HSE University to Host First Game Development Hackathon GAMEDEVTECH-2020 in December
A team competition organised by the HSE Tikhonov Moscow Institute of Electronics and Mathematics (MIEM HSE) will feature two leagues — one for HSE University students and another for secondary school students. The Hackathon partners are ‘MY.GAMES’ an international gaming brand that is part of Mail.ru Group, the educational website ‘GeekBrains’, and the not-for-profit Institute for Digital Transformation of Education (IDTE).
Computer games comprise a fascinating virtual world that has grown in recent years, steadily gaining popularity among both schoolchildren, university students, and parents alike. Over the past 10 years, the term ‘cybersport’ has become officially recognized, with game engines used in cinematography, and real time image processing technologies undergoing constant improvement. With each passing year, they provide increasingly realistic visualisation. As the industry grows, new development studios are opening, and large companies are initiating actual projects, which has led to an increase in jobs in game creation.
The rapidly growing game industry has also gotten the attention of HSE University: for the first time, an online hackathon for game development will be held at MIEM HSE. The goal of the event is simply to give both secondary school students and university students the opportunity to put together a team and make a working prototype game on a given theme within a short period of time.
Roman Goroshkin, Business Development Manager, MY.GAMES Venture Capital
Events held at universities combine an amazing and fresh look at the industry and the participants, who ask appropriate and very interesting questions. Inevitable consequences of such integrations are productive and long-term cooperation. It is a pleasure to participate in these kinds of activities and to share experiences. I’m sure that it’s thanks to hackathons like this that new faces and interesting projects will continue to appear in the industry.
The Hackathon features two leagues: ‘GameDev Master’ for HSE University students and ‘GameDev Junior’ for secondary school pupils in Moscow and the Moscow region. One can register for the Hackathon without being part of a team: in this case organisers will assign participants to teams according to their desired roles indicated during registration. There are three roles in each team: a programmer, an artist, and a game designer. During the event, all projects will be reviewed by a jury.
The jury experts are leading specialists in development and education in the gaming industry coming from MY.GAMES, Geekbrains, and the Institute for the Digital Transformation of Education (IDTE).
Ilya Semichasnov, IDTE expert, sixth-year student, Bachelor’s Programme ‘Cyber Security’, MIEM HSE
We live in an amazing time when you are the creator of your own world. After all, only game developers can get together and create their own virtual world with blackjack and cool game mechanics, which they can then release to the public.
The ‘GameDev Master’ League will be held in two stages starting November 28th, 2020. It is open to HSE University students regardless of their year of study, faculty, or academic programme. Registration for the league is open until November 26, 2020.
A series of master classes will be held for all registered participants. Each team will be able to compete for branded prizes and training courses offered by the hackathon partners.
Please email all questions to the organiser of the event at gamedevtech@miem.hse.ru.
Additional information can be found on the official group page VKONTAKTE of MIEM HSE