Isfahan’s third annual Game Development Marathon will be held this weekend. The event is supported by Isfahan’s municipality in order to help game developers devise and develop digital games that promote the culture of citizenship in this city.
Throughout the history of video games, many game developing companies have used games to convey a message or tell a story to their audience. Many of us have grown up with the fictional characters from our favorite video games which to some degree have influenced our viewpoint towards various topics. That’s why today many organizations are trying to have an impact on the new generation of gamers in ways that may be in the best interest of society.
This weekend, for the third year, the city of Isfahan in Iran is hosting the annual Game Development Marathon. Just like other software/game development marathons, this event also has a specific theme which is to promote the culture of citizenship in Isfahan.
Game Development Marathon will kick off on Friday, August 4th, at Isfahan’s International Exhibition Center and will end on Sunday. Teams of maximum 5 people consisting of developers, designers and artists can now register for the event and work on their games for a chance to win cash prizes up to 5 million Tomans (Around 1.5k USD). During this three day event the teams will be able to attend workshops by experts in this industry and use their mentorship to develop their games in a practical way. Some of the mentors at Isfahan’s Game Development Marathon include, Hossein Mazrouei, Founder of Avagames Accelerator, Amir Hossein Erfani, Founder of CGart and Mohammad Mahdi Behfar Rad, Founder of Medrick Game Studio.
The three winning teams will also receive the support of the municipality and University of Isfahan’s Game Center to further develop their games.
A few weeks ago, Tehran Game Convention hosted over 2,000 individuals including game developers, publishers, buyers and investors from Iran, Europe and North America. This event became the biggest gathering of video games enthusiasts in the history of Iran.
According to Iran’s Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance, only 5% of the domestic market share is taken by locally developed games. Statistics by DIREC, an Iranian market research firm in the field of digital games also indicates that the country has over 23 million gamers with an average age of 21.
City of Isfahan is also hosting the 1st International Exhibition & Festival on new Urban Technologies (ICS 2017) from August 4 to 6th. Stay tuned for TechRasa’s updates on Isfahan’s Game Development Marathon this Friday.
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