Womenize! – Inspiring Stories is our weekly series featuring inspirational women from games and tech. For this edition we talked to Marja Konttinen, Marketing Director at Decentraland. She speaks about the Finnish games industry, current NFT trends, and the creation of Marketing campaigns for kid friendly apps. Read more about Marja in this interview:

Hi Marja! How would you describe the Finnish games industry?

The games industry in Finland is something quite unique! It’s hard to explain how it came about but I guess a mysterious mix of long dark winters, a group of friends that loved games, and the mobile phone ecosystem laid by Nokia. That was the right growing bed for an industry that grew from the “Snake” game to a global multi-billion industry. 

What is very distinct with the industry here is that it has always been about friends helping friends, and based on values like collaboration and figuring things out together, sharing failures and winnings alike. There were no playbooks, best practices, or even tools to start with, but now we have successful companies working not just on games but the full ecosystem from entertainment brands to tools and analytics. I should also mention how institutions, the government, and the media have been very supportive in building the industry, which helps a lot.

Decentraland is a virtual social platform built and governed by its users. When creating marketing campaigns for educational or kid friendly apps, where do you start?

I’m a firm believer in user research. Detailed attention to the overall user experience and how the interface is designed are essential for any product that wants wider adoption. Working with products for kids adds a whole new layer of challenges – what if they can’t read or understand symbols, how does the UI work? Audio prompts?

The same goes for marketing – who do you actually sell the product to, and how? Kids don’t have credit cards but they certainly want to have fun and play. Parents want to provide their kids with the best possible start in life and ensure they pick up the right skills – but this can often be quite the opposite of fun and play. Marketing can deliver the right message to the parents to help them understand that a playful product will be both fun and educational, and worth the investment. So I’d start by understanding both the audiences alike, meaning kids and parents, and test different selling points to see which ones resonate the best. 

What are your thoughts on the current NFT trends in gaming?

NFTs are a fun entry to a bigger topic of Web3. I’ve participated in a few interesting NFT projects that showed me the power of community and how a token can empower its owner. My collection ranges from profile pictures (PFPs) and fine art projects to gamified communities on Discord that act as a launchpad for the actual game launch, to investment-driven decentralized autonomous organizations (DAOs) that vote and collect NFTs together. I’ve participated in proposal voting, hanging out with people on low-key Twitter Spaces, and drawn some random fan art in competitions, and this is what makes me excited for things to come. It’s not really about owning a thing – it’s about the limitless opportunities to innovate on how to get your fanbase and community together, to collaborate with them and for them in the long term.

Thanks for this interview, Marja!

Marja’s links: LinkedIn │ Decentraland

Womenize! – Inspiring Stories is our weekly series featuring inspirational women from games and tech. For this edition we talked to Sol Sánchez, CCO at Somber Pixel & Co-Founder of FemDevs Perú. She shares the value of emotionally immersive games and provides insights into the Peruvian indie dev communities. Read more about Sol in this interview:

Hi Sol! How would you describe the indie dev scene in Peru?

Peru’s indie dev community is overall very kind and friendly. Since we are still a small industry, many of us know each other from university, work, or local events. This gives us the chance to stay in touch with each other quite often, which makes me feel like I’m not alone in the journey and that any doubt I might have, I can always ask a local friend around.

However, being a small industry comes with some disadvantages, too. There aren’t many big studios in the country and most of the smaller ones make games only in their free time. On top of that, indie studios tend to have fewer than six employees and the biggest one does not exceed 60. This makes it hard to find a job in the industry and since video games are quite a new concept in Peru, there aren’t many local funding opportunities (especially if you want to make your own game). Not everything is negative of course! Some of our games have not only been shown at events outside the country but have also been recognized with international awards. In addition, government entities are already beginning to see the value of this industry and are looking for new and better ways to continue promoting it.

On my part, I co-founded FemDevs Peru, a non-lucrative association, with the purpose to promote women’s participation and visibility in the industry. We organize talks, game jams, workshops and so much more to inspire more women to join the industry. And like FemDevs Peru, many other initiatives are working to help grow this industry. 

The video game industry in Peru has great potential, but still has a long way to go. We’re always looking for more people and companies to collaborate with us, so if you are interested in FemDevs Peru or the Peruvian industry, please don’t hesitate to contact me here.

Do you have any tips and tricks for building emotionally immersive video games?

I think for emotional games, having a clear message for the audience and believing in what you’re doing is key. For “Arrog”, for example, we knew from the start that it was going to be an interactive experience to show how our country feels towards death, how death is just another step in our lives and that we shouldn’t be afraid of it. Many people might find the topic or the game’s design unappealing, but the team and I loved the idea immensely, and after three years of prototyping, re-doing and polishing, we made it come true.

If you don’t truly believe in the game you are making, you probably won’t put your 100% and it’ll show. Videogames are a way of art, and like any artist, we developers put a bit of ourselves into those projects. Even if you don’t agree with every detail of a game, the core message is important and the more passionate you’re about it, the more you’ll do your best for it and the more you’ll enjoy the process of developing it.

What inspired you to create the game “Night Reverie”?

The magical feeling of reliving the innocence of childhood adventures while going through a hard time made me fall in love instantly with “Night Reverie”. I didn’t create the game from scratch, I joined the Somber Pixel team three months after they released the first demo on Steam. Nevertheless, “Night Reverie” was one of the main reasons I chose to join the team and I got to work on the rest of the game with them.

Back then, I was going through a very hard time in my life and the story of “Night Reverie”, even though it wasn’t about the same thing I was going through, resonated with me deeply and made me feel more connected to the characters. That emotional connection and my childhood memories with my sister were the main things that inspired me to work in the game. It’s a very lovely story with really wholesome characters that anyone can enjoy. I hope it gets to resonate with you as much as it did with me.

Thanks for this interview, Sol!

Sol’s links: Contact Page │ Twitter │ LinkedIn │ Somber Pixel

Womenize! – Inspiring Stories is our weekly series featuring inspirational women from games and tech. For this edition we talked to Maria Wagner, Initiator and General Manager of GamesForest.Club. She highlights the values of building communities and shares challenges of different industries. Read more about Maria in this interview:

Hi Maria! You have managed many different projects across various industries, where did you feel challenged the most?

Each project and work had its challenges, and I loved all of them because those provided me with many opportunities to learn. When I worked within non-governmental or governmental institutions, especially when I led the refugee camp in Berlin, I was challenged by the lack of digital working tools, service-oriented processes, and efficient communication.

Working in target-driven companies, which understand their customers and try to improve their services, inspires me when it comes to number-driven product design, efficiency, and customer-oriented service. Nevertheless, I still did not feel completely satisfied as I always had the personal need to contribute to the bigger picture and do something meaningful. So now being able to marry both worlds and co-create a company, which is number-driven, service-oriented, and supports the games industry to conquer climate change, makes me very happy.

Do you consider the build-up of communities as a vital part of any company’s success?

Yes, definitely. Especially, if we talk about companies within the creative industry. I think it is vital to establish a well-functioning relationship and communication with your customers and fans. Companies, which bring people together and manage to create new lifestyles and cultures, will profit from the feedback and reach their communities provide to them. Nevertheless, an innovative and fun product or service continues to be the key and generally helps to build up communities.

That’s also why GamesForest.Club provides its members and sponsors with tools to engage their communities and customize their digital forests. This and the visual feedback, which GamesForest.Club provides, helps to bring new communities onboard and enhance their contribution to reforestation and conservation.