and GameDev HUB, remarked that the competition held in Jõhvi was one of the largest ever organized in Estonia in terms of both participant numbers and the quality of results. “It was an awesome experience! In my opinion, there are a lot of talented young people here, but regional youths are special in that they need more support from mentors. Therefore, we decided to involve a record number of mentors – as many as seven powerful experts, and this was excellent value for the event,” said Andrejs Rusinovskis.
Rusinovskis also noted that not all participants had strong English skills, emphasizing the importance of improving language proficiency. “When you have a top specialist available to help, and the only obstacle is the language barrier, it’s truly unfortunate. But everyone can work on improving this themselves,” Rusinovskis said.
Olga Kurdovskaja, Film and Multimedia Accelerator Program Manager, highlighted the value of having someone with a background in video game development in a startup. “We have extensive experience in organizing events, but this was our first time co-organizing a Jam. We were especially pleased to see interest from long-time business development professionals who regularly attend our events. The Jam is similar to our three-day intensive training, where in 48 hours we provide the basics of starting a startup and help teams take their first steps. On the third day, teams present their ideas and receive feedback from mentors,” she explained.
Kurdovskaja emphasized the importance of engaging not only with entrepreneurs developing technological products in film and multimedia but also with those interested in technology, startups, or game development. “It is very beneficial for a startup when someone with video game development experience joins the team. Through such collaborations and projects, we offer additional development opportunities to the local community and open up new avenues for implementing ideas. In today’s evolving film industry, we don’t know what future trends and technologies will be. By collaborating with talented game developers, we can anticipate these changes and lead in innovation. This cooperation allows us to adapt to new challenges and opportunities, which is crucial in such a dynamic and rapidly developing industry,” Kurdovskaja summarized.
The film and multimedia accelerator is part of the IDA Hub film and multimedia innovation center, founded by IVEK, IVIA, and Tehnopol, with the goal of supporting the development of film talents and innovative future creators. The program is financed by the EU, and the Game Jam was made possible thanks to the support of Startup Estonia.
