2-Week Program
The training program will take place over a duration of 2 weeks in Kortrijk, Belgium.
Week 1, INSPIRE WEEK: This week focuses on guest lectures, masterclasses, and workshops surrounding a variety of topics relevant to storytelling, game design, and game development. There will also be a visit to a local game studio. A more detailed program will be available closer to the date of the training.
Week 2, CREATE WEEK: Game jam time!! Each team is asked to develop a 'meaningful game' based on a theme chosen by Games for Change. Participants will be guided by experts from Belgium and abroad. The game must be functional by the end of the second week. During the last day, each game will be showcased and played by university students/industry professionals as part of a larger closing ceremony.
Below, you will find the schedule for Week 1:
MONDAY 23 MARCH:
9 am-12 pm: Building cross-border collaboration between Europe & Africa: Inspiring peer-to-peer support (Olympe Challot, Spielfabrique)
While the European and African videogame ecosystems share many similarities, opportunities for cross-contintental business collaboration are still rarely explored. This session aims to bridge that gap by offering a structured overview of both ecosystems, including the current state of the industry and key existing intiatives. It also provides a practical perspective on how studios can strengten their activities through cross-continental partnerships.
Participants will gain concrete insights into each other’s markets, develop relevant industry knowledge, expand their professional networks, and contirbute to the growth of a connected indie game developet community. The workshop combines expert-led presenations with a hands-on collaborative activity, creating space for active knwoledge sharing and cross-border cooperation.
The target audience is composed of Roots & Pixels participants from both countries. The ambition is to empower these studios to become ambassadors within their local ecosystems, equipped with actionable insights, strengthened connectiosn, and the confidence to initiate future collaborations.
Building on SpielFabrique’s initiatives and hands-on experinece, this workshop is designed around two core objectives: fostering cross-continental understanding between game developers from Europe and Africa, and encouraging meaningful collaboration between them.
12-1:30 pm: Eat & Learn (Idisen vzw, Merel Steeland)
1:30-4:30 pm: Storytelling, worldbuilding, & engaging game mechanics (Amber Fonteyne, Kasper Geeroms, Robin Van Dijk, Howest Digital Arts & Entertainment)
An immersive game world, a gripping story, thrilling gameplay. A good game has them all linked together. Let's explore how you can build worlds and design mechanics based on a strong player fantasy that ties in with your stories. Or would it be the other way around? You're in charge!
TUESDAY 24 MARCH:
9 am-12 pm: Creating & marketing cultural games in a polarized world (Jennifer Lufau & Mickael Newton, Narratify)
This workshop is designed for game developers who want to create culturally grounded, meaningful, and responsible games while navigating today’s polarized social and political landscape. Through theory, case studies, and practical tools, participants will explore how representation, African storytelling, mythology, and futurism can become powerful drivers of gameplay, narrative, and market differentiation. The session combines critical reflection with actionable methods to help developers design cultural games that are both authentic and commercially viable.
12-1:30 pm: Eat & Learn (Narratify, Jennifer Lufau & Mickael Newton)
1:30-4:30 pm: Business development & marketing for indies (Dr. Andrea Hayes, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg)
Business Dev and Marketing is a practical, game-focused workshop that will unpack what it really takes to turn a playable idea into a sustainable studio. Building on key principles of creative entrepreneurship (value proposition, audience fit, business models, positioning, pitching and go-to-market planning), we’ll work through how studios can define their “why”, identify the players they’re building for and communicate that clearly through branding and marketing choices that match their scope and resources. Participants will leave with marketing / business ideas for their studios, a simple development-to-release roadmap and a set of actionable next steps. This includes validating a concept, planning a soft launch, building a community and a high level assembly of a lightweight business plan so they can start their own companies with confidence and understand what “success” looks like beyond hype. Please bring along some pens and paper to take notes and jot down your ideas / the discussions that we will have.
