Tariq Mukhttar was once a software developer rather than a game developer. That changed when he and a friend decided to make a game to capitalize on the "historic comeback" of a popular football (soccer, to those of us from the U.S.A.) team. That three-week project became a smash hit and led to Mukhttar participating in Sony Saudi Arabia's annual Gamers Day convention. Since then, he's had his upcoming game A Cat's Manor successfully greenlit, created two indie game development communities in Saudi Arabia, worked with the International Mobile Gaming Awards (IMGA), and helped organize the largest game jam in the region, the Pan-Arabian Zanga Game Jam (PAZGJ).
When asked what the indie game scene is like in Saudi Arabia, Mukhttar refers to Rami Ismail's six stages of game dev community development. "Using [it] as yard stick, we're in Stage 2 mid stride towards Stage 3," he says. "Local devs have found each other and organize gatherings, have connected with other dev communities in the MENA (Middle East/North Africa) region. International experts have been invited to foster knowledge exchange and mentorship."
Two of the indie game developer communities were founded by Mukhttar himself, with a combined total of over 900 members. Geography, he says, is a major factor in how the communities are organized. "Saudi Arabia is mainly three major regions/cities: East, Mid, West," he explains. "The Western city of Jeddah took the ini...