Good day all. I just want to ask a question out of anger and pain. Why are their no game developers in Nigeria? I mean i will be 20 years old on july, since 2013, i have been trying to make my own game. As a result of this i have used many game engines namely: 3Drad, yoyo gameMaker, A3 game studio, coppercube, and am currently using unity. When ever i see Ninja theory team, EA, ubisoft games Activision games and even the indie game makers like team meat and others. I feel like crying, why am a Nigerian? No body wants to support me? Any of my 3D models that i upload on facebook, they only recieve 9 to 15 likes. But when a girl just upload a selfie, the photo gets upto eighty something likes. Nigeria is filled with talents. We can do something, lets just try. I know game making requires dedication, time and hardwork, i have been doing it for a long time now( Two to three years) just that i abandon the projects after sometime because of lack of encouragement. Boys only seams to be attracted to girls only. I am currently in the University studying Electrical and electronics engineering, a course i hate. And i am currently working on a 2D game. I know 3D modelling, rigging, animations and many others in blender. I struggle with creating textures in gimp, I know csharp fairly well. Here is one of my work.

There are lot developers out there but lack of encouragement and funds just kills the zeal

Yeah. Thats true.

Bro, you're really good. Don't relent. soon other like minds will join up with you and pioneer a game developing company in Nigeria. me, I'm still learning java, my 1st programming language from scratch. But I'll definitely make an impact on the videogame industry once I pick up some skills.

@Kaycee. Nigeria can do it. We can do it, at least ant hill studio's Eri Umusu is doing a great work with his 3d models. Currently i am working on a 2d game and i am using unity which supports csharp and java. Although i am using csharp since it has more functionality in unity than Unity script(java). Add me on Facebook please or lets talk more on whatsApp: 08125386919.

BituSoft:
Good day all. I just want to ask a question out of anger and pain. Why are their no game developers in Nigeria? I mean i will be 20 years old on july, since 2013, i have been trying to make my own game. As a result of this i have used many game engines namely: 3Drad, yoyo gameMaker, A3 game studio, coppercube, and am currently using unity. When ever i see Ninja theory team, EA, ubisoft games Activision games and even the indie game makers like team meat and others. I feel like crying, why am a Nigerian? No body wants to support me? Any of my 3D models that i upload on facebook, they only recieve 9 to 15 likes. But when a girl just upload a selfie, the photo gets upto eighty something likes. Nigeria is filled with talents. We can do something, lets just try. I know game making requires dedication, time and hardwork, i have been doing it for a long time now( Two to three years) just that i abandon the projects after sometime because of lack of encouragement. Boys only seams to be attracted to girls only. I am currently in the University studying Electrical and electronics engineering, a course i hate. And i am currently working on a 2D game. I know 3D modelling, rigging, animations and many others in blender. I struggle with creating textures in gimp, I know csharp fairly well. Here is one of my work.

Despairing at your age is a common feature in Nigeria. But I think you may have the wrong idea if you think things would not be hard elsewhere in the world. Just keep at your work, and keep advertising yourself. Yours is a tough industry and there are too many environmental factors against you, think yourself out the box. Us gamers love solving puzzles. Just calm down and rethink your business, the approach, the potential customers, the investors, the challenges you expect to face, the REALISTIC gains you stand to make and then ask yourself how good you really are at your job. What is your level of skill, will it sustain u are do you need more?

Keep calm and succeed bruh!

Keep up the good work bro.

If possibly u can meet some private organizations, show them part of ur work, convince them that it's gonna be a blast and they are sure to make gains then u're good to go...

I've always wanted to play a gam made in Nigeria.

BituSoft:
Good day all. I just want to ask a question out of anger and pain. Why are their no game developers in Nigeria? I mean i will be 20 years old on july, since 2013, i have been trying to make my own game. As a result of this i have used many game engines namely: 3Drad, yoyo gameMaker, A3 game studio, coppercube, and am currently using unity. When ever i see Ninja theory team, EA, ubisoft games Activision games and even the indie game makers like team meat and others. I feel like crying, why am a Nigerian? No body wants to support me? Any of my 3D models that i upload on facebook, they only recieve 9 to 15 likes. But when a girl just upload a selfie, the photo gets upto eighty something likes. Nigeria is filled with talents. We can do something, lets just try. I know game making requires dedication, time and hardwork, i have been doing it for a long time now( Two to three years) just that i abandon the projects after sometime because of lack of encouragement. Boys only seams to be attracted to girls only. I am currently in the University studying Electrical and electronics engineering, a course i hate. And i am currently working on a 2D game. I know 3D modelling, rigging, animations and many others in blender. I struggle with creating textures in gimp, I know csharp fairly well. Here is one of my work.

cost of business that's why Nigerians are not interested.

