The Witcher Cookbook and Human Jaws: Game Future Fest 2024 Held at HSE University

Photo: Evgenia Aleynikova

On May 25, HSE Art and Design School held an annual festival dedicated to video games and geek culture—Game Future Fest 2024. Gamers, developers, designers, potential investors and employers, as well as those interested in game dev, gathered to play, support student projects, attend workshops, and chat with teammates. The event was held at HSE University on Staraya Basmannaya Ulitsa.

Games, Merch, and Community

This year, 47 student projects were presented at the Game Future Fest, said Eleonora Ushakova, the event organiser. Guests from the game industry other universities were invited to the festival.

Eleonora Ushakova

© HSE University

‘The event aims to popularise game development in Russia and give students an opportunity to present their projects not only to friends, but also to HR specialists and investors from video game development studios,’ says Eleonora Ushakova. Game Future Fest became a place where students could practice pitching (presenting) their projects, as well as observe the reaction of the audience to their games.

The festival site was divided into several zones: a pitching hall, gaming and lecture areas, and classrooms with computers where guests could play games created by HSE students and suggest improvements to the developers. The jury featuring HSE teachers also tested the participants' developments: they played prototypes, listened to pitches, and eventually chose the best projects.

During the event, guests and participants could visit the art market, where students and invited artists showcased their own merchandise: posters, action figures, badges, etc.

Students of the Game Design track organised special spaces where fest guests could play games created by HSE students. No-love mansion!, Green Revival, Fairy Punk, and other projects featuring unique designs and gameplay, were presented in computer classrooms.

Working in the Game Industry

Oksana Talyzina, HR manager of the largest gaming company in Russia and Belarus, Lesta Games (known for such games as World of Tanks, World of Ships, Tanks Blitz), was one of the invited guests. Oksana's lecture was devoted to the peculiarities of employment in the industry: how to compile a CV for gaming companies correctly, what to focus on, how to competently present yourself and your work, what employers expect from young applicants and what role artists, modellers, programmers, etc play in the industry.

Oksana Talyzina also spoke about the Lesta Games projects, which are aimed at helping prospective specialists gain work experience and subsequent employment. Lesta Start helps prospective game developers to complete an internship in Lesta Games projects. Lesta Academy is a project for young IT professionals who plan to dedicate their future career to game development and gain experience in creating their own games.

Food in Gameplay

Why do we need food in games and what function does it perform in the gameplay space? Olga Limanets, author of the book The Witcher: An Unofficial Cookbook, delivered a lecture on food in games. She faced a difficult task—to replicate the dishes used in the game, without knowing the exact recipe.

Olga notes that virtual food allows us to use all our receptors (not only visual, but also taste) and immerse fully into the game’s reality. Food in games also performs a decorative function, sometimes a quest function, and the most interesting function of healing (helping players restore their health) and buffing (increasing damage or affecting the player or other entities, which reduces their health level).

Guests, fans, and participants of the festival willingly shared their impressions.

At the end of the event, the results of the project competition were announced and winners were awarded in four categories: Best Game, Best Trailer, Best Visual Content, and Viewer's Choice.

Green Revival from the team of master’s students Elizaveta Kozlova, Tatyana Plekhanova, Polina Nikitina, and Alexey Demin won Best Game of the festival. This is a top-down shooter with strategic elements. The graphics combine 3D environments and 2D characters.

Employee of the Year received the Best Trailer award. The game was created by second-year students Anna Mozaykova and Dinara Gafina.

Employee of the Year is a dynamic semi-tactical FPS (First-Person Shooter—Ed.), in which unfinished reports and tasks rebelled against an office employee specialising in the study of anomalies.

The prize for the Best Visual Content went to the game Smile, Sir, developed by Anna Osipova, second-year undergraduate student. This is a stealth action game with a first-person camera about a world where human heads represent only jaws, and teeth represent the face and act as a symbol of human well-being.

The Audience Award went to developers Dmitry Darwin and Dmitry Pogorelov for the game Bullet's Deal: Split the Fortune. This is a rogue-like arcade game about a fatalistic killer who carries a suicide bullet in his revolver: gamers must stop the spinning drum on suitable bullets faster than fate can overtake them.

Each winner received a certificate, branded merch from the HSE Art and Design School and the opportunity to receive advice on the promotion of their projects from IndieGo.