Seoul, South Korea – September 19, 2025 – NC AI, the AI-focused subsidiary of NCSoft, today announced the winners of the 1st Varco 3D Game Creation Contest, the first competition centered on its AI-powered 3D asset creation tool, Varco 3D. The event drew over 200 teams and 300 participants, generating more than 5,000 new projects and 3,000 assets during the contest period.
A total of 31 complete games were submitted, with 14 teams honored across multiple categories after a two-stage evaluation process. Awards included one Grand Prize, one Excellence Award, five Merit Awards, and seven Honorable Mentions.
Award-Winning Titles
- Grand Prize – “귀소본능 (Return Instinct)” by Team Return Instinct: A first-person mystery game inspired by the Korean “spirit-summoning ritual,” where players use voice recognition to ask questions and receive O/X answers from ghosts to uncover a missing person’s fate.
- Excellence Award – “Reset Protocol” by KU-A Studio: A cooperative game where players act as employees of a game management company tasked with restoring broken virtual stages.
- Merit Awards:
- “RUBER” (GenieSoft)
- “The Door” (young) – A liminal-space horror escape game set in a hospital.
- “SIGNAL : ZERO” (King’s Long Live)
- “City of Rubble” (Duskore) – An action RPG set in a pollution-ravaged dystopia, built entirely with Varco 3D assets.
- “Prop Tower” (Hard Coders) – A multiplayer puzzle game using physics-driven object stacking.
Seven additional teams received Honorable Mentions, with all participants provided official contest certificates. Student participants will also receive preferential consideration in future NC AI internship applications.
AI-Powered Game Creation for Everyone
Varco 3D is an innovative AI tool that reduces the time needed to create 3D assets from 3–4 weeks to under 10 minutes. Contest rules required teams to create at least 50% of their in-game assets with Varco 3D, ensuring meaningful hands-on use of the platform.
Judging criteria emphasized originality, completion, practical use of Varco 3D, and market potential, with senior NC experts across multiple disciplines serving on the final jury panel.
Looking Ahead
NC AI plans to continue supporting the winning teams with opportunities for keynote presentations, media exposure, and potential marketing collaborations. The company also announced plans for ongoing contests, game jams, school partnerships, and developer community initiatives to further expand the Varco GameAI ecosystem.
“This contest proved that Varco 3D can lower the technical and financial barriers indie developers face in 3D asset creation,” said Im Soo-jin, CBO of NC AI. “We will continue working with creators to ensure anyone can quickly and easily build creative games.”
Varco 3D officially launches globally at the end of September. Competing with platforms such as Meshy AI and Tencent’s Hunyuan, NC AI aims to differentiate through community-driven features and integrated animation tools.