BituSoft:
Good day all. I just want to ask a question out of anger and pain. Why are their no game developers in Nigeria? I mean i will be 20 years old on july, since 2013, i have been trying to make my own game. As a result of this i have used many game engines namely: 3Drad, yoyo gameMaker, A3 game studio, coppercube, and am currently using unity. When ever i see Ninja theory team, EA, ubisoft games Activision games and even the indie game makers like team meat and others. I feel like crying, why am a Nigerian? No body wants to support me? Any of my 3D models that i upload on facebook, they only recieve 9 to 15 likes. But when a girl just upload a selfie, the photo gets upto eighty something likes. Nigeria is filled with talents. We can do something, lets just try. I know game making requires dedication, time and hardwork, i have been doing it for a long time now( Two to three years) just that i abandon the projects after sometime because of lack of encouragement. Boys only seams to be attracted to girls only. I am currently in the University studying Electrical and electronics engineering, a course i hate. And i am currently working on a 2D game. I know 3D modelling, rigging, animations and many others in blender. I struggle with creating textures in gimp, I know csharp fairly well. Here is one of my work.

we actually have a whatsapp group where we develop games in nigeria using unity and unreal engine, we are also dabbling into VR games , send me your number to this email bjpumpindogg@yahoo.com . let me add u

08125386919. I will also send it to you. Thank you 04kaa

I am interested in what am reading here. Can someone add me up. But I want to ask, does anyone know how much artist, coders and programmers collect as salary in companies like Kuluya, Gamsole, Maliyo games and other gaming companies in Nigeria?

Question-why are there no game developer in nigeria?
Answer-no game develop in nigeria because economic hard don develop their brains.

I feel your pain about studying a course u hate... that tin is like a curse in Nigeria... I would also love to roll back in time and start all over and pick that course I want..
.
Gaming in Nigeria suck because of our mentality, if this old parent see you playing video game, no matter how happy you are, they will say "You are wasting your life'..
.
I have also asked that question (Why am I a Nigerian).. A country that refuse to civilize and develop... Lot of useful things have been abandoned because of lack of encouragement.
.
Just hang in there bro.. Never a waste knowledge.. As much as I will love to work with game developers, my field of studying is way in an opposite direction.

Ochillary:
cost of business that's why Nigerians are not interested.

Nd they will continue to remain like this for a long time. The only problem nigeria have is their 'na me go start am?' attitude. Very bad!

economy don develop their brains? All Nigeria parents do these days is just to tell their kids to become bankers, lawyers, doctors and engineers. If they see their children drawing: waste of time. Dancing: waste of time. I don't just know. Although my dad really supported my drawings.
Look at the whites
Facebook CEO(mark): His dad taught him to code at a young age(read his history on wiki)
Justin Beiber: has been singing from a little age and his parents supported him
Even Michael Jackson has been singing from a small age.
Lionel Messi has been playing football from a small age
and many others. And i can't see any nigerian forced to be a doctor or engineer being better than them.

BituSoft. I know how you feel. Trust me. I've been in game development since 2013, like you, but I haven't published a single one. So many projects I stopped midway because of lack of motivation or support. You say you get 9-15 likes?...... I get even less. But I'm not relenting. I'm working on one right now, and it's picking up fine. You can view it here.
https://www.nairaland.com/3069430/whot-game-know-love-android#45044672
Very nice screenshot you got there. I'm sure we can learn a lot from each other. I wanna add you up on facebook.

@MasterDPON, we can learn alot
use my phone number Or use Uzoigwe ikechukwu clement.

Just to clarify..
there ARE game developers in Nigeria. Though most focus on mobile and no one has really found mainstream success..
Game development is tough, There is zero funding and you are literally competing in the same market as multi-million dollar cooperations
That said here are a Few Nigerian Game Devs

Sonbim Games
https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=Sonbim+Games&hl=en
(Full disclosure, I am a large part of this

Chop Up
http://www.chopup.me/

Maliyo
https://www.maliyo.com/

And the guys working on Throne of Gods
https://www.facebook.com/ThroneofGodDevs/

Smad Studios
https://play.google.com/store/apps/developer?id=Smad+Studios

Kuluya has shut down

Dude, never post any nice photos without adding signature to picture, as they can be easily stolen.

