GameLab KBTU

Hooray!

We are truly honoured to share the results of our collaboration with UNICEF Innovation for removing gender barriers in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts & math) education. Within our LEVEL UP program we’ve released an introductory online course on video games and gamification. The best 50 students of the first batch of this course were invited to Kazakh-British Technical University for a gamification hackathon and offered their awesome solutions for a real-life problem. Read the full article on our LinkedIn page

www.linkedin.com

Cheers to all of the participants of the first gamification hackathon held at Kazakh British Technical University by GameLab KBTU and UNICEF in Kazakhstan!

Will share some insights on banking gamification on May 26. The link for registration is in the 1st comment.

On Friday we've opened the registration for our introductory online course "LEVEL UP" developed together with UNICEF Kazakhstan for supporting young girls in STEAM education. Soon will be sending the instructions for entering the course platforms. Meanwhile, we are waiting for all Kazakh and Russian speaking youngsters interested in game development and gamification (registration link in the first comment to this post) 🫶

Some backstage moments from our Video games and Gamification course within the UNICEF program for supporting young women in STEAM ⚡

We are glad to announce that the girls from our mentoring program will talk at ITU Girls in ICT Day on April 27th. The international event is organised by UNICEF and UNDP to support girls around the globe in information and communication technologies field.

Adel, Aida and Indra will talk about their experience in game development and inspire other girls from all over the world to join the game makers squad 🔥

Online meeting with Elena Morina, founder and CEO of Ravenage, video games publisher specialising in independent developers will be held on March 30, 18:00. Grab your unique chance to discuss any questions about funding, publishing and promoting indie games in an informal atmosphere with an awesome specialist! The meeting will take place on the GameLab KBTU Discord server (follow the link in the first comment).

8 playable games came out of our Almaty chapter. Check them out by the link in the first comment

Some Almaty chapter opening vibe 🔥

Hey guys! we are hosting the Almaty chapter for Global Game Jam 2023 - an event, gathering thousands of game developers from more than 100 countries. Join us (link in the first comment). We’re planning a super cozy opening with pizza and motivational hugs on Jan 30th. Keep up for the news on our Telegram chat!

Our last, but not least mentees!

Іz - a 2D game based on Turkic myths and tales in the setting of the 15th century Kazakh khanate. A game is about a girl whose little sister was kidnapped by an evil creature, and now she needs to save her.

Umai is the name of the team behind the game: Zhumabaeva Nazim, Muradova Alina, Kuatkyzy Aida and Kenzhebekova Aliya. The team was also among the finalists of our Summer School in August 2023, and in October the project has won a grant at the republican competition ZhasStar 💪

Meet a rogue-lite game with arena manager elements in which the player plays as a wizard in a fantasy world with amoral magocracies that measure their strength by pitting their magically modified monsters in the arena. To succeed, the player needs to learn magic, buy and enhance his monsters with various mutations and send them to the arena to prove that they are the coolest wizard!

Responsible for the immoral multiverse: Amelia Vladimirova and Nikita Nechaev.

It's not about the development only! The portfolio of our lab also includes studies of games and gamers.

KBTU Gameram Laboratory is a research project to study video games and their impact on people. At the moment, the team is conducting a quantitative analysis of content about multiplayer and single-player games in social media. During the study, it is planned to determine which games are more popular in which social media, and then to identify trends and patterns in the content of posts about the given games. The final aim is to develop methodological recommendations for game development studios and publishers to stimulate UGC (user generated content) in social media.

Part of the data is planned to be received directly from the social network for gamers - we thank them for such a data-gift 😊

The members of the research team are Daniel Darbekov and Serikbai Assanali.

Introducing our next lab resident - Adel Zhanabay with her darkly charming game "Yes and". A story-based game with elements of travel games. Detective/noir art deco style with futuristic touches. Impressive, huh? We got intrigued! Moreover, Adel has not only got an interesting idea, but also a solid plan and ambitions for this project.

Let's start the year with a series of posts introducing our mentoring program residents and their projects 🔥

The last memory videogame starts with the death of the main character. He enters the afterlife and loses his memory. He is given a chance to remember everything, and he plunges into memories to investigate one mysterious case and remember the events before the day of his death.

Team members - Indra Kairat, Asel Elshibek, Aidana Bekzhan and Askar Bolysbay.

