Autumn Meetup – powered by Playhop

SGA General 15.10.2025.
Time 6 PM - 9 PM
Language Serbian
Location Centrala Hub, 23 Kraljevića Marka Street, Niš
Price free

Autumn Meetup – powered by Playhop

Niška banja: healing zone

Hey, people from Niš! Long time no see. But we are gonna make up for it… now! 😊

We continue with the seasonal meetups, and the autumn one takes us to the south of Serbia, to one of the three major Serbian game dev centers. It’s time for sweaters, snuggling in blankets and collecting fallen chestnuts. And at such a time, the famous theme for school essays, “Autumn in my city”, is a must. Well, we decided that the city, for a change, would not be Belgrade.

Come to Centrala Hub and meet people who are just as crazy about gaming as you are! After five cool presentations, grab a glass of Crna ovca craft beer and go networking, because that’s what meetups are all about.

And at the presentations, a really cool bunch awaits you, some from Niš, some from the north. Here is the list:

 

Lazar Cvetković, Junior Software Engineer, Nordeus

A Blueprint for Getting Into Game Dev

This presentation will walk you through the key steps needed to break into the game development industry or to create your own game from scratch. Based on his personal journey, Lazar will share practical advice, common pitfalls to avoid, and insights that can help you take your first steps with confidence.

 

Darko Peninger, indie developer, Entertainment Forge

From Puzzles to Horror – How to Decide What Kind of Indie Game to Make

Darko will show how he decided what kind of game to make, what he learned from it, and what that process looks like now.

 

Luka Simić, Senior 2D Artist, Webelinx Games

AI Buff Activated! How Did AI Power Up Our Creative Game?

Our journey from the first curious experiments to the full integration of AI tools into our daily work. We’ll show how our teams adapted to new workflows, which tools gave us the biggest boost, and share the most interesting examples from our projects. And finally, we’ll take a look at the famous question: Will AI completely replace artists?

 

Luka Beatović, Sound Designer, Skyborne Studios

Skyborne Chronicles

Luka will present a demo of the game Skyborne Chronicles. He will talk about the team, the development of the game, its current state and future plans.

 

Saša Veličković, Game Director, Entropic Island

The Power of a Story (and Bureaucracy): Our Journey with Creative Europe MEDIA Grant

Independent game development often balances creative ambition with constant uncertainty. For our team, the Creative Europe MEDIA grant gave Sova the structure and breathing room it needed to evolve from an idea into a tangible project. This talk explores how institutional support can shape a game’s creative direction without diluting its vision – how storytelling and bureaucracy can coexist – and why such programs matter for small teams trying to make meaningful work in a volatile industry.

 

This meetup would not be possible without the sponsorship of the Playhop platform, which brings browser games back to life, with over 20,000 titles and more than a million players per month.

Lazar Cvetković,
Junior Software Engineer, Nordeus
About the lecturer

Lazar is a Junior Software Engineer at Nordeus with a strong passion for game development. He has created more than 25 smaller finished games through game jams, and co-developed a location-based mobile game with over 6K downloads that raised $18,000 . He is currently working with his friends on Hexalith, a city-building strategy game coming to Steam.

Darko Peninger,
Indie developer, Entertainment Forge
About the lecturer

He has been developing his own video games for over 10 years. He started with Flash games and released his first one in 2013. Under his studio Entertainment Forge, he created around 15 Flash games and later four Steam titles, the most popular of which is Gladiator Guild Manager. Now he’s started a new chapter with his studio Raw Tale Games, where he focuses on developing narrative horror games.

Luka Simić,
Senior 2D Artist, Webelinx Games
About the lecturer

By day, Luka is a Senior 2D Artist at Webelinx Games — by night, a dedicated Pokémon trainer. With years of experience in the mobile gaming industry, he’s worked on a variety of puzzle and escape room games, experiencing firsthand how AI tools are reshaping creative workflows. Passionate about 2D design since childhood, he’s now focused on crafting engaging UI designs for mobile games.

Luka Beatović,
Sound Designer, Skyborne Studios
About the lecturer

Skyborne Studios is a two-person team from Chicago and Novi Sad. It consists of Ivan Gvozdanović and Luka Beatović. This is their first project and they intend to move on to further projects with it.

Saša Veličković,
Game Director, Entropic Island
About the lecturer

Saša Veličković is a game developer from Niš with over a decade of professional experience in software development and a lifelong obsession with making games. A former CEO of Codemancy, he founded Entropic Island, the studio behind the narrative-action roguelike Sova. He wears many hats: from game and narrative design to animation and programming. It’s taken him a while to get here, but he plans to keep making games until the robots take over.