Arabnet Arabnet

Game Zanga, the second region-wide game jam organized by Arabic social game distribution and monetization platform GameTako, came to a conclusion last week after 240 game enthusiasts had developed 43 Arabic games created under the “Freedom” theme over a three day period from the 12^th till the 14^th of July. The theme was chosen in the first day of the competition by the Arab game development community through a suggestions and voting process.

The event was held in 3 major cities: Amman, Cairo and Riyadh, in addition to game developers participating remotely. “In the past few years, the Arab World changed in very pronounced ways and it is still changing ... Game Jams are an ideal way to introduce yourself, who you are, how you think, what you feel, through the games you create,” said Rami Ismail, Dutch born Egyptian game developer and member of the competing Vlambeer team.

The event also included sessions presented by the event’s sponsors during which the attendees learned about SCEE’s PlayStation Mobile Developer Program, Unity 4 and N2V’s Startappz mobile accelerator program.

“I was delighted at the level of the games produced during this session… The creative atmosphere that participants created resulted in games that exceeded the organizers' expectations. Local game developers have a bright future to look forward to. The winners from the event are not just the developers themselves, but the game development industry as a whole,” commented Abdullah Hamed, GameTako Founder and CEO.

According to the organizers, the games created included traditional entertainment games and more serious ones. As per the rules of the tournament, all game entries are published and playable on GameTako. The Game Zanga entries will be evaluated by Arab gaming specialist from major media outlets and veteran Arab game developers. Winning entries and teams will receive cash and in-kind prizes with total value exceeding USD 10,000. Winners will be announced in Mid-August 2012.

Game Jam is a popular form of game development activities, with the likes of Ludum Dare and The Global Game Jam. GameTako’s mission is to create and maintain a sustainable game development industry in the region by offering local game developers a distribution and monetization platform using a revenue share on ad earnings model. The team is currently developing a platform aimed at connecting developers with investors. “We are here to support the industry and the game development community, and help developers gain exposure and connect with investors,” concluded Adbullah.

To know more about GameTako, you can visit their website, like them on Facebook or follow them on Twitter.