The concept of the game was born within our First Summer School, and has won a prize there ❤️‍🔥

Well it's time to get all excited about the coming New Year 2023 🎄

We are grateful to 2022 for it was the year when our lab was launched ❤️ We've done a lot and we are planning much more!

Thank you all for being so awesome and contributing to the development of GameLab KBTU 🎮

(с) image from the Game of Sultans (the dialogue is original though 😉)

Pov: you compare video games to spiritual séances and guys at the workshop start drawing ouijas and summoning dinos and zombies 😑

Alexandr Mezin, lead manager of GameLab KBTU, spoke at the opening of the Republican festival of game developers Game Jam SU 2022 Alexandr gave some valuable hacks on how to bring your game to release and presented educational opportunities in gamedev we provide at KBTU.

Among other speakers at the opening were: Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan Sayasat Nurbek, Vice Minister of Digital Development, Innovation and Aerospace Industry of the Republic of Kazakhstan Askar Zhambakin and General Director of the international IT park Astana Hub Magzhan Madiev. Nice company, huh 8)

Several KBTU student teams are participating in this Game Jam right now - we wishing them best luck (they're packed with everything else needed for the victory, for sure)!

Meet us at Almaty Geek Games Expo on December 3-4 at Atakent, Almaty!

At our stand you will find out how to obtain a Major in Gamedev (yes, we're the first university in Kazakhstan to offer that!), how to become our mentorship program resident and what other educational opportunities for non-KBTU students we provide!

Also, on Sunday, December 4th, at the Expo lectorium Alexandra Knysheva will tell how (and why) to study videogames (12pm) and Alexandr Mezin will hold a workshop on the gamedev production pipeline (5:30pm).

See ya!

Ok, Google, is gamedev really that global? What does it even mean? I am a developer from Kazakhstan, how do i become a part of international community and do i really need that? Let's discuss on November 25th, 18:00. Don't forget to register (link in the first comment).

Speakers: Askar Aituov, Google; Alexey Shegay, iDos Games; Alexandra Knysheva, GameLab KBTU

What's up with gamedev industry in Kazakhstan? Kursiv Media has prepared an overview article on the topic. Gamelab KBTU has, of course, contributed. To check it out, follow the link in the first comment.

Come and join us in the discussion in just one hour!

🎮 Хочешь знать всё о GameDev?
⠀
Приглашаем вас на онлайн-митап с ведущими специалистами в области игровой индустрии. Вы узнаете:
🔸 Почему GameDev индустрия так активно набирает обороты;
🔸 Насколько сложно начать свой GameDev проект;
🔸 Как начать свою карьеру в GameDev;
🔸 Какие сейчас есть возможности развития индустрии в Казахстане.
⠀
❗️Регистрируйтесь на онлайн встречу по ссылке: https://forms.amocrm.ru/rlvlrdw
⠀
〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️〰️
⠀
🎮 GameDev туралы толық білгіңіз келе ме?
⠀
Біз сізді ойын индустриясының жетекші сарапшыларымен онлайн-кездесуге шақырамыз. Сіз үйренесіз:
🔸 GameDev индустриясы неге сонша белсенді түрде қарқын алып жатыр;
🔸 GameDev жобасын бастау қаншалықты қиын;
🔸 GameDev-те мансабыңызды қалай бастауға болады;
🔸 Қазақстанда саланы дамытуға қандай мүмкіндіктер бар.
⠀
❗️Онлайн-кездесуге https://forms.amocrm.ru/rlvlrdw сілтеме арқылы жазылыңыз.

Today all applicants for GameLab KBTU mentorship program have received their results. This was quite a tough decision-making process - your applications were interesting and well-thought. Unfortunately, we have a strict limit for a number of projects under mentorship.

Each member of GameLab KBTU has scored different aspects of the projects (idea, team, resources, completability and whether the lab can contribute to it).

Based on that (and a lot of discussions) we have selected 3 winners! Another 2 teams will continue to the second round and will get their results in January. One more team is already under our mentorship since September (our Summer School finalists).

As for the rest, we made our best to give the most detailed feedback on our decision, so that you can continue the work independently (with an opportunity to come to us or other residents of the lab with your questions or struggles).

Soon we will announce more details about our new mentorship program residents.