NCSoft’s artificial intelligence (AI) development subsidiary NC AI officially announced the winners of the “1st Barco 3D Game Production Contest” on September 19th. This contest, the first game creation competition utilizing the AI-based 3D asset production tool “Barco 3D,” successfully concluded amidst enthusiastic interest with approximately 200 teams and 300 applicants participating.
During the contest, participants created a staggering 5,000 new projects, and over 3,000 assets were created and downloaded through Barco 3D, fueling the excitement. A total of 31 completed games were submitted, and after a first round of written evaluations and a second round of presentations, a total of 14 teams were awarded prizes, including one grand prize winner, one best prize winner, and five excellence prize winners.
NC AI evaluated this contest as a meaningful starting point for Barco GameAI to take its first steps with emerging creators who are the seeds of the Korean game industry, and as an important achievement that confirmed in reality the possibility that anyone can create games with AI technology.
Barco 3D is an innovative AI-based tool that can shorten the 3D asset creation process, which previously took at least three to four weeks, to around 10 minutes. Participants were required to create at least 50% of the game’s core assets using Barco 3D, allowing them to gain practical experience using AI tools.
The judging process was based on originality, completeness, Barco 3D usability, and market competitiveness. The second round of final presentation evaluation involved senior experts from various NC departments. Works that combined innovative ideas and AI-based 3D production capabilities, with a particular emphasis on originality, received high praise.
The grand prize winner, ‘Housing Instinct’, is a first-person mystery game based on the concept of the ritual of a ghostly being. It received attention for its unique gameplay in which players ask ghosts questions through voice recognition and reveal the truth about missing persons through true/false answers. ‘Reset Protocol’ by ‘KU-A Studio’, which won the grand prize, was well-received for its novel concept of becoming employees of a game management company and working together to restore a damaged virtual world stage.
Five works were selected for the Excellence Award: ‘RUBER’ by Geniesoft, ‘The Door’ by young, ‘SIGNAL: ZERO’ by King Manse, ‘CityOfRubble’ by Duskore, and ‘Prop Tower’ by Hard Coders. ‘The Door’ is a first-person escape room game with liminal space horror set in a hospital, and ‘City Of Rubble’ is an action RPG set in a dystopian world of environmental pollution. It stands out for having all 3D assets created with Barco 3D. ‘Prop Tower’ is a physics engine-based multiplayer puzzle game that was recognized for its creativity in utilizing objects of various sizes and shapes.
Additionally, seven teams received honorable mentions, and all participants received a certificate of participation. Student participants were also given bonus points when applying for future NC AI internships.
NC AI will provide various follow-up support to the winning teams to help them continue their creative endeavors. The winning works will be showcased as best practices through various events and media outlets hosted or collaborated with by NC AI. Keynote presentation opportunities and media outreach support will also be provided, if necessary. Furthermore, the winning works will receive additional marketing support, including game promotion, through separate consultation.
Building on the success of this contest, NC AI will actively expand the Barco GameAI ecosystem through ongoing contests and game jams, collaborations with schools, and the development of a developer community. NC AI is actively considering collaborations with educational institutions to support aspiring young artists and young talent. Once the entries are completed, NC AI plans to explore opportunities to provide them with better opportunities.
NC AI CBO Im Su-jin said, “Through this contest, we have confirmed that Barco 3D is a tool that can practically eliminate the technical and cost barriers to 3D production that indie developers face.” He added, “We will continue to collaborate with various creators to create an environment where anyone can easily and quickly create creative games.”
Barco 3D is an AI-based platform that quickly generates 3D models using text or image prompts. Beyond 3D creation, it can also handle complex tasks like auto-remeshing and texture healing. NC AI is preparing for the global launch of Barco 3D later this month and plans to secure a competitive edge against global competitors like Mesh AI and Tencent’s Hunyuan through differentiated community and animation features.
