FOR THE WIN! – Shift2Games student program

Conference 26.05.2023.
Time 2 - 6 PM
Language Srpski / English
Location Kolarac People's University
Price Free

FOR THE WIN! – Shift2Games student program

For the Win! conference is presented as the new meeting point for the European gamedev community, and is being held in Belgrade for the second time on May 25 and 26, organized by SGA. On the occasion of the launch of our new online platform "Shift 2 Games", aimed at students and young professionals getting acquainted with professions within the gaming industry, we have prepared a special program for all students attending courses and subjects related to gaming, or those who are interested in it.

For the Win! is a new and unique event in the European landscape of video game development. After last year’s rich program, this May we are proud to present the second edition as a two-day experience! FTW! proved to be a refreshing space for networking, knowledge sharing and discussions about the future of European video game development communities.

The participation of close to 300 participants from more than 15 countries is expected – professionals from companies and studios, educators, representatives of the civil sector, state institutions and other actors of the sector of innovation and creative industries. Like last year, this professional event is free for participants, but also open only by invitation of the organizer or one of the partners.

The exception will be students attending classes related to the domain of video game production in Serbia, for which a special program module will be arranged within the Shift2Games project in cooperation with domestic companies, as well as their faculties and higher schools. So, if you are a student or a young professional interested in getting involved in the gaming industry, we invite you to register for this special program at Kolarac, and attend 8 phenomenal lectures by our special guests and take advantage of this unique opportunity!

OVDE VIEW THE COMPLETE AGENDA OF THIS PROGRAM, PREPARED ESPECIALLY FOR YOU! 

You can expect transfer of experience and knowledge of representatives of the companies 3Lateral/Epic Games, Two Desperados, Wargaming, MiTale, Nordeus and Mad Head Games .

If your interest goes further than that, you have the opportunity to sign up separately to follow the keynote program the previous evening, on Thursday May 25, from 7 PM at the Bitef Theater. All the details and a separate link for registration are on the link. If you are curious, have a look at the last year’s atmosphere. 

Shift 2 Games is a completely new online platform (active since June 1st!), which is intended for high school students, students, young professionals and all those who want to get professionally involved in game development. On it, you will be able to find content that will bring you closer to specific professions in gaming, offer advice on how to work in gaming or where to improve – and much more. This special program track on FTW! conference is also the first in a series of S2G events, which we will regularly organize from June in cooperation with companies, faculties and other organizations. The next one awaits you already on June 22, but more on that soon!

The event is realized with the support of numerous partners, including the  companies GoogleOutfit73 Lateral/Epic Games i Two Desperados, as well as organizations such as The British CouncilUSAIDSwissEPMEDIA Creative Europe Desk SerbiaSerbia Innoveates, ICT HubVenture an Idea and the supercluster Creative Tech Serbia. The main media partner is Netokracija.

Adam Kovač,
Solutions Specialist, 3Lateral
About the lecturer

He received his high school education at the 9th Gymnasium in Belgrade, after which he enrolled at the Faculty of Organizational Sciences with the idea of ​​dealing with (operational) management. Although he was then interested in optimizing the work process, he began his career in a combination of circumstances in financial consulting at the international company EY. There, he made analyzes and reports that help with the acquisitions of larger companies (SBB, Imlek, Knjaz Milos, Bambi…).

One of them was a turning point. While working on the acquisition of 3Lateral by Epic Games he met the 3Lateral team. Today, it is in this company that it helps clients choose the right technology solutions, helps the growth of local startups and creative communities, and deals with marketing and public relations.

Adam also has a great love for mentoring. During his studies and career, he mentored more than 100 students of the Faculty of Organizational Sciences in groups, and individually (1 on 1) about 30 students and team members.

Natasha Skult,
CEO, MiTale
About the lecturer

Natasha Skult is the CEO & Creative Director of MiTale, a game development company from Finland focusing on narrative-driven experiences and gamification. She is an active member of the Finnish and international games industry as a Chairperson of W Love Games and Chair-Emeritus of IGDA. Besides industry work, she is active in academic research on interactive storytelling with quantum computing and teaches courses in game design and game (digital) art production at University of Turku.

