From 12-17 May, Finnish game developers Samuli Jääskeläinen and Jonne Harja are taking an unprecedented game development journey, as they create a game while cycling (ca. 1200 kilometers!) from Helsinki to Malmö.
Samuli, Finnish Game Jam accredited “super-jammer” and VR gameplay programmer at Mindfield Games, and Jonne, key member of the Jyväskylä game scene, co-founder of the game business co-operative Expaa, lead IGDA Finland Helsinki coordinator and cycling enthusiast(!), first conceived of “jambike” as “an insane experiment”, but later refined the concept to “produce a game with 100 per cent renewable energy and encourage healthy living”.
Samuli Jääskeläinen, Jonne Harja
The duo departed the Finnish capital on 12 May, travelling by tandem cycle and game jamming “in the saddle”. One codes on their custom-made “jambike” computer, the other one steers – and solar panels mounted on their cycle produce the “power to jam”.
Check out their latest trip video, as they prepare to take the ferry from Helsinki to Stockholm:
Recorded on the road with a help of a small media team, their jambike adventure is being supported by Finnish Game Jam and sponsored by a handful of courageous Finnish game companies including Fingersoft, Mindfield Games and Frogmind.
When the intrepid pair reaches their final destination, Nordic Game 2017 in Malmö, Sweden on 17 May, they and their special jambike creation will be welcomed by (cheering!) fellow devs from around the world in a very special ceremony 🙂
Ready to follow Samuli and Jonne on their big #jambike17 adventure? Find them on Twitter here, Facebook here, Instagram here and YouTube here.
Happy trails to you both and see you next week!
About the Nordic Game conference
Nordic Game is the leading games conference in Europe, and 2017 is its fourteenth year. Gathering over 2,000 games industry professionals in Malmö annually, Nordic Game is the one and only “home turf” meeting place for the highly successful game developers of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.
Expect much, much more at Nordic Game 2017. So don’t delay – put 17-19 May at Slagthuset in Malmö in your calendar and register today!