Interesting, I posted a similar question on Radar a while back: http://radar.techcabal.com/t/why-arent-nigerian-mobile-games-conquering-the-app-store/1149

It seems nothing has changed in the year since, which is kinda sad.

It's a multifaceted problem, but these are the two main problems:

1) We have no world class Nigerian game developers (you have to be one to compete with Candy Crush and the others)
2) We have zero discoverability for locally made games.

For the common Nigerian to discover your app on the app store easily, your game must be "Featured" on the app store.

To be "Featured" on the app store means your game is of world class quality (competing with Angry Birds and Candy Crush, etc).

I'm a game developer myself, and have developed a real-time multiplayer match 3 game called Battle Of The Gods: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.recursionsystems.hex

I tried to keep the visual and audio quality high, but alas because we have zero Marketing channels (with the exception of adwords and the like), it is difficult to get the game the exposure it needs.

Op you know the best thing you cn do for yourself? Get out of this country. You see everything u learnt I learnt them 5 yrs back. Even contested for MTN programming contest in 2013. The truth is age will catch up with you, programing advanced games like your doing will require team work and heavy investments. No Nigerian wants to work for free or under paid, all they want is an oil job. You will need like minds who are ready to give up their social lives for a dream. And our youths are very very lazy, they can't stand reading codes all day bro. I won't say I gave up on game development. But I got wise. This country isn't ready for such innovation. instead I found a different approach. I went into other sectors of businesses and wish to raise the funds and man power I will need if I decide to go into game development and animation someday
Good luck bro.

It is a fact that to achieve anything tangible in the gaming/animation industry you've got to have a STRONG TEAM,you must have seen the end credits of most top notch animations and game they have nothing less than 30+ animators with countless other cg artist working in various aspect of the production.

Guy u r a fantastic Role Model mehn Just keep at it and don't stop

BituSoft:
Good day all. I just want to ask a question out of anger and pain. Why are their no game developers in Nigeria? I mean i will be 20 years old on july, since 2013, i have been trying to make my own game. As a result of this i have used many game engines namely: 3Drad, yoyo gameMaker, A3 game studio, coppercube, and am currently using unity. When ever i see Ninja theory team, EA, ubisoft games Activision games and even the indie game makers like team meat and others. I feel like crying, why am a Nigerian? No body wants to support me? Any of my 3D models that i upload on facebook, they only recieve 9 to 15 likes. But when a girl just upload a selfie, the photo gets upto eighty something likes. Nigeria is filled with talents. We can do something, lets just try. I know game making requires dedication, time and hardwork, i have been doing it for a long time now( Two to three years) just that i abandon the projects after sometime because of lack of encouragement. Boys only seams to be attracted to girls only. I am currently in the University studying Electrical and electronics engineering, a course i hate. And i am currently working on a 2D game. I know 3D modelling, rigging, animations and many others in blender. I struggle with creating textures in gimp, I know csharp fairly well. Here is one of my work.

I feel you bro. reach out and build a team. You can't do it alone. I know these AAA games been developed wasnt done by one person.

BituSoft:
economy don develop their brains? All Nigeria parents do these days is just to tell their kids to become bankers, lawyers, doctors and engineers. If they see their children drawing: waste of time. Dancing: waste of time. I don't just know. Although my dad really supported my drawings.
Look at the whites
Facebook CEO(mark): His dad taught him to code at a young age(read his history on wiki)
Justin Beiber: has been singing from a little age and his parents supported him
Even Michael Jackson has been singing from a small age.
Lionel Messi has been playing football from a small age
and many others. And i can't see any nigerian forced to be a doctor or engineer being better than them.

Haba! Doctors can save lives isn't that enough. I get your point though, some Nigerian parents aren't interested in what their children are interested in. It's a shame.

Just read this and thought I should share it with the house.

https://www.quora.com/How-are-large-open-world-games-like-GTA-V-made

I am also a game developer and i use game maker am not that experienced but from what i use i am a bit advance, but when i discover that nigerians a'rent having industries for game development i fell rough you will here of midway,konami,EA,Rockstar games, gameloft,sigma,etc but there is non in nigeria.

There are many, but most of them just make projects on a low key and never finish them.
I'm a game developer myself (mainly mobile), I write games in java (I don't use a game engine, I might soon start using unity tho, but that's when I learn c#) and I've only made a few projects for fun but now I'm getting serious into the game development business(me and a friend) when I finish the current app I'm working on which I'll upload on play store probably next week. We've already started brainstorming ideas and have come up with a couple game ideas with we would soon put into action, but we need extra hands, developers, graphic artists, graphic designers etc

if ure interested in being part, hit me up - 09053159782. Sms/Call me, What's app is no longer supported on my phone (BlackBerry).

