Student Game Festival Warsaw: Much More Than a Student Event

Two things in particular stood out.

First, the students themselves. Their creativity, technical skills, and the quality of their art were genuinely impressive. I was even more amazed to learn that some of the participants are still in high school! Seeing so many young, talented people with such passion for game development is both inspiring and encouraging. If this is what the next generation of developers looks like, the future of our industry is in good hands.

Second, the event itself. The organization, hospitality, venue, production quality, and talks were all at a level you would expect from a much larger, established industry conference. While SGF is primarily aimed at students and juniors, there was plenty of valuable content for experienced professionals as well. Another important detail is that the entire event is in English, making it fully accessible to an international audience and creating opportunities for connections well beyond Poland.

I also had the pleasure of joining a panel with representatives of several national games industry associations, where we discussed the current state of the industry and its prospects. The overall sentiment was cautiously optimistic. There is no denying that the industry is going through a period of uncertainty, and that breaking into it, especially for juniors, is more difficult than it used to be. But I think we also agreed on something important: while it has become harder to enter the industry as an employee, it has arguably never been easier to enter it as a creator. The tools, knowledge and opportunities to make and publish games have never been more accessible. And I think that’s a particularly encouraging message for all the young developers in the audience.

This year’s special guest country was the Czech Republic, bringing together two already strong game dev ecosystems. While I am quite familiar with the Czech games industry and its successes, it was still fascinating to see just how many of their successful games draw inspiration from Czech history and culture. As someone currently working on a game inspired by Serbian history, I found that particularly encouraging. Maybe we’re onto something…

Poland remains something of a north star when it comes to building a strong game dev ecosystem, particularly in the way the public sector supports private initiatives, industry organizations, and businesses. There is a lot we can learn from that approach.

Looking ahead, I hope we can build an even stronger bridge between our communities.

Serbia has no shortage of talented young developers, and I would love to see more of them participating in future editions of SGF. Helping Serbian students reach this event, showcase their projects, exchange experiences, and connect with their peers from across Europe is something we should definitely work towards at SGA.

Finally, a big thank you and congratulations to Ewa Maria Szczepanowska and Pawel Miechowski for putting together such an excellent event. And kudos to Mateusz Witczak, who hosted our panel discussion. I’m usually not the biggest fan of panels, but I think we managed to make this one pretty good!

Looking forward to seeing how SGF continues to grow!