Today, the gaming industry is developing very rapidly, and this process is also helped by esports — computer game competitions, which involve both single players and teams. Today, video games are no longer perceived as entertainment only for children and teenagers. According to a survey by the All-Russian Center for the Study of Public Opinion (VTsIOM), one in five Russians (20%) plays computer games.

Russia became the first country in the world to recognize esports as an official sport in 2016. In 2017, disciplines such as "combat arena", "competitive puzzles", "real-time strategy" and "technical simulator" were included in the list of sports disciplines developed at the all-Russian level, and the Russian Computer Sports Federation became an accredited sports federation. A number of esports competitions are organized in Russia, including the Russian Esports Cup, the Russian Computer Sports Championship, the All-Russian Esports Student League, the Russian Interactive Football Championship and the Russian Interactive Football Cup.

The first international multisport tournament in the concept of digital sports with a total prize fund of 10 million dollars "Games of the Future" was also held in our country for the first time, from February 21 to March 3, 2024 in Kazan. The competition was held in 21 innovative disciplines based on a combination of physical activity, modern technology and the digital environment, and the players met in five directions: from "sports" to "technology". In 2017, the Southern Federal University founded the SFedU Student Esports Club (SKK SFedU), whose main goal is the development and popularization of computer sports among students. To date, the club holds tournaments for the following games: Dota 2, Valorant 2x2, CS2 5x5, CS2 1x1, Hearthstone Battlegrounds.

There are many talented students studying at Southern Federal University who are interested not only in esports, but also in creating their own computer games. Among them is the development team of the First Bogatyr project. These are 2nd and 3rd year students of the I.I. Vorovich Institute of Mathematics, Mechanics and Computer Science of the Southern Federal University, who are taking their first steps in the computer game creation industry and already have their first victories in this field.  Last year, the team passed the SBS SFedU educational accelerator and became a finalist in the "Start the Game" competition.

The guys are working on creating a computer game under the working title "The First Hero".

Artem Medvedev, the project leader, a student at the Institute of Mathematics, Mechanics and Computer Science of the Southern Federal University, said that he takes the place of a game designer in the team and looks at games not as an ordinary player, but as a creator, because, in fact, this is an interactive literary work, where instead of pages and text there is a screen and buttons.

Artyom stressed that the game from their team is educational in nature — passing quests, you can learn about the life of the ancient Slavs and about ancient Russian mythology, which, unlike ancient Greek, is not so familiar to schoolchildren.

As the developer notes, this topic was not chosen by chance. "Slavic mythology is not as widely covered in the gaming space as Greek or Scandinavian, but at the same time it is rich and diverse. In the 21st century, we know quite a lot about the ideas of our ancestors, which allows us to form full-fledged plots with deep morality. In recent years, games covering Slavic mythology have been quite popular, but they are mostly made by foreign developers," said the project leader.

During the course of the game, the gamer will have the opportunity to improve his character by acquiring skills inspired by Slavic deities.

The potential target audience of the project is teenagers and young people between the ages of 13 and 18. The game can be run even on the weakest computer, as it is made in 2D graphics.

"Management in the First Bogatyr is very easy, even a user who has not played computer games before can deal with it," said Artem Medvedev.

The developers plan that with the successful implementation of the project, a free demo version of the game will appear on the Yandex.Games platform, and then a paid version on VK Play.

Artem Medvedev said that the main mechanics of the game are already ready, and there is a trial demo of the product with several levels created on the Unity engine. Early access is scheduled for the end of 2025. The game plans to complete the plot for the main character – the First hero. He has a long way to go, exploring the open world, completing tasks and participating in battles.

We wish good luck to our novice developers and continue to monitor their progress.

Congratulations to all game designers, developers, esports players and simple game lovers on World Video Game Day! May each project bring you new emotions, friends and inspiration!