WEDNESDAY 25 MARCH:
9 am-12 pm: (TECH ART OPTION) 3D for games crash course (Dries Deryckere, Howest Digital Arts & Entertainment)
You have some experience with games or art, but haven’t really cracked this 3D thing. Join Dries in this 3D art crash course and learn to create your very own 3D models to use in games. This whole-day workshop will take you from zero to 3D hero! (Necessary installed software: Blender & Unity)
9 am-12 pm: (PROGRAMMING OPTION) Juice it or lose it: Level up your Unity game (Dave Van Verdegem, Howest Digital Arts & Entertainment)
Got a game that works but feels… meh? Let’s fix that. In this workshop, you’ll learn how to add juicy feedback, punchy effects, and that sweet, sweet polish that makes players go “oooh.” More impact, more feel, more fun — because your game deserves to be extra. 🎮✨ (Necessary installed software: Unity & an IDE of their preference - Visual Studio 2022 or 2026, or VS Code)
12-1:30 pm: Eat & Learn (Michiel Houwen, Flanders Game Hub)
1:30-4:30 pm: (TECH ART OPTION) 3D for games crash course (Dries Deryckere, Howest Digital Arts & Entertainment)
You have some experience with games or art, but haven’t really cracked this 3D thing. Join Dries in this 3D art crash course and learn to create your very own 3D models to use in games. This whole-day workshop will take you from zero to 3D hero! (Necessary installed software: Blender & Unity)
1:30-4:30 pm: (PROGRAMMING OPTION) Unity multiplayer development (Fries Boury, Howest Digital Arts & Entertainment)
Ready to take your games online? Join Fries Boury for a concentrated workshop on the essentials of multiplayer development. This hands-on session covers the core pillars of NetCode for Unity, including:
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Architecture: Understanding Client-Server logic, Ownership and Authority
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Synchronization: Using Networking Variables and RPCs to keep players in sync
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Real-time Interaction: Implementing networked movement and actions
Come learn how to take your Unity projects beyond the single-player experience.
THURSDAY 26 MARCH:
9 am-12 pm: Designing games for social impact (Tatiana Skliarenko & Brendon Trombley, Games for Change)
In this interactive workshop, you’ll explore how games can go beyond entertainment to build empathy, shift perspectives, and inspire real-world change. You’ll discover how impact games align mechanics, story, and player experience to create meaningful outcomes, and develop a clear framework for designing games with purpose.
1:30-4:30 pm: Reveal of game jam theme and brainstorming session (Games for Change)
FRIDAY 27 MARCH: GENT VISIT DAY! & Idisen x Roots & Pixels Women in Games Meet-Up
Below, you will find the schedule for Week 2!
MONDAY 30 MARCH (9 am-) - THURSDAY 2 APRIL (-12 pm): GAME JAMMING! (Together with Games for Change and Microsoft Xbox Game Camp)
THURSDAY 2 APRIL:
1:30-3:45 pm: Game playtesting event
4-7 pm: Game jam closing event & showcase
8 pm-: DJ & Afterparty
Olympe Challot - Europe-Africa Program Manager | Women in Games Ambassador | Public speaker
At SpielFabrique, I take care of various co-acceleration programs in Europe & Africa, the Coproduction market and the EU Public Funds Network, among other. My projects always support independent developers, from all over the world, from professionalisation to collaboration - with a specific interest in cross-industry and cross-sectorial projects. I am also Community manager, aiming to serve and support long-time all game devs, would it be on commercial or artsy projects. Also Public speaker, Pitch deck doctor, wanna-be political science researcher and Game Jam jury (and playtester) in my spare time!
Dr. Andrea Hayes - Video game designer | Researcher | Lecturer at WITS School of Arts
Andrea Hayes is a video game designer, researcher and lecturer in the Digital Arts Department at the Wits School of Arts. She has recently completed her PhD at the University of Pretoria, where her research explores representations of the Anthropocene in the Karoo through the medium of video games. Her MA dissertation examined the 'damsel in distress' trope and its reinforcement through spatial design in video game stories. Andrea’s core research interests lie in game programming, world-building and the role of spatiality in shaping player experience and storytelling in digital worlds. Andrea has developed a number of video games, with a particular interest in multiplayer games, VR experiences and environmentally driven narrative design. In 2018, she released her first commercial video game, Helping Hand, on Steam.