Đorđe Popović,
Associate Producer, Ubisoft Belgrade
About the lecturer

Đorđe spent almost 15 years in television production before switching to gaming. He worked on TV, but also within various production companies, gaining experience through the production of various formats in the country and abroad. He returned to Serbia in 2019 and currently works at Ubisoft, as a producer. He’s been there for three years now, and he’s enjoying every moment as, according to him, he’s finally fulfilled his boyhood dream.

Nikola Damjanov,
Lead Game Artist, Nordeus
About the lecturer

Nikola is a 3D generalist with over 10 years of diverse experience. He began his higher education as an engineer, but after a few years turned to interactive media. His first professional steps were making models, animations and VFX for music videos and movies. After that, he dabbled in architecture and product visualization for a while, but then switched to graphics and web design. Most of the time he made interactive art installations in parallel, but in the end he found his happy place – as a game artist.

For the past eight years, he has been actively improving his artistic skills, researching new tools and adopting them as quickly as possible. Nordeus helped him channel his passion, focus and broad skill set to the position he is in today. He moved through the company quite quickly, and currently works as a lead artist in the company. Apart from his daily activities, he cares about the bigger picture. Because of this, he is also heavily involved in recruiting, interviewing, mentoring and overall maintaining the company culture.

He actively participates in several game-art communities, writes blog posts and generally likes to share everything he knows, but also expects to learn something from everyone.

Dimitrije Cvetković,
Head of Audio, Mad Head Games
About the lecturer

Dimitrije is a sound designer and composer specialized in production of sound for video games.

Currently Head of Audio at Mad Head Games, where he supervises the sound design, music and voiceover pipelines to ensure that the projects are empowered with great-sounding, highly engaging audio content.

Ognjen Ilkić,
Lead VFX artist, Mad Head Games
About the lecturer

After completing his academic studies in the field of Animation in Engineering. Ognjen continued his professional path in the world of animation, modeling, film effects and the gaming industry. His first job was within the Cutscene sphere where he had the opportunity to perfect his knowledge of compositing, animation and film visual effects. As he says, he often knew how to dedicate his free time to learning the Houdini program, where over time he perfected his knowledge in procedural work and simulations. All these software and the various disciplines he practiced inspired him and led him to try to combine everything into one profession to which he would fully dedicate himself – visual effects in games.

Nenad Tešović,
Development Director for World of Tanks, Wargaming
About the lecturer

Experienced Production Manager and Lead Programmer with a demonstrated history of working in the video games industry. Went through the entire project cycle, from pre-production to post-release period multiple times. Manager of teams that have successfully shipped several AAA projects for multiple platforms (PS4, XBOX, PC, Stadia). Highly technical background that includes 20 years of programming in C++. Daily involvement in the recruiting process, organization and realization of internships programs and other activities related to creating and managing production teams.

Jovana Filipović,
Game Designer, Two Desperados
About the lecturer

Jovana has been a part of the gaming industry for 5 years, starting her career at Two Desperados as Player Support intern back when the company was in its early startup stages. As the company grew, Jovana had the chance to go through all the game development phases as well as team development phases. As a Game Designer, Jovana worked on all games developed by Two Desperados, including the recently released NoNo Crossing, for which she was also the vision stakeholder. When it comes to games, Jovana loves simulations – from creating Zoos to driving buses. She says she’s a professional procrastinator and that’s one of the most important skills for her job and creative work.

Aleksandar Petrović,
Senior Technical Artist, Two Desperados
About the lecturer

Aleksandar Petrovic Coki has been a part of Two Desperados as Technical Artist for 6 years now. He likes to say his main job is maintaining peace and state of bliss between devs and artists, devs and game designers, devs and other devs…. He is behind Nono’s mischievous and goofy appearance. Bringing them to life through animations, technical design and a bit of code.