Seoul City Hall / Provided by Seoul City
The city of Seoul will co-host a game development contest with NC AI, the artificial intelligence (AI) subsidiary of South Korean gaming company NC, to provide prize money and development support to teams that create games featuring Seoul’s landmarks, the city announced on Friday.
“Soul Playup AI Game Challenge” has no hardware or software restrictions and is open to individuals and teams from all over the country. Participants must incorporate Seoul landmarks such as Dongdaemun Design Plaza, Cheonggyecheon, Hangang Park, and Hanyang City Walls into their game settings, storylines, and characters, and must use AI tools in the development process.
The competition will be held in two stages.
In the first round, participating teams will be asked to submit prototypes, from which eight finalists will be selected through written and presentation evaluation. The finalists will then proceed to the development phase using NC AI’s game-specific AI suite VARCO. This includes VARCO 3D for asset creation and VARCO Sound for audio effects. Each finalist will receive 2 million won in production funds, along with guidance and technical seminars from NC AI experts.
The awards include the Seoul Mayor’s Award, with the first place receiving 15 million won ($10,135), the second place receiving 7 million won, the two third place winners receiving 4 million won each, and the four winners receiving 1 million won each.
Other benefits include priority points for admission to the Seoul Game Content Center, follow-up promotional support, and bonus points for university students applying for NC AI internships.
Applications will be accepted until May 7th on the Seoul Industry Agency website.
This article was published with the help of Generative AI and edited by The Korea Times.