Tatiana Skliarenko | Director of Internatonal Programs
Tatiana Skliarenko is the Director of International Programs at Games for Change, where she leads global game design programs that empower young people and educators to build skills, engage with real-world issues, and drive positive change. With a background in learning experience design and 15 years in digital education, she has designed and led programs across Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe, and Latin America.
At the heart of her work is the G4C Student Challenge—the world’s largest international game design competition for social impact, where young people create games that address global challenges and imagine new futures through a medium they love: games.
Kasper Geeroms - Educator | Indie developer | Game designer
After studying linguistics and education, Kasper jumped into game development and worked for over ten years in the Belgian indie game industry, designing both serious games and entertainment games. Now he's teaching Game Design and Game Production at DAE. He's at his best at the ideation stage of a game and loves to brainstorm impossible ideas.
Mickael Newton - Key figure in the French video game ecosystem | Co-Founder of Narratify | Ex-Ubisoft
Mickaël Newton is a key figure in the French video game ecosystem, at the intersection of popular culture, social impact, and industry.
In 2010, he co-founded Loisirs Numériques, an association he presides over, dedicated to making video game culture accessible to all — notably through the Desert Bus de l'Espoir, a 50-hour charity marathon supporting associations for sick children, and the Bourse Jeux Vidéo, launched in 2020 to financially support students from underrepresented backgrounds pursuing careers in the industry.
In 2013, he joined Ubisoft, where he grew over more than a decade into the role of Senior Social Impact Manager, driving societal impact programs at one of the world's largest gaming studios — spanning diversity, inclusion, community engagement, and charitable initiatives. In 2024, this commitment was recognized with the Pégase Award for Personality of the Year.
Since 2024, he also leads professional integration initiatives at Afrogameuses — a non-profit association founded in 2020, working for greater diversity and inclusion in the video game sector, with a particular focus on making Afro-descendant women more visible as gamers and professionals, and promoting equal opportunities in gaming, esport, and streaming.
Today, he co-founds NARRATIFY, with the conviction that video games can and must be a powerful vehicle for authentic representation of contemporary African cultures.
Dave Van Verdegem - Game Designer | Business Coach
Dave founded Pajama Llama Games, where he designed and programmed Flotsam, proving that even after the apocalypse, production planning still matters.
Now he teaches Game Design at Digital Arts & Entertainment and works as Business Coach, guiding students through mechanics, milestones, and the shocking discovery that games need to ship at some point.
Jennifer Lufau - Founder of Afrogameuses | Co-Founder of Narratify | Ex-Ubisoft | Authenticity Consultant | Games Journalist
Jennifer is a seasoned strategist at the intersection of cultural narrative and commercial marketing. As the Co-Founder of Narratify, she leverages a deep-rooted expertise in communications—honed during her tenure at Ubisoft—to help global studios build games that resonate across borders. Jennifer doesn't just market games; she ensures they are built on a foundation of authentic representation.
A dual-threat in the industry, she serves as an Authenticity Consultant and a Games Journalist at RFI, where her analyses shape the conversation on the global stage. Since 2020, she has also led Afrogameuses, a powerhouse association of over 800 members dedicated to the inclusion of racialized and queer women in gaming. Recognized as a GamesIndustry.biz Game Changer and a Top Leader Under 35, Jennifer is not just participating in the industry; she is actively redesigning it to be more inclusive, vibrant, and narratively rich.
Dries Deryckere - Educator | 3D Artist
Dries Deryckere, a Belgium native, has been immersed in game development education since 2016. After graduating from Howest’s acclaimed Digital Arts and Entertainment (DAE) program (2016) and BUas’ Master in Game Technology (2018), he coordinated the DAE Game Graphics Major for 6 years and later managed Digital Arts and Entertainment as academic director. Today, his passion lies in shaping the future of game education and advancing the Flemish game ecosystem. When not guiding students or exchanging ideas with industry peers, Dries tinkers with Unreal Engine and enjoys creating 3D assets: https://www.artstation.com/driesderyckere.
Dries Deryckere - Educator | 3D Artist
Dries Deryckere, a Belgium native, has been immersed in game development education since 2016. After graduating from Howest’s acclaimed Digital Arts and Entertainment (DAE) program (2016) and BUas’ Master in Game Technology (2018), he coordinated the DAE Game Graphics Major for 6 years and later managed Digital Arts and Entertainment as academic director. Today, his passion lies in shaping the future of game education and advancing the Flemish game ecosystem. When not guiding students or exchanging ideas with industry peers, Dries tinkers with Unreal Engine and enjoys creating 3D assets: https://www.artstation.com/driesderyckere.
