Evacuation Zone: Tampere Joins Nordic Game 2025 as Composer Hackathon Challenge

Evacuation Zone: Tampere, our unique VR game, takes the spotlight at Nordic Game 2025 as a thrilling video game music hackathon challenge. Discover how this collaboration pushes creative boundaries and empowers game composers in the industry.

From the Back Row to Centre Stage

The Nordic Game journey has always been more than just a conference—it’s a proving ground for innovation. For us at Virtual Dawn, it began humbly. Years ago, we walked into the Malmö venue simply as curious newcomers. We didn’t have a booth, a pitch, or a platform—just questions, passion, and a desire to understand what truly drives the games industry forward.

Thanks to this experience, our CEO Antti Martikainen delivered a speech questioning AI’s role in art, defining the work required to claim artistry. Subsequently, we triumphed in the pitching competition with our title, Virtual Dawn – Five-Star: Chef Ops, securing a win at NG!

Fast-forward to today, and we’re proud to announce a significant milestone in that journey.

🎤 This May, Evacuation Zone: Tampere will take the spotlight at Nordic Game 2025—as a video game music hackathon challenge for some of the most daring composers in the industry. This is set to be a highlight for VR game music production.

A title intentionally designed to provoke, subvert, and satirise, Evacuation Zone: Tampere will test composers not just on technical execution but also on emotional resilience—how do you score chaos without glamorising it? Can music serve dysfunction without demanding perfection? This game audio challenge is precisely the kind of opportunity we believe pushes the creative industry forward—and why we’re so honoured to contribute it to the Nordic Game 2025 experience.

nordic game 2025 poster

The Hackathon Brief: Compose the Uncomfortable

Evacuation Zone: Tampere isn’t your typical zombie game. It’s a love letter to Finland’s darkest humour—part satire, part cultural commentary, and 100% absurd. And now, it becomes a sandbox for audio composers to push their creativity to new heights in this video game music hackathon.

 The challenge? Scoring a world that’s intentionally imperfect.

Not every soundtrack needs to sound like Hans Zimmer’s grand orchestration. Sometimes, the soul of a game lives in discord, dissonance, and raw emotion. This composer hackathon is a real-time masterclass in narrative scoring under creative tension. It’s a fantastic opportunity for indie game composers.

Try it yourself. The VR Demo is already live



Download Evacuation Zone: Tampere

The Broader Vision: Empowering VR Game Creators Everywhere

This moment is part of something much larger. At Virtual Dawn, we’re not just making games—we’re building an ecosystem.

Our platform empowers creators across the spectrum—from solo developers and composers to educational institutions and XR studios—to access tools, assets, and community designed to scale immersive development. With the launch of our new website and Creator Portal, anyone can now:

You don’t need to be a developer to participate—just someone with vision. If you’re a game composer, a narrative designer, a VR engineer, or a creative leader—Virtual Dawn is built for you.

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