Interview: Sorelle Kamdom of Kiro’o Games on Game Dev. In Africa and Kickstarter
"…there are two major challenges which we often faced: power cuts and the digital divide…"
The vast majority of video game industry is in North America, parts of Asia, and Europe. Though this seems to cover a lot of ground, video game production is typically localized to specific areas – with everywhere else frequently being treated as digital deserts. One desert that is quickly becoming an oasis for game development is Africa. An example of how Africa is home to up-and-coming game studios is Kiro’o Games in Cameroon. To learn more about Kiro’o Games’ current project, Aurion, Legacy of the Kori-Odan, making games in Cameroon, and turning to Kickstarter, I was able to interview the studio’s head of marketing, Sorelle Kamdom.
You can learn more about Kiro’o games by visiting their homepage and following them on twitter at @KIROOGames.
Nicholas Yanes: What were some games that you enjoyed playing as a kid?
Sorelle Kamdom: When I was kid, I played video games with my brothers such as
Super Mario Bros.,
Prince of Persia,
Street Fighter, with
Super Mario Bros. being my favorite.
Yanes: Can you describe how Kiro’o Games came to be founded?
Kamdom: Madiba Olivier, the founder of the studio started working on
Aurion since he entered university in 2003. He produced the first version of
Aurion by using
RPG MAKER. In 2012, he launched the project with the support of some friends and relatives. However, there were many Cameroonians who had great doubts about its implementation. In May 2013, we received the sponsoring of our Ministry of Culture and Arts. This sponsoring brought us a lot of visibility abroad and around our country. Then we started receiving our first funds which allowed us to effectively open the studio in December 2013. […]
