join us for a day of talks by industry-leading experts and explore career opportunities in bulgaria's top game development studios. For Free!
TICKETS ARE SOLD OUT!
SGJ 2024: Conference + Job Fair is our boutique free-to-attend game dev conference, bringing together game industry speakers, professionals and game dev companies to share their ideas and experience, connect & explore new opportunities.
Attend talks by industry-leading speakers from Bulgaria and Europe, who will share their knowledge on game, level and UI/UX design, art, animation and audio, and tech and QA.
Connect with other game industry professionals, foster friendships, and share ideas and know-how.
Meet the foremost game development studios in the Bulgarian gaming industry, from AAA companies to indie startups, and explore their career opportunities.
Our venue this year is The Purgatory, an industrial oasis in the close central circle of Sofia, Bulgaria.
You can expect:
- Two conference halls for the talks
- Separate areas for the job fair and indie expo
- Amazing summer and winter gardens
- Access to the bar and food zone
Visit our job fair and indie zones and meet the leading game dev and indie studios in Bulgaria. Talk directly with the people behind them and learn about their exciting projects, culture and career opportunities.
When you need to take a break, come and chill at our Retro Zone.
Enjoy a curated selection of retro consoles and classic old-school titles such as Time Crisis (a two-player gun mayhem), Super Mario Bros (on a calculator!), and more! It’s completely free and it’s the perfect spot for some respite.
Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES)
PlayStation 1 (PS1)
A Color Screen Calculator?
Meet the folks who are helping make this year’s conference the best yet.
Checkout our free archive of recorded talks from past editions to get a glimpse of the industry knowledge shared at our conference.
Yes! 100%! We believe that knowledge and opportunities should be freely available and accessible to everyone. Our conference has always been and will continue to be free to attend.
To maintain an optimal event experience, seats to the conference are limited. To ensure you attendance, please register and reserve your ticket.
People who haven't reserved a ticket are not guaranteed access to the conference.
The talks will be recorded and available for on-demand free viewing both on our website and on YouTube a few weeks after the conference.
If you can no longer attend the event, please email us team@sofiagamejam.com so we can reassign your seat to someone else. In-person seats for all events are in high demand, and we want to ensure that as many people who are able to attend are given the opportunity to join!
Robin-Yann Storm is a freelance Tool UX Designer. He was a full time Tool Designer in the AAA games industry on the 'Glacier 2' editor, for the end of Hitman 1 and the beginning of Hitman 2, and the 'Decima' editor, for the end of Horizon Zero Dawn – The Frozen Wilds, and the beginning of Horizon Forbidden West. He has also spent a few years working at Apple on 3D editors such as Reality Composer and Reality Converter.
Mihail is currently working as a Gameplay Scripter at Larian Studios where he helped make Baldur's Gate 3. He explored various other roles, including working as a Quest Designer on Assassin's Creed Valhalla, getting a Masters Degree in Architecture, self-teaching himself C#, 3d modelling, sculpting, texturing and more.
He loves coming up with game concepts and mechanics and playing around in Unity as part of game jams, passion projects, or just on a whim and he's always happy to chat about games and game development so stop and say hi! (He just finished Outer Wilds and just can't stop gushing about how incredible this game is!)
Stimona is an Environment Artist in the video games industry working at Larian Studios. Since joining Larian in 2021, she has contributed to the development of Baldur's Gate 3 and honed her skills in Level Art, Lighting, Asset Creation and Level Design. Furthermore, she freelances as a 3D Artist and has worked on indie games and asset packs. Stimona also does teaching and mentoring for students and junior 3D artists sharing her knowledge and experiences.
Todor started his journey in the game industry as a QA that later on morphed into a game designer. As a member of Creative Assembly he worked on Total War: ROME II DLC Empire Divided before being appointed to the position of Lead Game Designer for Rise of the Republic DLC. Afterwards he performed the same role on Total War Saga: TROY and its various DLCs.
Currently Todor is the Game Director for A Total War: Pharaoh.
