The Smart Program is a free game career accelerator that creates career pathways for aspiring game developers by bolstering their career confidence and commercial capabilities.

The goal of the program is to support aspiring game developers by integrating them into a supportive local game development community, providing them with a substantive professional training program and giving them access to a wealth of invaluable industry knowledge supplied by an array of highly skilled games industry professionals so that they can improve their employment prospects, design innovative game prototypes, secure investment opportunities and go on to be future leaders of industry who champion positive change.

Over the course of 90 days, the Smart Program delivers three key learning modules worth of bespoke educational content to its participants:

• Module 1: Communication & Identity: Unlocking opportunities for self-growth through the effective use of critical reflection frameworks and communication techniques.

• Module 2: Marketing & Commercialisation: Creating unique value differentiation by identifying market gaps, analysing data, and establishing a strong brand identity.

• Module 3: Leadership & Business Strategy: Managing the difficult juggling act of simultaneously leading a team, creating a product, balancing a budget, and securing investment.

This content is delivered via seven core program components that make up the core structure of the accelerator program:

• Group Workshops: Comprehensive professional development workshops covering curated topics that address industry skill gaps and empower career progression.

• Office Residency: Residency within an active community of supportive game developers inside a creative co-working space in the Melbourne CBD.

• Industry Activations: Access to established industry events that provide participants with a unique opportunity to establish connections with industry.

• Professional Mentoring: Paired mentoring session with an industry professional hand-picked to meet the learning goals outlined by the participant in their initial application.

• Career Coaching: Structured personal coaching sessions focusing on career aspirations, setting obtainable goals and identifying the participant’s distinctive value.

• Design Challenges: Unique learning exercises where participants work together to apply the knowledge obtained in the workshops by making a product that meets a defined brief.

• Sim-Jams: Group-based prototyping challenge combined with a bespoke business simulation experiential learning exercise custom designed to emulate current industry challenges.