On Tuesday the 23rd September 2025, the Regional Council of Kainuu organized a storification workshop for local stakeholders at the Kaukametsä Cultural and Congress Centre in Kajaani. In the workshop a storification expert Anne Kalliomäki held a training session, where participants were guided to create their own products, that support their businesses and organizations, based on storification. The game Tale Smiths, developed as part of the N-LiTe project, was used as an example of how game development can be utilized in turning local stories into products to boost the vitality of the Kainuu region.
After the workshop the participants were invited to join the launch event of Tale Smiths in the lobby area. The launch event was open to the public as well, not just the workshop participants.
Minna Komulainen from the Regional Council of Kainuu opened the event by welcoming all and giving a short presentation about the N-LiTe project and its goals. The team leader of the development of Tale Smiths, Kyösti Koskela from Kajaani University of Applied Sciences, showcased the game to the audience and shared their experience of working on it. He also introduced Teija Mursula from Kajaani University of Applied Sciences, who played a key role in bringing the story to life. She did the voice acting as the narrator, and the acting for facial expressions that were used to create the facial animations in the game. She talked about what it was like to be involved in the production from the acting perspective.
The Finnish story highlighted in Tale Smiths is an excerpt from the Kalevala. The Kalevala is Finland’s national epic, compiled by Elias Lönnrot from traditional Finnish and Karelian oral folklore and mythology. It tells the adventures of legendary heroes, creation myths, and magical quests, forming a cornerstone of Finnish cultural identity. The heroes of Kalevala called Väinämöinen, Ilmarinen, and Lemminkäinen, set out on a daring quest to steal the magical artifact called the Sampo from the land of Pohjola. The Sampo is a mythological item that produces endless wealth and prosperity. In the Finnish story of Tale Smiths, the player can join this quest through the digital storytelling experience.
After that the audience had the chance to ask questions and try out the game themselves.Tale Smiths will be available to the public at the Kainuu Music Institute through October, before it begins its journey across the Kainuu region.
N-LiTe Project
N-LiTe is an acronym for a project name Literary Tourism Immersive Technology Acceleration. The project aims to leverage technology and foster innovation to generate employment opportunities and drive economic progress within the Northern Periphery and Arctic (NPA) region. The project will finish at summer of 2026.
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