How I Leveled Up in Game Production: Anomalia Bootcamp in Kutná Hora

This post is going to feel a little different from the usual ones. It’s the first one I wrote in Czech first — and there’s a good reason for that. It’s a very Czech story, with Czech places and a Czech opportunity. Which means some things will need a bit more context than just a straight translation.

From Game Testing to Design to Production

In early August, I took another course — part of my ongoing side quest to somehow break into the game industry. Long story short: A year and a half ago, I started with a course on game testing. Last winter I added game design. And this summer? It was all about game production.

Just like before, I used a government-funded digital education grant — a program in the Czech Republic where the employment office pays most of the course fee if it helps you gain new skills. (Yes, I waved a grateful “thank you” to the office, too.)

The provider was the same as for my previous course: Anomalia. What was different, though, was the format. While the game design course was mostly online with just one weekend in person, this one was an intensive bootcamp: five full days, morning to evening.

The Setting: Like Walking Into a Game Trailer

The course took place in a beautiful historic town called Kutná Hora, in the attic of the local art gallery GASK – Gallery of the Central Bohemian Region.

This location has a special connection to probably the most famous Czech game of the year, Kingdom Come: Deliverance II — the developers used Kutná Hora as one of the locations of their in-game world. There was even a small exhibition right next door to our classroom, showing side-by-side shots of real streets and their digital twins.

And by pure coincidence, our bootcamp instructor happened to be the producer of another major title with Czech roots: Mafia: The Old Country — none other than Viliam Korbel from Hangar 13.

Most of Anomalia’s summer bootcamps are held in English, but Viliam insisted on doing this one in Czech. His reasoning was simple: we need more production people here at home. So… let’s see if this XP pays off.

Anomalia also helped arrange accommodation just a short walk from the classroom — and honestly, that made the whole experience feel like a well-designed tutorial level. Imagine this: you’re strolling through narrow medieval streets paved with uneven stones, early in the morning, when all the shops and cafés are still closed. No tourist crowds, just the occasional delivery van passing by like a friendly NPC on its set route.

The vibe? Like stepping out on a fresh quest with your inventory full of optimism and your map glowing with undiscovered markers.

KH'Punk: Two Groups, One Heavy Curtain

Two bootcamps were running at the same time in the attic. Pro: more game nerds to talk to. Con: the second course was about game music. And the only thing separating us was a very heavy curtain. So occasionally, we got a 2-for-1 lecture experience.

Our own group was cozy — just eight people plus the instructor. That meant space for every question, tangent, and extra explanation.

What surprised me was that not everyone there was a “gamer” in the usual sense. Some came from film, architecture, or animation backgrounds. Which is cool — but it also meant that when Viliam said things like “FPS”, not everyone immediately pictured headshots. So a bit of tutorial time was required.

Highlights of an Inspiring Week

Classes usually ran from 9 to 5. Mostly lectures — except for one rather intense surprise assignment that hit like a mid-level boss fight. Viliam brought years of experience from both AAA and indie projects, working as Game Designer and (Lead) Producer. Everything he shared came straight from real production trenches.

We walked through the early phases of game development — from “your noble artistic motivation (which, let’s be honest, is usually also about money or prestige)” to pitch docs and high concepts. We clarified target audiences, touched on Bartle's taxonomy of player types, and covered design foundations like the core loop. We even got a taste of business models and monetization.

But the two most important parts of the course, at least for me, were elsewhere. The first one was, of course, game project planning and management, where we went through the phases of a game project (I finally know the difference between a vertical and a horizontal slice) and the roles of people in a game studio — who reports to whom, who leads what, and who collaborates with whom. For me, that was an incredibly valuable revelation.

Boss Fight: The Spreadsheet Challenge

And then came the task:

Our imaginary team had to produce a certain number of assets in a given time, add a bunch of variables, and then build an Excel sheet that calculates how many people we need to hire and for what roles — and if any variable changes, the sheet has to auto-update.

Cue: Error 404 — brain not found.

Once the initial panic faded, I did what my neurodivergent brain does best: built a sensory wall with instrumental music and started untangling the problem thread by thread (yes, just like Mom taught me).

In the end, it wasn’t that bad. Okay, I did overcomplicate it — but if I ever see a task like this in a job interview, at least now I’ll know what to do.

New Weapons Unlocked

The second big unlock was project management. I’ve sat through project management lectures back at university, but Viliam’s take was the first that made me actually excited about Agile software development, sprints, and kanban. My motivation bar shot straight to the max. Planning things is something neurodivergent brains can excel at — it’s the execution part that’s a bit trickier.

And then came the cherry on top: hands-on training with Jira. That’s the exact line item I was missing on my CV. (We used YouTrack in my previous QA course.) Kanban boards, workflow, filters, dashboards… I came home and immediately built a project board for my YouTube channel. No regrets.

Oh, and one more small but mighty boost: Viliam recommended a book and productivity method — Getting Things Done. Yes, the GTD rabbit hole is officially unlocked. Expect future blog posts.

GG: Level Complete

I’m genuinely grateful I could attend this course. Huge thanks to Marek and Monika from Anomalia for organizing and joining us on this journey. Our group wasn’t exactly a well-oiled team, but we gained skills and contacts no one (except maybe Mr. Alzheimer) can take away.

And, of course, thanks to Viliam Korbel for dedicating his time right as Mafia: The Old Country was heading into the world.

So what did I take home with me?

• A solid grasp of kanban and how to wield it in Jira like a true production nerd

• A burst of confidence and the feeling I’ve finally found something I really want to do

• A productivity method that I’ve actually started applying — yes, including grabbing a notebook at 2 AM to jot down ideas in the glow of my phone screen (don’t ask why not just type them).

Would I do this bootcamp again?

Absolutely. The only real boss fight here would be my bank account — without that government grant, it wouldn’t have been financially possible.