Arvy is a Lead UI/UX Designer, UI Artist and Art Director in the game industry, a veteran with 10+ years of experience. A multidisciplinary creative, passionate about games, music and film, his work has been featured in numerous projects, ranging from mobile to console, from indie to AAA blockbusters. His credits include: Dragon Age Keep, Mass Effect N7HQ, Jurassic World Evolution 2, Warhammer Age of Sigmar: Realms of Ruin, Warhammer 40,000: Rogue Trader, The Last Exterminator and other projects.
Stefan has a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science and a Master's in Computer Graphics – both acquired at Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”. He is a Senior Programmer with 9+ years of experience in business software, AI, and game dev. Stefan has 6 years of experience using Unreal Engine on big projects like BulletVille and Silent Hill 2: Remake which he currently develops. He co-founded an indie studio in 2019 that focuses on creating smaller titles with a team of 5 people. He is a lecturer at ARC Academy and an avid game-jammer.
Viktor Ketipov is the founder and CEO of Kipi Interactive. He's a multifaceted individual with a passion for game development, programming, and martial arts. His journey in the game industry began during his student days when he interned as a programmer at Crytek Black Sea in 2009. He is enthusiastic about Unreal Engine 5 (UE5) and emphasizes the importance of focusing on delivering value rather than chasing trends.
Boris Stoyanov is a Creative Lead and Concept Artist at Kipi Interactive. He specializes in concept art, background development, and illustration. His flexible workflow allows him to work in various styles, although he prefers a painterly and slightly stylized approach. Notably, Boris was featured in ImagineFX magazine, a testament to his talent and contribution to the entertainment industry.
For Velichko Vasilev “DEST”, the art and games have been his passion for as long as he can remember. His professional experience includes 3D visualization, 2D illustration, web design and is currently working as an animator at Amusnet. In his spare time, he has been lurking around the Bulgarian gaming scene for more than a decade - as a host for various gaming productions including a TV show, as an artist for many gaming ventures, and as a streamer.
Boyan is a 3D generalist at Chaos' Sofia team. He graduated from Saxion University in the Netherlands, where he specialized in game design. He is interested in character creation, animation, interior and exterior visualizations, and storytelling. His 3D softwares of choice are Maya and 3ds Max.
Boyan is part of the 3D team exploring Chaos' own Academy Award-winning ray-tracer V-Ray. He creates scenes and tutorials on the use of V-Ray and educates clients on its use.
Dimitar Trendafilov is the Lead Rendering Programmer at Haemimont Games. He has worked on all of the studio's recent projects, including Victor Vran, Surviving Mars, Stranded Alien Dawn and Jagged Alliance 3 plus DLCs and future projects. His main contributions are directed at improving the in-house engine architecture and capabilities, but has also spent considerable time implementing per project graphics features. This year he was a first year game-jammer.
Diyan is currently working as a Senior Game Designer in Ubisoft Sofia. Formerly known as a game journalist, streamer, content creator and TV personality, Diyan chose to pursue a career in game development in 2016 and never looked back. He has since worked on multiple Assassin’s Creed titles – Origins, Valhalla and Mirage. Diyan has experience in various aspects of game design, including economy, progression, gear, systems, world building, tutorialization, and more.
Christina is a lead artist and currently an art director with over 7 years of experience in the gaming industry. She specializes in character design. She is currently leading a team of artists and is responsible for the quality control and revisions as well as ideation, and visual development of new projects at Chibi Phoenix.
Georgi is an Art Director with over 9 years of experience in the gaming industry. He is currently leading a team of artists and is responsible for the quality control and revisions as well as ideation, and visual development of new projects at Chibi Phoenix.
Ven Ivanov is a passionate audio producer, musician and educator with 15+ years of experience producing music and sound. Bridging his love for video games, having worked on numerous audio projects and knowing the music production and technology processes, he will offer a unique perspective on the importance of sound and why should we NOT silence the games we play. Tune in for some insights and tricks how to elevate your game to the next dimension.
