The game studio House of How in Boden, with the help of trainees from Boden Game Camp, has been working on parts of the development in the the game Minecraft Legends. It is the action strategy spinoff of Minecraft, one of the world’s best-selling games.
Created in 2011, the computer game Minecraft has been developed by Sweden’s Mojang Studios into one of the largest of its kind in the world. Over the years, it has been supplemented by a series of spin-off versions. The latest is Minecraft Legends which was released in April this year and will gradually deliver new opportunities.
Part of the Minecraft Legends gaming experience has been created here in Boden. Of the 40 House of How staff who have been involved around the world, about half are based at the Swedish House of How studio in Boden. Among the 20 are also students from the gaming courses in Boden, who have been doing their internship at the House of How for the past six months. Students have been highly involved in this large and long-secret mission. They have contributed knowledge, ideas and concrete tasks to solve. At the same time, they have had the opportunity to demonstrate and develop their strengths with partners with specialist knowledge both locally in the studio and elsewhere in the world. In addition to the feeling of being trusted, and seeing their names and creations launched as additional game content for the worldwide game, they also get to add a weighty credit to their future resumes.
Trailer for Minecraft Legends, where House of How and their trainees from Boden Game Camp, have been involved in the development of additional game content.
“It is a matter of give and take. We as a company get a lot out of it too and we want our interns to have the opportunity to show themselves in the role they will be able to take in the future, and to grow,” explains Oskar Pettersson, studio manager and project manager at House of How.
He himself started out as a teacher at the gaming school in Boden as one of the pioneers of gaming education. Boden Game Camp currently offers seven programs with a total of 300 students from all over the country and the world. Interest is high and many people find jobs immediately after or during their training.
From traineeship to employment
The House of How is gradually hiring more and more talent, often directly from the schools. So far, two of the trainees who have participated in the Minecraft Legends project have gone on to full-time employment immediately after their studies. One of them is Erik Lindahl from Luleå.
“I have always had an interest in games and dreamed of working with games from an early age. But then those jobs were in the US. So I worked as a labourer for quite a while. But the fact that this opportunity and gaming jobs are here now and growing is very exciting.”
After his two years at Boden Game Camp’s Game Dev Indie program, he is now one of the approximately 15 employees at House of How in Boden. In total, there are about 70 employees worldwide.
“It has been extremely instructive to work with so many others in this project. It’s a very collaborative process,” says Erik.
Cool gaming hub among flower meadows
Another student who has participated in the Minecraft Legends work as an intern at House of How is Lowe Karlsson. She speaks warmly about Boden Game Camp, Boden as a town and Boden Business Park as a meeting place.
“It feels like this is where it happens, and I really want to stay here and help grow both the studio and Boden Business Park. Having a gaming hub like this in the middle of flower meadows is so cool. School and industry are so close to each other, here you are shoulder to shoulder with each other”, she says.
Ecosystem
Boden Game Camp is a unique ecosystem for the computer games industry in Boden. With around 300 students, they are an integral part of the Boden Business Park, which is the heart of Boden’s business development. It attracts students and companies from all over Sweden and the world.
House of How is one of several gaming companies located here. They will continue to offer opportunities for new trainees and employees to work on other advanced games as they grow in the coming years. You can see and hear more about it in the video below:
House of How, Boden. Film by Markus Jornevald, KOMM/Bodens kommun
There are currently around 20 game companies in Boden and the number is growing all the time, including through Game Camp’s incubator, which helps with business start-ups.
Swedish companies in the computer games industry have a turnover of over 27 billion. Including foreign subsidiaries, the figure rises to 28 billion. In total, exports of computer games account for 4.1% of Sweden’s exports of services. (Source of the report “Powerhouse of the video game industry”)
Read more about the latest initiatives at Boden Game Camp HERE.
Photos: Ida-Marie Ek, Boden Business Park, Text: KOMM/Bodens kommun
