Everdream Valley wins NGDC GotY

We’re sending out 2022 with a look back at the year’s Nordic Game highlights, beginning with an NGDC Season VI feature about our grand final debut in Tallinn, Estonia, live streamed from the Game Wave Festival.

The sixth season of the Nordic Game Discovery Contest came to a rousing close this November with a Baltic finale during the Game Wave Festival in Tallinn, Estonia.

Broadcast live before a cheering audience, NGDC Grand Final pitted this season’s Final Three teams and their games against each other on the main stage of the Game Wave Festival, following twelve months of qualifiers and grand final selection.

Despite very strong pitch performances from all three teams, Polish developer Mooneaters and their game Everdream Valley surpassed their on-stage competitors to take the prestigious NGDC Season VI Game of the Year title.

Check out the Everdream Valley trailer from TGS 2022:

The NGDC Season VI Grand Final in Tallinn was hosted by Nordic Game’s own Jacob Riis and judged by industry experts including Juliia Marfina, RingTail Studio art lead & member of the Estonian Game Developers Association, Elviss Strazdins, game designer at Amazon & former chairman of the Latvian Game Developers Association, as well as Peter Jakobsen, Games Branding CEO (Denmark).

The NGDC Season VI Final Three included:
 

Rough Justice: ’84 by Gamma Minus (Germany)

Do what it takes to make your fledgling security agency thrive. Advise your team on the best course of action, through strategy, calculated decisions and a bit of luck. Use dice and cards to turn the odds in your favor in this neon ’80s management game.

German studio Gamma Minus qualified at Global Games Pitch (online).
 

CAMPS by Escapism Softworks (Finland)

Take control and lead your team to the victory. The game features a variety of military vehicles, weapons and tactical abilities. Perform planned maneuvers and show everyone your tactical skills over the map.

Finnish Escapism Softworks qualified through the special qualifier as part of the Game Wave Festival in Estonia.
 

Everdream Valley by Mooneaters (Poland)

Everdream Valley is a magical open-world farming adventure game in which the player can take on the role of various animals living in the valley. During the day, he takes care of the farm, growing crops, raising animals, fighting pest infestations and exploring the valley where the farm is located. At some point, however, he begins to have strange dreams. During those dreams he can for example defend the farm from wolves as a dog, search for lost ducklings as a mother duck or travel through the sky above the farm in the body of a magpie. From now on, the player must not only take care of the farm, but also solve the mystery of the strange dreams.

Mooneaters from Poland took the NGDC Season VI wild card seat.

NGDC Season VI Grand Final prizes and recorded live stream
A big congratulations to Marek and the Mooneaters team – they can now display their NGDC Game of the Year badge with pride and enjoy the following prizes, courtesy of our NGDC Season VI sponsors:

From Games Branding: A full PR campaign for Everdream Valley.

From Nordic Game Ventures: A half-day of coaching with Nordic Game Ventures partners and investors network.

From Nordic Game: A booth at the upcoming NG23 Spring conference on 23-26 May, with flight and accommodation covered for two of the Mooneaters team.

Additionally, the two NGDC Grand Final runner-ups will receive two free passes for NG23 Spring and a complimentary exhibitor table each in the Developer Showcase at the show.

Finally, the NGDC organisers would like to thank all the participating developers, as well as our partners and sponsors for all the help and support this season – we couldn’t have done it without you!

And of course, a very special thanks to the organisers of the Game Wave Festival in Tallinn, Estonia for hosting our very first Baltic NGDC Grand Finals.

You can watch a recording of the NGDC Season VI Grand Final live stream right here:

NGDC Season VI is sponsored by Xsolla, Tencent Games, GTR, Nordic Game Ventures and ifairs, in partnership with Games Branding and 80 Level.

Interested in becoming an NGDC partner or sponsor?
Contact us here to learn about some great opportunities still available for this season’s tour and the upcoming NGDC’s seventh season.

About the Game Wave Festival
The Game Wave Festival (GWF) is an international hybrid games industry event that balances education, business and fun in equal measure. 2022 is the second year for the Game Wave Festival, and the organisers welcome all to this November’s venue, the Tallink Spa & Conference Hotel in Tallinn, Estonia.

Learn more at www.gamewave.eu.
 
On-stage NGDC

About the Nordic Game Discovery Contest
In 2016, building on fourteen years of organising successful games industry activities, including the annual Nordic Game conference, regional funding programs, overseas networking events and other developer support initiatives, Nordic Game launched the Nordic Game Discovery Contest (NGDC) – an exciting series of events where selected game projects are showcased live in pitch competitions at partner events across Europe and around the globe – and concluding its sixth season this fall.

Learn more NGDC Season VI qualifiers, wild cards and finals, and get all the latest results at discovery-contest.nordicgame.com!
 
Nordic Game Helsinki

About the Nordic Game conference
Nordic Game is the leading games conference in Europe, and 2022 marks its twenty-first and twenty-second editions, as well as our return to historic Slagthuset and debut in Helsinki. Gathering thousands of industry professionals in the spring and autumn each year, Nordic Game is the one and only “home turf” meeting place for the highly successful game developers of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

Learn more about Nordic Game last May, this November and next spring.

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