About us
Bologna Game Farm is coordinated by the Municipality of Bologna with the support of ART-ER to support the cultural and creative industry in partnership with IncrediBOL! and with the technical support of IIDEA – Italian Interactive & Digital Entertainment Association.
Through a public call, Bologna Game Farm has already selected eight Emilia-Romagna based companies active in the videogame industry and provided them with financial support and an acceleration process at Le Serre provided by ART-ER, an accelerator dedicated to innovative start-ups and built as a hub of the regional ecosystem supporting the creation of businesses and enterprises. Project goals:
Contacts
Municipality of Bologna Referent Culture and Creativity Sector
Sara De Martini
ART-ER Startup Unit Representative
Sveva Ruggiero
The coordinator and the tutors of the acceleration process
Guided by both the coordinator and the tutors, and thanks to the sponsors’ contribution, participants receive specific training on business practices, production and international marketing of their videogames, and proceed in the development of the game prototype through to its presentation at international industry fairs and events.
Support is also provided for the integration of their business activities within the context of the regional innovation ecosystem, with the goal of favoring their growth opportunities.
Coordinator
Ivan Venturi
Luca Marchetti
Tutor
Luca Marchetti has been Game Director and CEO of Studio Evil since 2011. Having a background as programmer and technical director, and having always been passionate about videogames, he participated in the design and development of the studio's productions. Winner of the Future For Health Award, he has always placed a strong focus on the medical field in videogames, designing solutions dedicated to patients affected by different conditions. In the B2B environment, he designs and co-ordinates the VR and AR work. He began his career in 1996, founding his first company in the IT industry. Since then, he has always worked in companies with a strong tech focus in different industries, from web development and tourism to analysis software for online betting markets.
Gerardo Verna
Tutor
Born in Fano, a town near the Adriatic Sea, in 1981. After studying computer engineering at the University of Bologna, he began working in the Game Development industry, initially developing educational applications and serious games until 2009. Between 2012 and 2013 he worked as programmer on the two chapters of the Nicolas Eymerich videogame, the first videogame in Latin inspired by the novels of Valerio Evangelisti. Following the success of a Kickstarter campaign, in January 2017 he co-founded the company Trinity Team srl, whose first title Bud Spencer & Terence Hill - Slaps And Beans, was published in December 2017 on PC and in 2018 on console. He subsequently worked as programmer/producer on the videogame The Darkest Tales, published in 2022. He is currently working on the production of Bud Spencer & Terence Hill - Slaps and Beans 2 with Trinity Team, where he also holds the role of managing director.
The spaces
Hosted at ART-ER's Serre in Bologna's Giardini Margherita park, the acceleration period is key in allowing participants to have capital to invest in order to better structure their projects, and time spent with tutors which favors awareness of their own career and of the industry environment.
International Trade Shows
Game Connection America
Business event that takes place annually in San Francisco with the aim of bringing together developers and publishers.
Gamescom
A videogame trade fair held every year in Cologne, it is the largest European videogames event.
Game Connection Europe
A videogame trade fair held every year in Los Angeles, it is considered one of the most important consumer events in the world.
E3
A videogame trade fair held every year in Los Angeles, it is considered one of the most important consumer events in the world.