St. Cyril and St. Methodius University of Veliko Tarnovo is one of the main pillars of higher education in Bulgaria. Recently awarded an institutional accreditation of 9.15 out of 10, the University backs its reputation beyond just tradition. It houses a diverse array of faculties and is home to academics from fine arts to mathematics and law.
The Sixth Hammer’s Level designer, Alexander Filipov, ran a course of lectures on game design in Veliko Tarnovo. With a hands-on approach, he presented ways to integrate core game mechanics into different levels. The lectures expanded on building enemy AI Behaviour trees and forming a mesh of complexity that can be tuned to any gameplay needs.
The open discussions in each lecture were what gave them their spark. Students had the opportunity to present their ideas to Alexander, who responded with practical ways to implement them. In that room, ideas were being forged one hammer at a time.
For the University, it was a breath of fresh applied game development knowledge. As for The Sixth Hammer, it was a chance to bestow hard-earned skills to future game developers.
