Pakistan's First Games Conference is Coming in December

Pakistan’s first-ever Games Emerge Conference (GEC) is slated to happen in Islamabad in December 2016.

Designed to promote video game development and creative industry in Pakistan, GEC will run over three days and include industry talks, workshops, networking opportunities, and a two-day game jam.

GEC is helmed by Sadia Bashir, the founder and CEO of the PixelArt Games Academy (PGA). PGA is the first institute in Pakistan to provide specialised education and training to games industry aspirants. PGA is funded in part by Pakistan Center, which is in turn funded by the US State Department and aims to provide support and training for entrepreneurial women.

"The biggest barrier to growth of Pakistan’s video game development industry is the lack of relevant education and awareness regarding development of video games," Bashir said during a recent interview. "PGA aims to overcome the educational deficit in the video games sector of Pakistan over the next decade but in order to attract sufficient pool of talent we believe events like GEC 2016 are necessary for creating awareness."

Other PGA leaders include Irrational Games co-founders Ken Levine and Jonathan Chey, former Ubisoft Montreal AI programmer Brie Code, and noted speaker, traveller, and Vlambeer Games co-founder Rami Ismail.

"I can't wait to see what the academy grows into. I can't wait to meet the people who will get involved in the academy and I can’t wait to see the product they are eventually going to create," said Levine via press release.