When students inherit a fantasy world
What if, instead of graduating with just a portfolio piece, a game development student could graduate with an actual game - based on an established fantasy series with an existing audience waiting to see it?
That’s the premise behind a unique industry project led by TAFE Queensland Bachelor of Game Design (ARB008) in partnership with the University of Canberra.
Spearheaded by lecturer Dominic Crisci, the initiative brings students together with bestselling Australian author Kylie Chan and producer Debby Lo Dean to develop digital experiences within Chan’s 11-book Dark Heavens universe, which has sold nearly half a million copies worldwide.
Rather than developing hypothetical games for assessment and portfolios and attempting to enter a crowded industry, students spend 18 months in an incubator-style model.
“The question that students need to answer to get employed in game dev is, ‘Have you published anything?’” Dominic said of industry feedback.
For the multidisciplinary student team developing the prototype Dark Heavens: Explored (DHE), having a real client and a dedicated fanbase changed their entire approach.
“Since the lore was already established, we were able to spend more time on the mechanics, design, and narrative than if we started from scratch,” the student group noted.
However, the leap from a student project to a commercial product is notoriously difficult.
Producer Debby Lo Dean, who was part of the judging process for the ‘Best Project' award, emphasised that industry readiness goes beyond the final project.
“What I looked at was not just the end product but also the team dynamic,” Debby explained.
“How well the team manager led... if they could support each other and take direction.” Teams had to prove they could tell a compelling new story that connected with existing fans while hitting the right commercial notes.
The ultimate test for this incubator model came at the Supanova pop culture convention, where students showcased their work to thousands of attendees. For the creators of DHE, watching real people play their game - and seeing it walk away with industry and audience-choice awards - was transformative.
The massive playtesting session provided crucial knowledge to refine their mechanics and prove the game had life beyond a university assessment.
“A live audience is always crucial for feedback and marketing. They will be the eventual customers,” Debby noted.
“We want the students to be ready to adapt and know when to pivot.”
As the project approaches its soft launch at the CREATE showcase at the end of 2026, the DHE team is shifting its mindset from undergraduates to indie studio founders, focusing on budgets and business strategies for a Screen Queensland funding pitch.
To ensure these budding studios thrive, a long-term objective of the initiative is to transform the curriculum-based project into an extra-curricular incubator program.
This will offer vital support for alumni, giving them the space and resources to continue polishing their projects past graduation and better deliver on their commercial promises.
Looking ahead, the project intends to expand by bringing in additional authors and intellectual property.
It also plans to broaden its talent pool by recruiting TAFE diploma and certificate students and creating a multi-tiered, collaborative environment that mirrors a real-world studio.
As Dominic puts it, the aim is simple: grow the course, create opportunities, and help the next generation of game developers get their work out into the world.
Ultimately, it showcases exactly the kind of hands-on, real-life industry experience the Design course at TAFE Queensland can offer - turning students into published professionals before they even leave the classroom.