Fries Boury - Educator | Developer
Fries Boury is a Programming Lecturer at Digital Arts & Entertainment, where he specializes in C#, Unity and Software Architecture. He aims to provide a practical approach to patterns and systems that help students build robust, scalable applications with the architectural requirements for Multiplayer Game Development.
Before Fries moved into education, he served as the Lead Developer at Play It, a company centered on game-based learning and functional training tools. In this role, he was responsible for the technical direction and software architecture of major parts of the development. This experience allows him to bring a grounded, production-oriented perspective to his teaching in DAE.
Amber Fonteyne - Lecturer Independent Game Production
Amber has been teaching 2D and 3D art at Howest for 4 years, but besides that, she would classify herself as a general creative. She enjoys making things both digitally and analogue. If she is not creating something herself, you can find her on her balcony, gardening while listening to an audio book.
Robin Van Dijk - Educator | 3D Artist | Producer
Experience:
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DAE Student 2017-2020
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Freelance Prop artist for S.O.G. Prairie Fire
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Environment Artist on Returnal (PS5) at Climax Studios
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VFX Artist & Art/Animation Department Lead at Stickylock Games
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Teacher at DAE
What can you expect:
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Experience with Game Graphics Production
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Art and Animation SUPERvision
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Decent jokes
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Hands on Department Production experience
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(International) Team Management and Communication
Hobbies
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Wargaming
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Friend weekends away
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Alcohol(free) beer
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Running not enjoyer
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Biking enjoyer
Merel Steeland | Producer | Project Manager | Co-Founder Idisen vzw
Merel is passionate about well-functioning and happy teams. She has worked as a project manager in game technology research and currently working as producer at indie game studio Tovenaar. Together with a friend, she founded Idisen, a nonprofit aimed at supporting women in the game industry.
Michiel Houwen - General Manager at Flanders Game Hub | Growth Manager at ForsVC
Michiel Houwen is a key figure in the Flemish game industry, combining deep experience in studio acceleration, ecosystem building, and strategic growth. He currently serves as General Manager at Flanders Game Hub, here he supports emerging and established game studios in professionalising their businesses, navigating industry challenges, and strengthening their creative and commercial impact.
Michiel’s journey in games began with his academic grounding in digital arts and marketing, and led him through leadership roles including CEO of DAE Studios, a local game accelerator focused on nurturing new talent. With this breadth of experience, he now helps shape an inclusive and vibrant game ecosystem in Flanders — fostering innovation, facilitating cross-industry collaboration, and championing new creative voices.
Alongside his work at the Flanders Game Hub, Michiel contributes to the broader industry as Growth Manager at ForsVC, Belgium’s first venture capital fund dedicated to the video game sector. In this role he helps bridge the gap between funding, entrepreneurial ambition, and sustainable studio success.
Brendon Trombley | Lead Game Designer
Brendon is a game/learning designer who uses the power of play to promote natural and deeply meaningful learning experiences. For over 15 years, Ihe has worked in various educational spaces, including public schools, informal camps, after school programs, and education tech.
Through extensive collaboration with a diversity of educators and students, he has gained invaluable insight in meeting the needs of educational spaces and created innovative and authentic learning experiences that span all manners of different subjects, contexts, and disciplines.
In his daily practice, he highly values innovation, iterative design, cross-disciplinary collaboration, and inspiring joy in learning.
Location
The location of the training is Kortrijk, Belgium at Howest University of Applied Sciences (The Level - Digital Arts & Entertainment campus). Kortrijk is located in the heart of Europe at approximately 1 hour by train from Brussels, Paris, and London.
Howest University of Applied Sciences has several campus buildings: The Level, The Square, and The Penta. All sessions will be in one of these buildings.
If you are elected for the program and are an intercontinental participant (traveling from South Africa, Kenya, or Uganda), we foresee accomodation near the city center (maximum 15 minutes walking from the campus).
