UZ computer student takes on global gaming industry

Environment & Innovations Editor

YOUNG African computer students feel strongly that Africa is ripe for the booming global mobile gaming industry, which generated more than US$159,3 billion in revenue in 2020 with 48 percent coming from mobile gaming and 52 percent from PC and console gaming.

“We can’t afford to miss this boat any more. I believe as a young Zimbabwean and a proud African we should take on the global mobile gaming industry and step by step aim to get a slice of the huge amounts of revenue generated by the industry,” says Harmony Murombo, a 22-year-old University of Zimbabwe computer hardware engineering student.

Harmony designed an Android game called Harmony3DGame. The game is a mobile game that he designed from scratch using python and blender.

“The game basically is about a ball that will be collecting coins and must avoid being hit by the moving gold enemies; if the player manages to collect all coins he or she will go to the next level,” he says.

“The purpose of the game that I designed is to solve the problem of compatibility and also solve the problem of centralisation since the software is compatible in all operating systems such as Windows, Linux, MacOS, and Android and can be played online.

“This game has some benefits. It teaches problem solving skills, and inspires interest in our Zimbabwean or African history and culture. In addition, the game can also help kids to make friends and improve their social skills. I also want my games to bring parents and children together.”

In the late 2000s, most African countries missed the PC era and found themselves in the mobile computing era.

Now, slowly but surely, Africa’s gaming industry is also moving into mobile gaming with lots of opportunities and possibilities for the continent’s young innovators.

“With the fastest-growing youth population and rapid adoption rates of mobile smart phones across the continent, one may argue that Africa is ripe for a booming mobile gaming industry. But in reality, it’s still in its infancy. In 2018, the market was worth $570 million. Today, African game developers face a range of structural problems, including slow, unreliable, and expensive internet connection,” says a computer gaming analyst.

Harmony’s gaming innovation was selected to be showcased at the UZ Research Innovation and Industrialisation Week.

The event was being held under the theme: “University of Zimbabwe: Actualisation of a research-innovation–industrialisation ecosystem model for Zimbabwe’s economic development.”

“I am dreaming big and I hope to commercialise the game soon. I want it to be deployed in Google Play Store where people will be able to download it and to advertise it using various advertising platforms from Google, or sell it to interested companies such as Econet. The target market of the game is young kids,” Harmony says.

“Since there are no companies in Zimbabwe which develop games, I hope to create my own company which trains people how to develop them. This could create employment for our fellow Zimbabweans and also help in the implementation of online game development courses at the University of Zimbabwe.

“At present there is no such course in the country. I hope to be part of a crop of new and bold young Zimbabwean innovators that create virtual reality based games from scratch to some big gaming apps in the near future.”

Most young people in Africa love playing games on their devices, but none of these games are African. African countries spend millions of dollars using Western developed games which are largely influenced by European and American culture.

However, there is a rising crop of African computer science graduates that are now pushing for a change – harnessing local languages and culture in processing the games.

Many are now combining gaming using African languages such as Swahili, Shona, Zulu and Xhosa among others.

Breaking into the global gaming industry is not for the faint-hearted.

“Looking at it from the African perspective, I think it’s something that is still starting. It’s only been a few years now since the start of Africa’s tech boom, so most people build back-end apps and create mobile apps for businesses,” says Brighton Mukorera, Lead Engineer of Neno in an online report about transitioning to game development, the state of Africa’s mobile gaming industry, and his thoughts on tech in Zimbabwe.

“People haven’t ventured into the gaming space because there’s no guarantee that you’ll make any revenue. It’s much easier to get jobs when you say you’re a Java developer or a C# developer building apps for businesses. So most people in gaming do it on their own time.

“There are probably one or two Zimbabwean companies in gaming. It is not common here yet because although Africans are spending more time on their mobile phones, other factors like internet availability and the cost of the internet can prevent you from monetising.

“Although it’s a risky space, it has a lot of potential. Over the next five years, as more people are connected and the internet becomes cheaper, the market will grow. So it’s best to start preparing for that time now, so when we get to that point, we already have things in place, and we don’t have to start from zero.”

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