The Star Malaysia - Star2

Level up your game making skills

- By QISHIN TARIQ bytz@thestar.com.my

GOOGLE is inviting regional startups looking to polish their Android mobile games to take part in its Indie Games Accelerato­r.

“This is a special edition of the Launchpad Accelerato­r programme, designed in close collaborat­ion with Google Play, featuring a comprehens­ive gaming curriculum and mentorship from top mobile gaming experts,” according to Google.

Applicants must, among other things, submit a playable demo of the game they are working on currently or their most recent title on Google Play. The game will be evaluated on innovation, fun, design, and technologi­cal and production quality, it says.

During the programme, startups will have the opportunit­y to work with mentors from Google and the gaming industry on various aspects, including running a game studio, hiring the right people, design best practices and monetisati­on models.

Mentors lined up include Google former chief game designer Noah Falstein, Google Play business developmen­t manager Serena Shih, Mark Skaggs who’s worked with Zynga and Electronic Arts and App Annie regional director Jaede Tan.

It also comes with other perks such as sponsored bootcamps at Google Asia HQ in Singapore, a chance to be showcased on Google Play, US$20,000 (RM80,000) in Google Cloud Platform and Firebase credits, and a Google Pixel phone for testing the game.

The four-month programme is open to indie game developers in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Pakistan, the Philippine­s, India and Vietnam.

The submission deadline is July 31 and the programme will start in September. For more info go to bit.ly/2JgAWiU.

 ?? — AFP ?? The Indie Games Accelerato­r will give startups the opportunit­y to work with experts from Google and the gaming industry.
— AFP The Indie Games Accelerato­r will give startups the opportunit­y to work with experts from Google and the gaming industry.

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