The program began in August and will run until November, when it will conclude with a public presentation on Demo Day. There, they will present their games not only to their classmates and mentors, but also to investors and publishers. "The goal of the program is not only to advance game prototypes, but mainly to educate young creators and give them confidence and contacts," says Michal Roch, manager of the accelerator.
"The accelerator is unique in Czechia—it combines technical skills with mentoring, legal support, and business plan preparation. We want students to leave not only with a game in progress, but also with a clear vision of how to succeed in the gaming industry," adds Katarzyna Kouba Sanojca from the Prague Innovation Institute.
The projects Arcane Isle Survival, W.A.R.D., Sweep to the Past, Recollect, and Head Heist from FEE CTU made it into the accelerator. "At FEE, we teach a course called Computer Games, where students work in small teams to create their own games, combining programming with game and graphic design. The fact that five of our teams made it into the accelerator shows how strong our students' gaming community is. Game development is a discipline that combines deep knowledge of technology and creativity—and it is in this combination that our students excel," concludes Prof. Jiří Bittner from the Department of Computer Graphics and Interaction at FEE CTU. The oiSIDE association also plays a positive role, connecting game development fans and students in the Computer Games course.
The game accelerator through the eyes of FEE CTU students
Students from CTU FEE see their participation in the accelerator as a great impetus from which they draw motivation for the further development of their games. "It's a great opportunity for us to bring our project to a successful conclusion and gain invaluable experience. We've learned to think from a marketing perspective and identified weaknesses in the game design that we've been able to fix," says Lukáš Jůza, who, together with Ondřej Pelech, is behind the game Arcane Isle Survival.
Participants in the accelerator from FEE agree that the greatest benefit for them is the opportunity to consult with experts from the gaming industry and thus gain an overview of the demanding environment of the gaming industry: "Contact with experienced professionals from the field is particularly beneficial, as in addition to more general lectures, they also provide mentoring directly related to our game. Thanks to the accelerator, we also gained the resources to transform the game into a quality product that matches our creative vision," said Martin Smitka on behalf of the team developing the adventure game Recollect.
For the team behind the game W.A.R.D., Martin Boháč's lecture on founding a studio was a huge benefit. "It made us realize that we are really serious about the game," summarizes Ondřej Maceška on behalf of his colleagues on the team, who highly value the valuable feedback from experienced mentors and new perspectives on game design and production. A prototype of their game is already available and can be tried out for free. In addition to regularly releasing updates with new content and bug fixes, the authors are actively building a community on Discord, planning to share W.A.R.D. on the oiSIDE server, and will have a Steam page ready by the end of the year.
Other teams are also heading to market with their games and agree that the accelerator provides them with essential support. Eliška Rojíčková from the Sweep to the Past team summed it up for all the students: "If the accelerator continues in the coming years, which is very likely, we highly recommend it to other students. Thanks to our participation in the accelerator, we have once again given our project higher priority and found the time to develop it further."
Action game, survival RPG, and adventure game. Five games from FEE CTU
Arcane Isle Survival (TAI team - Lukáš Jůza Ondřej Pelech)
A survival RPG with an original card system that allows players to combine advantages and disadvantages for each expedition to procedurally generated islands.
W.A.R.D. (Third Axis Games team - Ondřej Maceška, Matěj Navrátil, Jan Chlupáč, Valerie Šubertová, Matěj Zeman, Martin Douda, Jakub Dobrovodský, Sofiia Fedorchuk, Ondřej Pelikán)
A sci-fi tower defense game in which players protect mining units while building their own paths and defensive towers in real time.
Sweep to the Past (Banana Games team - Erik Šindelář, Eliška Rojíčková, Filip Houdek, Filip Sedláček)
A 2D puzzle platformer about Bob the janitor, who gains the ability to travel through time and uses it to escape from a laboratory.
Recollect (ShuffleHouse team - Viliam Geffert, Vojtěch Dohnal, Martin Smitka)
A story-driven adventure game about casting spells by typing on a keyboard. Players discover a mysterious world, uncover forgotten memories, and learn the names of spells.
Head Heist (Head Heist - Tomáš Werner)
An action game set in people's minds.
Photo Prague Game Accelerator from the press conference and Open House
