Game Dev Fundamentals – Final Projects (part one)

On 13.06.2021 the final presentations of our students in Game Dev Fundamentals took place. By the end of the school year, they had prepared their best and most interesting projects and introduced us to the process behind them. The students talked about their progress and experiences at ARC Academy, what they have achieved and what they hope to achieve in the future.

The presentations began with that of Vasil Florov and his “World of Ancients”. Inspired by games such as Horizon, Zero Dawn, Halo 4 and others, Vasco has created a world of tribes that survive in it, and in the process discover forgotten technology and get involved with gods and titans.

This was followed by Denis Stanev’s and Diana Hristova’s concept of a game, which reflects on modern problems such as the coronavirus and the pollution of the planet. With an added element of fiction and symbolism, he introduced us to the main character, who must save the world from the evils of the alchemists, defeating various monsters during his adventures.

If you ever wondered what a planet would be if a day lasted 200 Earth years – Denitsa Tasheva has already studied the issue. She developed the idea of ​​the planet Isle, where civilizations must constantly migrate to ensure their survival in an ever-changing climate. Not only that, but they must constantly protect themselves from ferocious predators.

Dilyan Nedelchev demonstrated his progress at ARC Academy, showing various illustrations and concepts. He also told us about his joint project with Martin: Ellis’ Prison. In the game, the elves have earned the status of the strongest and most harmonious race in the world. They maintain this balance with the help of their Goddesses, each of whom contributes to the harmony in a different way.

The next student Ivan-Antonio Grozdev walked us through the character “Kilian”: The crow with silver wings. The student went through the stages of sketches, research of the character, improvements, polishment of the concept and turnarounds.

The game that Ivo Yordanov had developed goes beyond the “Idea” stage and is moving towards “Realization”. Ivo claimed that he started ARC Academy to improve his artistic and drawing skills, but instead discovered an unexpected new passion – 3D art. The game he is still developing is called “Trivia Tiles” and is designed for quiz lovers. It already contains thousands of questions and in addition to the 3D environment and characters, Ivo talked about his difficulties he faced with UX and UI design. We expect the game to be released around mid-July!

Christian Yotov has spent the recent months working on “Project Greed” – a first person shooter, which combines space exploration and the philosophical theme of greed. Christian introduced us to the Android Mr-4to and its adventures on a deserted planet, which leads him to meet the artificial intelligence Zoltron.

Kristina Mihailova demonstrated the stages of creation of her 3D heroine. To reach the final design, Christina invents a fantasy world for the heroine to inhabit, and an element of it is the magical portal, which she also displayed.

Margarita Petrova stood out by showing us her illustrations and talking about her progress in the field of painting during her studies in ARC.

The next project was by Martin Kyulkhandzhiev and goes back to an idea he’s had since high school. It is a fantastic tree world, which he managed to redesign, using his newly acquired skills and abilities.

Samuil Tomov, on his hand, dived deep into the essence of his process of creating characters. Samuil guided us through the collection of ideas and references, initial explorations, poses, sketches and more. After this solid preparation, Samuel was only now ready to purposefully develop his character. He always starts with a linear drawing and continues with flat colors, shadow pass and overpaint. The results are impressive!

If you haven’t heard of the term “trippy”, then Costas Dimitris’ project for a music album cover will introduce you to the concept very well. Costas tries to combine the aesthetics of psychedelics with Pop Art and tells us what difficulties he experienced until he reached the final composition.

Sofia Gincheva brought us back to reality with her natural 3D environment scene. She has developed a city on platforms in the mountains with waterfalls and its corresponding houses and details.

The concept for the game S.A.I.N.T was presented to us by Teodor Tenev. His original idea was for a world in Gothic or Victorian style with fantastic notes. However, Teodor talked about the process of rethinking ideas and making practical decisions according to the goal of the game, not considering only his personal taste in aesthetics, and how he made the choice to redirect the mood of the game to the medieval side.

Hristian Hristov, during his presentation, delved into the steps of creating a 3D character. They are namely the creation of a concept, modeling, texturing, rigging and skinning, and then testing various animations with the character.

Stay tuned for part 2 of our students’ presentations!