philip lelyveld The world of entertainment technology

Building the First High-End 3D Game in a Virtual Arab World: Planet Toulan

For awhile, I’ve been wondering why no gaming studio in the Middle East that I knew of was building a high-end video game on the level of, say, Call of Duty. ...

Then I met Beladcom, a young team of obsessed game developers and graphic designers- both men and women- in Amman who are working studiously to build a lush, high-end 3D Arabic title called Planet Toulan,

Toulan is an ancient Arabic name meaning “extremely magical,” explains co-founder Mohammed Hujeij. Inside the game, players navigate a detailed world built upon the myth of 1001 Nights (Alf Leila wa Leila), he explains, where the protagonist interacts with jinns and battles mystical species in a quest to control Nawa, the lifeforce of the planet. (To explain the story and introduce the myth, the team released online comic books, viewable on the Planet Toulan website).

In 2010, they were able to secure a partnership with MindArk, a Swedish software company that built Entropia Universe, a 3D internet virtual universe that comes complete with an integrated economic system where players can buy “Project Entropia Dollars.”

“The deal took a lot of negotiating,” Hujeij confesses. “But ultimately they realized that they can access the Middle East market through Beladcom.”

See the full story here: http://www.wamda.com/2012/11/building-the-first-high-end-3d-game-in-a-virtual-arab-world-planet-toulan