Recontact Games co-founder Simay Dinc has started a special program for Turkish kids from small villages. It aims to teach them to code, create video games, and treat them as a form of interactive art.
The initiative is called CATS (Culture, Art, Technology, and Science) of Small Village. According to GamesBeat, the first event was held in the village of Ayvalik from September 17 to September 19.
It included lectures about arts, technology, science, and cultural studies from university professors, United Nations SDNS, the US Consulate, and other partners. CATS of Small Village is aimed at kids aged between 10 and 14 who live in rural areas and don’t have opportunities to experience new professions.
“We wanted to remind people that games are both culture and art,” Dinc said. “Gaming is not just a coding industry. It is a part of the creative industry, and we wanted to share this mindset.”
Dinc also noted on Twitter that the CATS project “aims to raise awareness of gender equality, climate action, clean energy, sustainable development goals through power of gaming industry.”
Simay Dinc co-founded Recontact Games with her brother in 2015. The studio created mobile games like Recontact: Istanbul and Recontact: London, which combines CCTV recordings with detective gameplay.