Google has partnered Nigeria’s longest-standing Android game development studio, Maliyo Games to train 500 African mobile game developers.
The training program, termed GameUpAfrica Bootcamp will provide mentorship and development tools to interested individuals in Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana.
Hugo Obi, the founder of Maliyo Games, announced the partnership in a statement on Tuesday.
According to him, “We are delighted to work with Google to extend our in-house training program.”
He also said that the programme will be available “to hundreds of young people in Ghana, Kenya and Nigeria.”
Obi said the mobile games development training is a project-based learning system for Gen Zs and Millennial.
He said the self-paced trainings will have instructors who will periodically monitor, assess and evaluate the performances of the trainees.
He said the training will also provide the trainees ample access to development data and course materials to excel.
According to him, trainees will also get peer-support from the African gaming community.
On its website, Obi’s company said the training will take the developers “from zero experience to creating android game titles.”
What applicants will learn?
The GameUpAfrican Bootcamp will train young African mobile games developers to hone, package and develop Android games.
They will also learn development techniques, work on gameplay mechanics and complete full game projects.
The developed games would be displayed on Google Play Store for people to download and enjoy.
Trainees will learn how to develop the next generation of mobile games.
Some of the games they will be learning will include Candy Crush, Subway Surf, Mario Car, etc.
The trainees will also learn how to embed the cultures of Nigeria, Kenya and Ghana, among others into video games.
They will also learn how to model characters, immersive environments, captivating sounds and strong visuals.
Need for the training:
Mr. Obi explained that Africa is a viable continent for games development as it provides ready market for gaming.
According to him, “The African continent, with over 500 million mobile phone users, represents a massive business opportunity for people who have the creative and technical skills. That is the need we are addressing with this bootcamp.”
The application development expert aptly explained saying, “Our goal is to embed Africa’s vibrant culture into video games through storylines, character development, immersive environments, captivating sounds and strong visuals.”
“We actually launched this program because, as a game development studio, we are constantly looking for talented individuals to join our team. And because of a lack of structured education system that produces competent game developers in Nigeria, we made the decision last year to launch an in-house program that will enable us to train individuals who are interested in becoming game developers,” explained the Founder.
Duration of the Training:
GameUpAfrica Bootcamp is a five-months training programme that will run from 16th August 2021 to 23rd December, 2021.
Apparently, because of Covid-19 restrictions and other reasons, the training will be virtual.
Application period:
The Applications for the mobile game training programme has begun two days ago.
Registration began from July 19, 2021 and the applications will close on August 2, 2021.
Requirements for eligible Applicants:
Anybody who is interested in the training programme must meet the following eligibility criteria.
- All interested applicants must be from any of the three countries, viz: Nigeria, Kenya or Ghana.
- The applicants must live in any of these three countries.
- All interested applicants must own a laptop.
- The applicants must have a basic background in programming languages like C#, C++, python, Java and PHP.
- Applicants must be available for the programme that would be virtual.
- Applicants must present web links to programming developments they have done before.
- They must provide answers to several other questions and demands on the web form.
How to apply:
Maliyo Games said interested applicants for her Google-partnered mobile games trainings will do the following:
- Applicants must complete the online registration for the trainings before the registration window closes.
- All applicants must fill in the spaces on the online forms during registration.
- The spaces include applicants’ names, gender, age, email, phone number and where they live.
- Applicants will also upload their resumes, along providing other information like employment status.
About Maliyo Games Studio:
Maliyo is a Lagos-based Nigerian game development studio.
The company has been in the gaming development for a long time, spanning close to 10 years.
Maliyo has its goals to including disrupting “the gaming industry by being the #1 supplier of games in Africa.”
It also has a vision of embedding “vibrant culture into video games” through “storylines and character development.”
The goal also cuts across “immersive environments, captivating sounds and strong visuals.”
As a gaming company, Maliyo has a mission to “create gaming content for Africa’s 1 billion population.”
Its mission also includes “developing home-grown gaming talent in the continent and t provide diversity of content within the gaming industry.”
Maliyo also undertakes “to become the voice of the continent in the global gaming community.”
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