Video Games of Class of 2022/2023 – Alpha Presentation

At the end of their two-year education, students from the different programs at ARC Academy – Game DesignConcept Art and 3D Art – come together and create their own video game. Working on the projects simulates working in an indie studio and students go through all the stages that game development goes through in the game industry.

This year’s graduating students were divided into two teams X and Y and each of them developed their own video game.

X
Y

The students have a mentor – Evgeniy Tenev, lead game producer at Creative Assembly Sofia, who helps the teams. The projects themselves are presented to a jury in a series of four presentations. On March 11 was the so-called Pitch presentation. On April 22, the Alpha presentation was held, and by the end of the academic year, the students will present the last two – Beta and Gold.

Evaluation of the projects is carried out by a jury, which consists of professionals with extensive experience in the game industry. The Alpha presentation was attended by Georgi Dinchev – studio manager of Creative Assembly SofiaTanko Shokerov – studio manager of Gameloft SofiaAlexander Lene – studio lead game designer at Gameloft Sofia; Ivaylo Koralsky – co-owner of the indie studio Kyodai; Stefan Vasilev, senior programmer, game developer, ARC Academy teacher and alumni; Antony Christov – co-founder of ARC Academy and teacher at the Academy.

During the Alpha presentation, each team went through several basic steps of presenting their game. Evaluators could see a timeline with the development plan, the cost estimate for making the game, the risk analysis, and how many of the tasks have been completed or are about to be included in the Beta presentation.

The jury listened to the presenters and even had the opportunity to test the students’ games. After the end of each of the presentations, the evaluators expressed their opinion and gave their feedback to the students. Everyone unanimously expressed their impression of the hard work and the results achieved. Both teams showed significant progress from the Pitch presentation to the current one both in their presentation skills and in terms of game development.

According to the jury, the students’s games have a real opportunity for market development.

Each team received valuable tips and guidance on what to work on until the Beta presentation, which will be on May 13th. We can’t wait to see what the students’ video games will look like in the next stage!