Game Dev Bootcamp

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The four-week online educational Game Dev Bootcamp program has been successfully completed, with more than 600 young people from all over Serbia applying. Out of all of them, 160 have actively participated in the workshops while 16 most persistent ones have finished their projects and developed working prototypes of their games.

The most persistent among them, with the help of top foreign and domestic experts, mastered the technical development of video games and made prototypes of their first games.

Nordeus Foundation's Game Dev Bootcamp brought together top experts and lecturers from the video game industry who shared their knowledge and experience with young talents during this unique online program. Throughout the workshops, the participants had the support of the program mentors from Phobos studios so that in just four weeks they could independently make a prototype of their first FPS (first person shooter) game. The lecturers came from Epic Games, best known for the global hit game Fortnite, and 3Lateral, originally a domestic company that is a pioneer and innovator in the field of creating realistic digital avatars, as well as the Faculty of Dramatic Arts, University of Belgrade.

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Mentoring by Phobos's lead programer

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An important role in the success of Bootcamp was played by the program's mentor, Ivan Koroknai from Phobos Studios, who was with the participants all the time, guiding them through the game development process and monitoring their progress from week to week. Ivan was recently a participant in one of the Nordeus Hub programs, where he saw the importance of mentoring, and today his studio is working on developing a game that uses Unreal Engine technology.

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Being a mentor to students who are entering the world of game development and deciding on the direction in which they want to direct their careers was a very nice experience for me. I wish I had this kind of support when I started doing this business, more than 15 years ago, because I know how important it is to have someone introduce you to that world at the very beginning, say some useful shortcuts and simply share their experience. That is one of the main reasons why I wanted to participate in this program. There are many pathways students can take after graduation, and it is important that they have access to different IT areas so that they can choose what they really want most. That is why I firmly believe that such programs, as a supplement to formal education, are invaluable.

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Determined to support young talent and the local gaming community, Epic Games speakers Luis Cataldi, Chief Game Artist, Director of Education and Educational Resources, and Unreal Engine's Lead Learning Specialist, Arran Langmead, Technical Artist and Manager for relations with developers, Galen Davis, producer and senior learning expert at Unreal Engine, then Adam Kovač, solution specialist from 3Lateral and Darko Subotin, assistant professor at the Faculty of Dramatic Arts, University of Belgrade, selflessly shared their knowledge and experience with the participants.