Games at Game in Tartu 2026

Our students showcased their games at Game in Tartu 2026. The event was on the 21st and 22nd of February and brought together the video game culture in Tartu. Hundreds of people visited to see the showcased games, partake in cosplay, compete in a tournament, or otherwise spend a fun weekend surrounded by video games. Game in Tartu 2026 was organized by Tartu Youth Work Center.

Our 6×6m area was split into four sectors. We had a mini-game where participants could collect four stamps from those sectors and receive a small prize. The sectors had three bachelor’s thesis games, two UT Pro Game Jam winner games, and DeltaVR with game mechanic experiments designed during a master’s thesis. Every visitor found their own favourites, such as the VR in DeltaVR, or the platformer and strategy games created by our students.

Silentia

Silentia is a platformer game designed and developed by our student Daria. The game uses a clone-based mechanic combined with precision platforming. It is inspired by Celeste and Super Time Force Ultra. The challenge for the player is not only to move accurately but also to plan ahead and layer clones using their different special abilities to solve the puzzles.

Fevered World

Fevered World is a strategy game created by our student Aksel Martin. The purpose of the game is to create an economically viable region that produces resources, trades with its neighbors, and grows in return. The player has to choose what buildings to build and where. The simulation of both the region’s inhabitants and the background economy then uses the buildings to produce resources and engage in trade.

Magnetroid

Magnetroid is a game from our student Richard Miikael. Inspired by Mind Over Magnet, this precision platformer is extremely challenging but fair. The player controls a robot duck that has to platform through varying magnetic fields. This is actually a third iteration of the game, titled Magnetroid: Remagnetized.

Patterns Please

Patterns Please is the winning game of the UT Pro Game Jam 2026. That game jam, organized together with Estonian National Museum had a theme of patterns. Inspired by the game Papers Please, this game has the player listen to the troubles of villagers and construct them talismans with benefits specific to the troubles. The game was developed by a team of five experienced game developers and showcased at the event by Arja.

DeltaVR

DeltaVR is a collection of interactions set in the virtual reality version of the Delta building. During this master’s thesis work, our student Henri is experimenting with AI 3D model generation and its possibilities as core parts of game mechanics. It is likely that in several years, AI content generation becomes even more widespread. So, a intriguing question is that how that could be integrated into gameplay. Henri has designed and developed three potential avenues of that inside the DeltaVR project.

Tiksu-Toksu

Tiksu-Toksu is the winning game from the UT Pro Game Jam 2024. The theme at the time was Tartu, due to Tartu being the European Capital of Culture. The team of four experienced game developers decided to make a game about herding Tiksu’s into the univeristy building. As the game’s theme is tied so much with our university, and the gameplay is easily approachable, we often show it during different expos.

Our students got a lot of useful feedback from the visitors of the event – actual video game players. For most of them, it was also their first experience showing their games at such a large event. The feedback is now used to make their games even better. Seeing real people playing and enjoying what they have built, gave them also a huge motivation boost to keep making games.