The Goethe-Institut is looking for seven games developers from South Africa and eight from sub-Saharan Africa to join this year’s Game Mixer programme in Johannesburg from 16 to 24 November.
The successful applicants will join 16 game developers from Germany, Brazil and Indonesia.
Within the programme, the Goethe-Institut aims to promote professional exchange between game developers from around the world. In 2015, the first Game Mixer Program took place in Jakarta and Bandung, Indonesia. The following year, the second iteration of the program took place in Sao Paulo, Brazil. In its third iteration, the Game Mixer program seeks to mix up the international game development scene even further by not only including game developers from Germany and the host country of South Africa, but by also inviting participants from broader Sub-Saharan Africa and the former host countries Indonesia and Brazil, too.
Game Mixer Johannesburg starts with the GameCamp, an open, participatory bar-camp-style series of DIY workshops, talks and sessions. The GameCamp focuses on peer learning and open discussions on chances and challenges of the game industry in participating countries. The GameCamp will be followed by a public showcase of games by all participants. The group will get the opportunity to present their games and have in-depth discussions with the audience. For one day we will visit the most interesting game studios in Johannesburg to get an inside view of the industry. In an internal showcase participants will have the opportunity to acquaint themselves with each other’s works by playtesting their fellow participants’ games. The program’s finale will be a game jam, wherein mixed teams will collaborate on game prototypes.
Communication language during the program will be English.
Application:
If you are interested and want to apply, you should:
Be a professional developer from an African game company that has released at least one game;
Be committed to participate full-time during the whole ten-day program; and
Be able to communicate in English
Smaller, emerging studios are preferred, since they would benefit most from this programme.
The Goethe-Institut will provide:
Travel expenses to and from Johannesburg
Accommodation (for participants not living in Johannesburg)
Local transfers
Your application should include:
A CV highlighting your professional background
A one-page letter of motivation;
A one-page profile of your studio including: founding date, number of games produced / released, number of developers, performance (e.g. downloads, users, revenue);
A one-page summary of one product that you want to highlight in the showcase including: game details, game performance (e.g. downloads, users, revenue, KPIs), screenshots
Applications should be sent to Ralf.Eppeneder.extern@goethe.de. The deadline for applications is 5 October 2017. The participants will be chosen by a jury of the Goethe-Institut and Interactive Entertainment South Africa.