16.08.2023
Here are our speakers of TAFF Pro’s Friday!
On Friday, the focus shifts to the future perspectives and technologies of animation and games. Speeches are given by Regional Artist for Games as Art, Jaakko Kemppainen and Game Designer Jussi Kemppainen and later in the day they will join Sonja Yrjölä for a panel discussion moderated by Mika Koskinen from Finnish Animation Guild. TAFF Pro Friday closes with games-themed animation screening. The Games X Animation screening is open to the entire festival audience.
Jaakko Kemppainen is a game design veteran, with over 20 years of experience on making games. He is an explorer, curiously going to unknown areas of games – be it new technologies, audiences or ways of mixing games and other art forms. He has done interactive TV, location aware games, virtual and augmented reality, playable light art and other experimental games, along with traditional video-, mobile- and board games. Currently he is finishing his 5 year period as the regional artist of games at Arts Promotion Centre Finland.
Forest of Forking Paths – Possible Futures of Digital Games
Digital games are a constantly evolving ooze of opportunities and potentials. New technologies and business models emerge every now and then, affecting the imagination of game developers. Sometimes evolution of games is cyclic, sometimes disrupting. This lecture tries to predict potential ways the digital games will evolve in the near and distant future. The emphasis is on the artistic side and gameplay, but the technology, business and society can’t be ignored either.
Based on over 40 years as a gamer and 20 years as professional game developer, regional artist of games, Jaakko Kemppainen derives, extrapolates and exaggerates the futures of games, based on where they are now and how they ended up here.
Jussi Kemppainen is an award winning VFX artist / 3D modeler / game designer / director with 24 years of industry experience in companies like Ubisoft Redlynx, Rovio, Supercell and Remedy. His background is in mobile-, AAA- and indie games as well as movies, music videos and TV series – both animated and live action. He is currently employed at Mainframe Industries as the VFX Lead.
Echoes Of Art: Exploring AI tools for game production
What does AI mean for professionals?
A detailed research project into how current generative AI tools could slot into traditional game production pipeline and the compromises that need to be done in order to accommodate these tools.
The prototype project in this research is a 2.5D point and click adventure game, with AI generated locations and AI designed 3d characters.
Sonja Yrjölä is an 32-year-old animation artist, currently residing in the capital region. She graduated as an animation director from Turku University of Applied Sciences’ Academy of Fine Arts in 2018, and since then, she has been engaged in various animation projects within the industry. Whenever time permits, she is working on her own hand-drawn animated art game project.
Participating in the panel as a lifelong lover of games, Sonja brings a unique interest in the enigmatic blend of art and games.