More than 200 applications, 23 selected participants, over 20 lectures, dozens of lecturers, countless mentoring sessions, thousands of questions (and answers), several gaming studio tours in Serbia, five teams and projects, but still only one winner 😉 and endless motivation and positive energy. These things marked the previous eight months.
Here is what the first cycle of the Playing Narratives program looked like from the point of view of lecturers, organizers, participants!
We are entering 2022 with big plans for the second cycle of the program that will have a regional character, further improved based on the feedback of the participants from the first cycle. We should also travel together, hang out and work with colleagues from the region. Instead of a cinematic trailer, at the end of the program we will develop prototypes. Instead of comics, we will deal with topics that are common and important with all young people in our region.
Expect many other surprises, and an opportunity for you to enter the professional game dev waters in this unique way, as was the case this year with half of our participants, who now work in, or cooperate with some of the local gaming companies. Follow SGA channels early next year for all information on signing up for Playing Narratives: ideas to games!
Thanks to everyone who made this unforgettable experience possible, to the lecturers, our students, and especially the French-German Cultural Fund, the general sponsor Digital Arrow from Novi Sad, prominent sponsors – Two Desperados and 3lateral as part of Epic Games – and Ubisoft Belgrade. Renowned organizations from Germany (Spielfabrique accelerator) and France (Cnam-ENJMIN College of Video Games and Interactive Digital Media) were with us, and expect a much larger and refreshed list of partners in the new program.
In the end, we thank our colleagues from the Goethe-Institut and the French Institute in Belgrade, with whom we came up with the idea in October 2020 for such stellar results, and we hope to have started a long life of this unique program.