Three years ago, Alvarez Scholar Mišo Vukčević ’18 and his three-person team created and produced their first independent role playing game, Bleak Faith: Forsaken.
They painstakingly crafted the product from scratch — the artwork, the game design, the music, the publication and promotion.
The world of Bleak Faith draws inspiration from Vukčević’s home country of Montenegro. Its fantastical urban landscape, background characters and sonic backdrop all contain pieces of his childhood.
The game became a viral success, taking on a digital life of its own and securing a future for Vukčević’s and his team. They earned enough money to expand the team and fund the next several years of video game development.
“When I first started this, the stakes were just me and my own livelihood,” he said. “Now, I’m making creative decisions alongside the entire team. Everyone is so self-motivated. I know that if I’m creatively spent some days, things are still moving ahead.”
Bleak Faith: Forsaken, a third-person open world survival horror action RPG, pits gamers against the monsters that populate the post-apocalyptic Omnistructure.
With the next game underway, Vukčević has shifted his focus back to a different medium, creating a comic book to accompany the story of Bleak Faith. The original idea for the story first took shape in Professor of Art Emeritus Cort Savage’s digital art class at Davidson. A studio art major, Vukčević found a creative mentor in Savage, who helped him refine his ideas and pushed him to consider new mediums.
“He challenged me to accept what I was capable of,” Vukčević said. “He taught me to question my own assumptions about what makes art valuable. We didn’t always agree, but my professors at Davidson always tried to meet me halfway. Now, I’m able to hone those skills on my own.”
As his projects gain traction, Vukčević maintains connections with the world of higher education, speaking to students around the world about game development.
“Video game creation is still in its infancy,” he said. “So much is possible, and I want to help others execute their ideas and succeed in the industry.”
