It’s been a while since the last update. The photos this time are a wild mix in terms of time and place from around Copenhagen. Most notably the local derby, where FC København faced off against Brøndby in a half empty Parken stadium, because the Brøndby fans stayed away from the match in protest.

So, what have I been up to lately? Quite a few things I should say. First, we organised the IGDA Vienna Unity Day in concert with the IMS TU Wien. We invited product envagelists from Unity and had a full day of workshop style talks and presentations followed by an after party with a few free drinks on our generous partners. We had about 200 registrations, and from what I’ve heard, most people actually showed up and enjoyed the day. This event also marked the beginning of the reborn IGDA Vienna Chapter. We try not to rush things, and plan to bring you more quality events in the future. After all, we are here to stay.

On my quick stopover in Vienna this spring, I was honored to co-present the games of the Austria Game Jam 2012 at the subotron. We talked about some of the insights behind the jam, I gave a brief excursion to the Nordic Game Jam but the most important part of the evening was the presentation of the AGJ games by the teams themselves as well as some notable picks from international entries.

In the beginning of May I mounted train and bus to take me to to the Exile Game Jam at Vallekilde Højskole. The jam ran from Wednesday to Sunday and culminated in nice party in the end and the Højskole provided the awesome location. Seen by Austrian standards, the danish folk high schools are a bit like a hippy dream land. After finishing school, the Danes send their kids to a Højskole where they stay for some time, do all sorts of creative things and try to find out what they want in life. No credits are given for that, they probably don’t have tests or other form of standards, just being there, being creative, thinking about life, and maybe enjoin a few drinks and parties here and there. Blasphemy, I call that!

Anyway, we haven’t been shy on the creative and party aspects of a Højskole and this is what we created: Idiots Attack the top Noodle. The Idiot mob tries to overthrow the ruling Brain, but the Brain in turn zaps them with the powers of its wits. A fierce battle evolves, involving a small brain scanner interface and a few PS motion controllers, but in the end only one side can win. Working with the brain interface was fun, and it worked unexpectedly well, given that it managed to connect to the computer at all. If we find the time, we might do some tweaking and polishing, and I probably should also do a reasonable writeup for the project section here at one point.

Recently, the Nordic Game Conference took place in sleepy Malmö, which was very interesting and also fun. We saw quite a few good talks, and enjoyed the friendly atmosphere, and if time allows I will also attend next year’s conference.

All those fun things bring me to a point in time, where my time in lovely Copenhagen is running out. It is less than four weeks now, and I am already starting to plan my farewell party and my return to southern Europe. (Seen from the perspective of the Danish climate and weather, Austria definitely belongs to southern Europe.) The last ten months have been great, and thinking about leaving makes me kinda sentimental. But, I am also looking forward to meet all the fine people of Vienna again. A bag of mixed feelings…