Andric Ishami

The creative African network “Enter Africa” had the possibility to present itself on the European gaming stage at the A MAZE. / Berlin. Supported by Goethe-Institutes in Africa, members of the individual “Enter Africa” teams showcased their 15 location-based games at the Gamescom 2019 in Cologne. Andric was sent by Goethe Institut Kigali and shares his expression with us.
 

What is so fascinating about Enter Africa?
It's mainly the vision which is 15 countries, 15 games. Enter Africa is a project that is running in 15 African countries with the aim of gamifying the future of those countries. Volunteers coming from diverse careers from those countries were chosen to tackle a question: “How does the future of your city look like?” The answer was a location-based game targeting the changes to be made in order to have a better future.
 

Where is the connection between Enter Africa and ILAGIK?
Enter Africa comprises 15 games and ILAGIK is one of those games that was made by the Enter Africa team Kigali. When asked how the future of Kigali looked like, the team envisioned a clean, safe and fast growing Kigali however it would be hard to socialize among people mainly because of fast-paced schedules and also the few uses of public places. The ILAGIK game then targets the use of public places as a solution.
 
How did you present your project at the A MAZE.?
At A Maze we had a general presentation of the project with every country represented. We played tradional drums at the start to excite the audience then Julia Sattler and Stefanie Kastner, the project founders, opened with how it all started. Then the games were presented briefly by country. When Rwanda was called, I presented ILAGIK game as the representative of team Rwanda. It was a small introduction to the games but later people would come to our booth at A Maze for further questions.
 
What other interesting things did you see/experience at the A MAZE.?
A Maze was really interesting, first thing I did was I played some cool games that were exposed there. I then met people from gaming industry with whom we interchanged ideas and opinions at workshops. Also at our booth, we had traditional games that attracted many people. I had brought with me Igisoro, a Rwandan tradition game, and we played for hours with people there. The best being was at the end of the day, we had a party to share a drink, dance, meet people and play more games. It was a fun festival.
 
What memory will you take with you of Berlin?
Coldness comes first, I mean Berlin was really cold at the time. I was coming from a country with a daily average 20 degrees and to find myself at around 2-6 degrees was really difficult. However, Berlin is very beautiful. The natural parks, people moving around the city on bikes, open people to new things, cool trains, great architecture and many more will stay with me. I think for a creative being like me, Berlin was an inspiring place to live.