Game Mechanics Conference Will Be Held in Minecraft

© HSE University

 

The Higher School of Business-Informatics at HSE University together with the team behind HSE Minecraft will hold a Game Mechanics Conference on July 5. The event will include lectures, round tables, a Minecraft quest, prizes, and much more.

HSE Minecraft is a special example of many recent successful game projects. As the gaming industry continues to grow and expand from the entertainment sector into the economic sector, news of a virtual HSE in Minecraft nearly broke the Internet this past May. More than 100 HSE students of different faculties participated in the project, and now the student initiative has grown into a large-scale digital project.

The conference programme features talks by representatives of the gaming companies 5518 Studios, Owlcatgames, Epic Games, and JustForward. Participants will be able to learn about the gaming industry, why it is important to engage in game development, and how loot functions work (i.e., in-game values received by players after defeating enemies). Attendees will also have the opportunity to participate in a round table on game mechanics and much more.

Konstantin Sakhnov, a co-owner of JustForward Publishing and game producer, will give a talk on the fundamentals of game logic

‘It’s not common to be able to make a living doing something that you genuinely enjoy. And when we talk about doing something we love, a lot of people immediately thinking of gaming. We think about how great it is playing The Witcher, driving the arena of the League of Legends, or hearing the chilling voice of the Lich King in Warcraft. Making games and playing them are completely different things.’

During the conference, participants will have the opportunity to win prizes, such as a Sony Playstation 4 courtesy of Zavod Games, a Leap Motion controller from the Virtual Points store, and more. To win, guests will have to compete in an exciting quest in Minecraft, where a virtual HSE campus has been created.

Maxim Miheyenko, co-founder and COO of 5518 Studios, will talk about the advantages of working in game development

‘Game development is one of the most in-demand niches today and the foreseeable future. If you want a job you can be passionate about in one of the most competitive and sought-after markets in the world, and you’re interested in jumping onto the gaming industry train — I recommend attending our lecture. Look at the success of Poland with The Witcher or the success of CIS Studios’ Playrix and Wargaming. And in this new wild world, you can find popular products made all over the world that are oriented on the international market.

The conference invites students, indie developers, those who work in the gaming industry, and anyone who is interested in making their own games or starting their career path in the gaming industry. The event is hosted by the HSE programmes in ‘Game Project Management’ and ‘Fundamentals of Game Creation’.

Vyacheslav Utochkin, Deputy Director of the Higher School of Business-Informatics

This is the first time we are holding a conference in this format. We’ve organized face-to-face events in the past, and during the quarantine we did webinars in Zoom and live streams on Youtube. But for this online event, I wanted to do something more immersive. After talking with colleagues from HSE Minecraft, we came up with the innovative format of holding a conference about how to develop games in a game! This will create a more immersive experience as well as enable us to hold a quest related to the lectures during the conference.

The conference will take place on Minecraft and Discord. To participate, register for free online and view the programme (in Russian) here.