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Lual Mayen lived for 22 of his 24 years in a refugee camp in northern Uganda. His parents fled South Sudan and his decades-long civil war. That's why Mayen's journey to become a game developer is so rare and incredible.
I heard Mayen tell his story at Rami Ismail's ReasonToBe panel # 1 at the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco. When he told this story, the audience did not have dry eyes. I therefore met Mayen on Friday and captured his story on video. He says it so well and I encourage you to watch the entire video.
Mayen was born during the war. His parents fled South Sudan, which managed to gain independence as a country in 2011. They were attacked on the road and the parents had to separate. Mayen was born on the way to the camp. He grew up there without electricity. He was among the more than 2.5 million people displaced by the civil war that began in 1983.
Above: Lual Mayen, manufacturer of Salaam and Wahda.
Image credit: Dean Takahashi
A few years ago, Mayen saw a laptop in a recording station for the refugee camp. He told his mother that he wanted one. She saved money for three years to get the $ 300 needed to buy it for him. When she gave it to him in 2013, he burst into tears.
He took her to a cybercafe and used it. And he discovered Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and the joy of playing. He did not know how video games were made.
"I thought they had fallen from the sky," he said.
It took three hours of walking to get to the cybercafe, but he used to travel regularly to recharge his computer and play games.
As a child born in a violent war, Mayen is pondering the creation of a game that can inspire peace. He learned how to create games and started his own business, Junub Games.
"Living in a refugee camp is not easy," said Mayen in his speech to the GDC 2019 panel. "I asked what was the best way to restore lasting peace in my country. My main goal was to contribute something to my country. "
"I realized the power of the game," he said. "I realized that games could be useful for peace and conflict resolution. I started creating a video game in my country so that video games can distract them from destructive activities. "
Above: Salaam, an Arabic word for peace, is a mobile game about this subject.
Image credit: Dean Takahashi
He created a game called Salaam (an Arabic word meaning peace), about protecting communities from destruction. It was a 10 megabit mobile game, but he could only distribute it via a Bluetooth network. It has spread virally. A conference organizer at A Maze discovered him, found him and invited him to speak at a conference on gaming in South Africa.
There, Mayen met Ismail, co-founder of Vlambeer and developer of hit games. As an ambassador for independent game developers, Ismail encouraged Mayen to continue his passion for game creation. Mayen also created a board game, Wahda, that promotes peaceful conflict resolution. He did it because he did not require a computer to play and that the refugees could have a chance to play it.
Ismail pays the cost of guests to the GDC in San Francisco, but despite an invitation, Mayen was unable to visit in 2017 because of President Donald Trump's immigration restrictions. His visa was not approved in time. But Mayen succeeded this year and he gave an inspiring lecture. The conversation made Ismail's eyes and mine cry too.
Last year, Mayen participated in The Game Awards, where he was named Citizen of the Global Game at the same time as a Facebook sponsored award. (27 million people watched this program) Mayen works with Facebook to publish Salaam as an instant game.
Mayen now lives in Washington, DC, and also works with a small team on a virtual reality game. Oculus is working with him on this title. I would like to convince him to speak at our Summit GamesBeat Summit 2019 and hope that a sponsor will pay for his travel expenses.
"Maybe one day, my dream will come true: create the biggest video game studio that creates games for peace," Mayen said.
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