Edit - You can now text me on what's app, just updated to a current version which would still be valid till june.

And yes Nigerians are afraid to go into the business due to fear of failure, but think about it most successful people/companies failed countless times before they finally achieved. You just have to think of every failure as a lesson and learn from it, like Thomas Edison who failed 99 times before he invented electricity(if I remember correctly, I'm too lazy to Google it), and when asked about it he said "I didn't fail 99 times, I just figured out 99 ways NOT to create electricity", let's all try and replicate that attitude, it's not that we don't have the talent in Nigeria, it's the drive and perseverance.

My last 2 games...(These are screen shots from the testing phases so the models are prototypes)

CodePlay1:
There are many, but most of them just make projects on a low key and never finish them.
I'm a game developer myself (mainly mobile), I write games in java (I don't use a game engine, I might soon start using unity tho, but that's when I learn c#) and I've only made a few projects for fun but now I'm getting serious into the game development business(me and a friend) when I finish the current app I'm working on which I'll upload on play store probably next week. We've already started brainstorming ideas and have come up with a couple game ideas with we would soon put into action, but we need extra hands, developers, graphic artists, graphic designers etc

if ure interested in being part, hit me up - 09053159782. Sms/Call me, What's app is no longer supported on my phone (BlackBerry).

And yes Nigerians are afraid to go into the business due to fear of failure, but think about it most successful people/companies failed countless times before they finally achieved. You just have to think of every failure as a lesson and learn from it, like Thomas Edison who failed 99 times before he invented electricity(if I remember correctly, I'm too lazy to Google it), and when asked about it he said "I didn't fail 99 times, I just figured out 99 ways NOT to create electricity", let's all try and replicate that attitude, it's not that we don't have the talent in Nigeria, it's the drive and perseverance.

My last 2 games...(These are screen shots from the testing phases so the models are prototypes)

can i meet you ? ballack_davidabel@yahoo.com

CodePlay1:
There are many, but most of them just make projects on a low key and never finish them.
I'm a game developer myself (mainly mobile), I write games in java (I don't use a game engine, I might soon start using unity tho, but that's when I learn c#)

My last 2 games...(These are screen shots from the testing phases so the models are prototypes)

Did you program the games with only java? How do you design the character models and environment?

As most people have pointed out there are quite a few relatively successful game developers in Nigeria. However, the landscape is incredibly challenging due to poor infrastructure and lack of resources. Gamesole is probably the most successful Nigerian game development company and I have to commend then for their awesome strategy. Most mobile game developers usually make games for Android or IOS so those markets are heavily saturated. Gamesole specifically targeted the Widows mobile OS where there's considerable less competition and it worked to their advantage.

Anyway, If you're interested in keeping track of the Nigerian game developers out there, I suggest checking out http://beta.kugali.com/ it's a database that curates African video games(and other visual media). You'll be able to follow and support video game developers from across Nigeria and the rest of Africa.

@david banky, depends...I stay in Abuja.
but u can email me at dannyeze@ymail.com

@kaycee 7, yup..they were written in pure java. For 2d games I use images as sprites, I either download or draw images and cut out the background to be transparent then render them on the screen.

Every item on the screen is an image. Then for the game objects (players, enemies, power ups etc.), they all extend an abstract class "Sprite" which contains some information about them- the image to be rendered, x coordinate, y coordinate, collision boundary etc.
The game runs on a loop which is a separate thread that refreshes the canvas(display) 40 times per second (fps), so for instance if I want to move an object right, I just input "object.X++" in the loop method (this moves the objects x coordinate to the right by one unit every 1/40th of a second which gives the impression that it's moving - that's how animations work.
The background is a space image that moves downwards giving the impression that ur spaceship is moving forward. So it's just basically images rendering on a canvas.
Then for 3d games I use libGDX framework, it handles all the low level graphics programming (which I initially tried to learn but figured out it would take waay to long to master, and is also pointless cuz there are frameworks that handle that for u, also the maths involved is really intense and if not careful could turn u insane - coming from a maths don like me), but ull still have to learn a lot of vector physics and matrices.
LibGDX framework runs on opengl so it'll be helpful to learn the basics and concepts of openGL.

This is a screen shot of the game loop code and the actual gameplay (unfinished desktop version)