GEORGE TOWN, February 28 – The Game Development Competition: Create Your Own Game Grand Finale has been successfully held on the 25th of February 2023 at Tan Sri Loh Boon Siew Hall, Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology Penang Branch (TARUMT). This event is the final round and grand finale for the Game Development Competition organised by the Penang Youth Development Corporation (PYDC), in collaboration with Magnus Game Studio and Big Domain and TARUMT.
YB Soon Lip Chee, Penang State EXCO for Youth and Sports, stated in his speech, “Malaysia and Southeast Asia is now emerging as a region of talented video game developers. We have talented Malaysian individuals like Mufizal Mokhtar who developed the breath-taking visuals you see from famous video games like “Assassin’s Creed”. This is proof that Malaysian youth have the ability to shine in the multi-billion video game industry. This Game Development Competition is one of the earliest kinds of video game development competitions we have in Penang and maybe in Malaysia”.
Magnus Game Studio, the major sponsor for this event has been working through very hard with PYDC to make the event a big success. The programme was launched in July 2022. There were series of online workshops teaching our youth in developing game, mentorship and guidance sessions, and close monitoring in place to ensure the students were in the right track throughout the 6-month journey. Participants had gone through the game project completion, filtering, and finally the best 10 teams managed to shine in the Grand Finale.
According to Mr. Tan Zhi Wei, Chief Technology Officer as well as the game development course trainer and mentor from Magnus Game Studio, this is the 1st time in Malaysia such competition is held for students. He added, “game industry in Malaysia is growing and there are a lot of potential for young talents to explore and pursue. I was touched with the talent performed by our youth whereby they were able to create such high-quality games at this very initial stage and in fact exceeded my expectation.”
Also present at the ceremony, Assoc. Prof. Dr Toh Guat Guan, Branch Head of TARUMT Penang Branch expressed that, In Malaysia, local developers are continuing to emerge within the game development market. With engaging content and creative graphical work, Malaysian game developers have opened up a growing market for themselves. With the support of our government, game development services can seize the opportunity to expand internationally, creating many career options for young talents to choose from, both on the highly technical and the creative aspect of the gaming industry.
If you have the passion, skills and motivation to immerse yourself in the world of video games, the opportunities are boundless. Dr Gwee Sai Ling, General Manager of PYDC, added in her speech, “I am very happy to see our participants attending the training programmes from this competition to not only prepare them for the competition, but also to learn on video game development. It’s surprise for me that this competition received great response from students and attracted youth from 46 higher learning institutions and schools from all over Malaysia to not miss this opportunity.”
The Game Development Competition is under the “Penang Young Digital Talent” (PYDT) initiative by PYDC to promote digital skills within the youth through various programmes including webinars, study trips, training, workshops, apprenticeship, project and competitions with the aim to develop Penang as a digital talent hub.” Big congratulations to the winners of the Game Development Competition Grand. Finale as Champion for Genesis Matrix won by SMJK Heng Ee Cawangan Bayan Baru and SMJK Chung Ling.
1st Runner Up for Raven from Multimedia University, 2nd Runner Up for GameBoy from Universiti Tenaga Nasional, Institut Perguruan Guru Teknik Nilai and SMK Engku Husain, 3rd Runner Up for Wakuwaku from Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (Kampar Campus) with consolation for Hyperrank, SMJK Chung Ling Butterworth, Universiti Islam Antarabangsa Sultan Abdul Halim Muazam Shah and Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka.
Speedy from Multimedia University, Drunk Kitchen from Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology, Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (KL Campus) and Monash University. For Arigato from Universiti Technology Malaysia, for Enstek Bytes from EPSOM College in Malaysia and for Pixel Warrior from Universiti Malaysia Terengganu. In the ceremony, youths who have completed the programme on Digital Marketing, Web Design, and Data Analytics and Game Development were also awarded a certificate.
