Christophe De bont 
15/01/2021VAF|GAME has been an important force in driving the evolution and growth of our local games industry. Beefing up the total budget, introducing marketing support and stimulating diversity are just one of the many positive evolutions of recent years. But the next change could prove its most pivotal yet.
Starting this year, commissions will be put together from a pool of experienced game developer profiles, like Adriaan de Jongh (Hidden Folks), Tomas Sala (The Falconeer), Jedidjah Julia Noomen (Alt-Frequencies), and Collin van Ginkel (Toki Tori). The pool system has a lot of advantages over a commission with fixed membership. It not only allows adding people with busy schedules and keep adding new, diverse profiles over time, but it’s now possible to compile a commission best suited to judge the submitted projects.
While submissions always have been judged by experts in their fields, the lack of actual game developers in the commissions was often lamented by applicants. Now the pool includes producers, art directors, narrative designers, and technical directors VAF|GAME is confident submissions will be evaluated even better and applicants will be able to receive more valuable feedback. To balance things out, the pool still includes some research profiles, but at least you won’t have to deal with those pesky journalists no more.
The existing commissions for entertainment/artistic video games and serious/educational video games are joined by a brand new marketing commission for promotion support, that consists of three people with their own specialty (community, PR, social media, influencer marketing). Names include Jeroen Roding (Vertigo Games), Chris Hanney (i-Illusions), and Sophie Schiaratura (Fishing Cactus).
We won’t have to wait long to see the new commissions in action, as they will get to work on the next submission call, which you can still apply for until 26th January.
