Christophe De bont 
05/09/2018
Looking for a unique opportunity to kickstart your dream project? Stop right there! Next to the regular Gamefonds calls (next one’s due soon!), VAF gives young talent the opportunity to compete for a VAF Wildcard (link in Dutch). The competition is open to game development students who graduated from Digital Arts and Entertainment, Karel de Grote Hogeschool or LUCA School of Arts this year and created a prototype or vertical slice to do so.
Five winners get € 6000 and, more importantly, a professional coach that will help them put together a pitch deck and prepare them to better secure future funding. On top of that you will be automatically nominated for the Best Student Award at the next Belgian Game Awards (to be held on Feb 15 at 1UP Conference in Kortrijk) and get featured in other VAF supported game events.
“It might not be a humongous sum of money, but there’s no need for a hefty application.”, explains VAF game coordinator Youri Loedts. All you need to do (link in Dutch) is fill out a little paperwork, upload your vertical slice/prototype and create a short pitch video to present your project. Applications need to be in by September 17. The winners, determined by a jury of professional talent, will be announced at the start of October.
“Even though some educational programs show their students how to apply for VAF funding and we’ve put a lot of effort in streamlining the application process, we still feel graduates are a tad intimidated.”, Loedts says. “With this new initiative, we hope to lower the threshold and familiarise students with how VAF Gamefonds operates. We want to counter the brain drain and stimulate entrepreneurship to start up their own studio. Secondly, creating a pitch deck will help them refine their idea, pinpoint exactly what game they want to create and let them reflect about why that’s a viable plan.”
In summary:
- VAF Wildcard is open to recent graduates from DAE, LUCA and Karel de Grote who created a prototype or vertical slice
- Required effort to compete is minimal: just fill out a form, upload your prototype/vertical slice and create a short pitch video
- Deadline for entry is September 17
- Winners are announced at the start of October.
- Winners get € 6000 to kickstart their project, coaching to create a pitch deck and a nomination at the Belgian Game Awards
We hope the people this initiative is aimed at are as excited about this as the people who set it up. We’re looking forward to see your talent shine, so don’t hold back and show the world what you can do!
