Help bring one of the most emotionally resonant indie game franchises to consoles. In this project, you’ll use proprietary tools to port a To The Moon series title from RPG Maker to Unity, fix bugs, and implement quality-of-life improvements for a new generation of players. You’ll work to ensure the game stays true to its original vision while adapting seamlessly to modern platforms.
What you'll learn
UI essentials
Input system basics
Game engine
About Serenity Forge
Serenity Forge is a video game development and publishing studio based in Boulder, Colorado. Established in 2014, the company partners with developers and publishers worldwide to create and share impactful, meaningful games. Its publishing portfolio includes acclaimed titles such as Doki Doki Literature Club, Slay the Princess, and To The Moon.
Meet your leads
Who is this for
Students and new grads who want to build strong professional habits early and turn solid skills into credible, job-ready experience.
Hobbyists and career switchers who want to break into the industry with proof beyond solo projects, or ship indie titles with confidence.
Professional game devs who want to sharpen resume signals, push their skill envelope, and raise their ceiling with direct, high-signal critique.
Prerequisites
Unity & C# basics
You should already be comfortable working in Unity and C#, have participated in a few game jams, and have shipped at least one small project on itch.io or Steam.
Bring an open mindset
The real gap between a hobbyist and a pro isn’t just technical skill—it’s initiative taking, jumping into an existing codebase, and being willing to throw away work that doesn’t serve the game. Come ready to be challenged and to push yourself.
What's included
Live sessions
Learn directly from real-world experts through live, interactive sessions.
Guest lectures
3 guest talks by industry veterans, each focused on their area of expertise.
Lifetime access
Rewatch recordings anytime and keep access to our internal resource library.
Career support
Get mock interviews plus portfolio and resume reviews focused on industry readiness.
Industry network
Join a lasting network of like-minded peers, mentors, and industry professionals.
Supplementary curriculum
24 mentor office hours • 12 learning topics
Week 1
Code Review & PR Ritual
Mentor Office Hour
Establish production-grade review loop that keeps teams shipping: scoping changes, actionable feedback, quality gates, and consistent merge cadence.
Git CLI Basics
Mentor Office Hour
Build clean day-to-day Git habits, including branching strategy, commit hygiene, and when to rebase versus merge.
Writing Readable, Maintainable Code
Weekly Learning Topic
Learn to follow a shared style guide to write clear, maintainable code with strong naming, structure, and minimal duplication.
Week 2
Debugger Walkthrough
Mentor Office Hour
Discover the debugger as a daily tool and understand the basics of breakpoints, stepping, inspecting state, and tracing bugs to the root cause.
Resolving Merge Conflicts
Mentor Office Hour
Resolve conflicts safely by understanding intent on both sides, choosing the right edits, and validating the result before merging.
Unity Null Safety
Weekly Learning Topic
Build Unity null safety awareness: handle Unity’s special null behavior and add lightweight guards around references.
Schedule
Team Sync is the only required session; everything else is optional. Times will be set based on cohort availability, and the schedule may be adjusted as needed.
MON
Standup
5 min
Team Sync (Required)
1 hour
TUE
Mentor Office Hour
1 hour
WED
Standup
5 min
Project Tag Up
1 hour
THU
Mentor Office Hour
1 hour
FRI
Standup
5 min
Studio Office Hour
1 hour
Testimonials
"This program has given me more game development knowledge than three years of studying game programming, and I'm really glad to have the chance to work with so many great people."
Mateusz Stanek
Game Programmer
"The instructors were all very knowledgeable, experienced. In addition to learning coding skills, we also learned a lot of "on the job" skills like agile workflows, code reviews, and how to work with a team of other programmers. Overall, I think it was a great experience that will help me land a great game dev job."
Ryan Maidhof
Mechanical Design Engineer, ASML
"Compared to my last internship, this absolutely blows it out of the water. This is a very engaging program, and I appreciate that it feels more like actual work rather than someone holding my hand through every step."
Ryan Smith
Software Engineer, Smith Parker Elliott
"RealXP Lab was one of the most valuable learning experiences I've had so far as a game developer. The pacing and environment felt much closer to a real studio than anything I've experienced in college, and I came out of it feeling confident that I can hit the ground running in a professional role. I also met amazing people and built connections that I know will be extremely valuable."
Zach Petty
B.S. in Game Programming and Development, SNHU
"Students are trusted with meaningful ownership and given the freedom to explore. Effort is rewarded: the more dedication invested, the richer the experience becomes through deeper mentorship, greater responsibility, and accelerated growth. It’s a strong bridge between personal projects and real-world production workflows."
Murat Diken
Unity Developer, Æ Labs
"As a self-taught game developer, I lacked both a network and confidence in my skills—RealXP Lab provided me with both. The program not only connected me with like-minded peers and invaluable mentors, but also gave me hands-on experience in a professional environment and the reassurance of feedback from industry experts."
Zack Coleman
Freelance Game Developer
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