Interesting Snippets

Jafari and Fassihi recruited amateur Iranian game developers from English-language game forums on the Internet. “There is a lot of talent in Tehran,” Fassihi said, “but nobody had experience.” Eshraghi, the animator, created the main characters; the others scoured the Internet to learn more about developing games. “Google was our university,” Jafari said. The team also had to deal with the growing trade sanctions against Iran. It was impossible to buy the licenses for the Western software used as the game’s engine. The Iranians had to rely on less powerful open-source software that was freely available on the Web. “We evolved into professional developers and animators,” Jafari said. “We created a whole new industry in Iran just by trying and trying and trying again.” Eventually, a foundation funded by Iran’s Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance provided the team with seed money to promote its game in Europe, where a German distributor now intends to sell it.