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In a studio with high ceilings, a passer-by can feel as if in a fairy tale. In the middle stands a mythical sword driven into a stone, but this one was not created by a legend, but by a student. There are computers on desks around, as well as CD covers and even consoles. Huge boards with schematic sketches of planets hang on the walls, which at first glance seem more suitable for astrophysics than for the Faculty of Fine Arts.

“The game board is a squared paper with different letters and numbers and it is supposed to resemble a star map with different bodies – stars and wormholes. The game is primarily intended for two players and the opponent is the game, not the others,” Lucie Polášková points to papers distributed on the table; she is in her third year at the Game Media Studio at the Faculty of Fine Arts. When asked about the original concept of the board game, she turns to the black boards on the studio walls. “We wanted to see what the size of such game should be. Originally, there were sixteen large boards stacked together. We played it last year at PAF Olomouc and it took eight hours. I was excited about it, but I knew you could not play something like that in your living room. We decided to go with paper and shrunk the game board,” Polášková returns to the current form of the game and picks up the included ruler. “The moons and planets are drawn in the game board using templates and a ruler. The player can bounce of the moons in the form of a beam of light. The grid on the game board helps to make the beam fly straight, and at the same time it is the calculation point that dictates the maximum allowed movement for the move.”

If you expected a colourful board, pieces and dice, you will be disappointed. The board and all components, including the rules, fit in an elegant envelope. The game does not end when a certain number of points is reached. The result should not be the largest pile of money or a sense of overwhelming superiority over the enemy, but a work of art. “You can decide at any time that you want to end the game and you are done. The idea is that at the end of the game, an image is created with the help of drawn lines, which one can hang as a memory of the game.”

The board game by Natalie Sodomková and Aneta Fasorová looks unusual as well. After two years of working on the Rosettes & Rockets, it looks completely different than at the beginning. “It was created during the Game Jam weekend and it took us a week to put together. We tested it for a year and we cut it down a lot. We found out, for example, that the visual had to be changed completely. In the end, the pieces are different, as well as the materials, and the whole game has become much simpler and easier to understand. We were pleasantly surprised that the gameplay was good from the beginning. Then we were just looking for a visual,” Natálie Sodomková recalls the beginnings of the space-based black-and-white game.

In its final version, two players or two teams of two players build a playing field from black and white cardboard squares with pictures of rosettes. The goal is to get a predetermined number of these. Among other things, models of black and white rockets made of coloured plywood are used for this purpose. Working with different materials is one of the goals of the game studio. “At the beginning, the idea was that the whole game would be made of porcelain, because we were tempted to experiment with that particular material. The game fields resemble tiles and the rosette is a decorative element. But in the end, the game is made of hard cardboard. We struggled, because they looked a bit like coasters, but in the end we found out that it was only due to the rounded corners. We are only fine-tuning the details and we would like to release the game by Christmas. We want to launch a crowdfunding campaign and use the money for production,” Sodomková points out one of the studio’s goals. In addition to the design and production of board and digital games, the teacher tries to lead students to work in a group, to present their results, but also to crowdfunding, which occupies a relatively prominent position in the world of games.

“We have a studio where we meet throughout the week to discuss specific matters. A game is designed, drawn and then prototyped. It is a little different with digital games, but basic principles, such as sketching, remain. We test the games as soon as possible. We take our projects to events and exhibitions, where other people get involved,” says Vojtěch Vaněk, Head of the Game Media Studio, listing examples of atypical teaching and adding that he is currently working with 17 students. Therefore, a few theoretical compulsory subjects are complemented by a wide range of elective courses, through which the students can better focus and profile their skills. The cooperation between BUT and Masaryk University within the study programmes Theory of Interactive Media and Game Studies is also helpful in this matter.

During the three years of the studio’s existence, Vaněk encountered many different forms of games. According to him, the game called Hard (Czech for rag) by Dominik Konečný, which will be released on October 6 on Steam, has made it the furthest so far. But Vaněk immediately warns fans of both board and digital games: “These are not ordinary games, nor should they be. We are at the Faculty of Fine Arts and the environment here is stimulating. Art penetrates the games here. These are principles that, in my opinion, are a little further away from the traditional game environment.”