Borislav Kostov, Lead Programmer at Gameloft, for the responsibility and the sweet moments of his profession

Borislav Kostov is a Lead Programmer at Gameloft Sofia, and in October he will be part of the lecturer team in the new ARC Academy program – Game Programming.

In the following lines, we will introduce you to Borislav, so that you can learn what path he has taken in his professional development and what he expects from future students in the program:

When did you get into programming? 

In early childhood because of Starcraft. An older brother of a classmate showed us what C++ was, we were able to write a program that would search the game resources and extract the cinematics so we could watch them whenever we wanted.

Why did you choose to do game programming instead of another type of software? 

With games, you see the result of your work, it’s dynamic and interesting. You can have fun with what you’ve done. The product reaches millions of people and you watch their reactions.

От кога си lead programmer в Gameloft и какво включват задълженията ти?

Lead програмист съм от преди десетина години. Имах няколко години прекъсване, докато разработвахме вътрешни training програми за нови хора и тогава по-скоро бях фокусиран върху начините за по-лесна интеграция и развитието на новите кадри.

В края на 2020 г. отново поех водещата роля на един от трите големи проекти в нашето студио – War Planet Online. Опитвам се да организирам и подобрявам процеса на работа. Да давам насока за архитектурното развитие на проекта и да помагам на колегите с проектирането и изработката на новите функционалности в играта.

Кои са любимите ти проекти по-които си работил и защо?

Любими проекти … не знам. Почти всичко, по което съм работил, харесвам, защото ми е дало възможност да науча нови неща. Когато бях в Ubisoft, имах възможността да работя със страхотни професионалисти и да науча много за конзолите и програмирането като цяло. След като се върнах в Gameloft, започна бурно развитие в мобилните телефони и освен самите игри през годините сме имали възможност за RnD на редица неща – AI, социални мрежи, cloud, extended reality.

Since when have you been a lead programmer at Gameloft and what do your duties include? 

I have been a lead programmer for ten years. I had a few years’ pause while we developed internal training programs for new people, and then I was more focused on ways of easier integration and the development of new staff. At the end of 2020, I once again took the lead on one of the three major projects in our studio – War Planet Online. I try to organize and improve the work process. To give direction for the architectural development of the project and help colleagues with the design and development of new functionalities in the game.

What are your favorite projects you’ve worked on and why? 

Favorite projects … I don’t know. I like almost everything I’ve worked on because it’s given me the opportunity to learn new things. When I was at Ubisoft, I had the opportunity to work with great professionals and learn a lot about consoles and programming in general. After I came back to Gameloft, the rapid development in mobile phones started, and besides the games themselves, over the years we have had the opportunity to RnD on a number of things – AI, social networks, cloud, extended reality.

What will you be teaching in ARC Academy’s Game Programming program and what would you like to teach the students? 

I will teach courses related to algorithms and data structures. I would like to teach students the different ways to structure and work with data. Thinking and evaluating different ways to solve a problem. Optimizations and troubleshooting.

If you’ve always had an interest in programming and video games, then the Game Programming program is for you. Deepen your knowledge of C++ and participate in the creation of games in Unreal Engine in multidisciplinary teams with game designers, 2D and 3D artists. Apply to ARC Academy.

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