By Ghana News,Tilda Acorlor

Copyright ghananewss

By Tilda Acorlor

In an effort to promote creativity and innovation in the African arthouse gaming scene, a residency program dubbed “Playful Obscura” is currently hosting gamers from South Africa, Kenya, and Ghana in Ho for a two-week residency.

The program, which began on September 15 and will conclude on September 27, 2025, aims to provide a supportive environment for gaming artists to develop their projects, collaborate with peers, and engage with the local community. Participants are sharing a dedicated workspace at Node Eight, an innovation hub in Ho.

The program features collaborative sessions, peer-to-peer exchanges, and community engagement activities designed to foster dialogue and mutual growth.

Estelle Mmathapelo Makhoba from South Africa, serving as a mentor for the residency, has infused the program with her creative insights, guidance, and warm vision.

She mentioned that the residency has empowered her storytelling and mechanics while facilitating meaningful connections between games and local culture.

“This first week has been refreshing and inspiring. Being around emerging game designers has challenged me to think differently about storytelling and mechanics and how games can connect more meaningfully to local culture,” she said.

Participants have noted that Makhoba’s mentorship has helped them refine their gameplay, enhance their storytelling, and root their projects in cultural identity. While mentoring others, Estelle Makhoba is also using her time at the residency to develop her own creative project within the supportive learning environment offered by Node Eight.

“At Node Eight, the atmosphere of openness and exchange has created a space where ideas can flourish,” she added.

Joanna Oluoch, an inquisitive game designer from Kenya, has been exploring movement tracking in Unity, object interactions in 3D space, and the intricacies of human motion in the virtual world.

Miss Oluoch shared that her conversations with fellow residents have greatly influenced her creative direction. “The discussions I’ve had with my fellow residents, our mentor, and the Node Eight community have profoundly shaped my creative approach,” Joanna said.

She also expressed her comfort at the residency, noting the similarities between Ghanaian culture and her home country of Kenya. “Beyond the wonderful people, the city of Ho itself has felt familiar. Although the temperature is hotter than in Kenya, there are many similarities in food and culture, which have provided me with a comforting sense of ease,” she remarked.

Ghanaian digital artist and Unity developer Ebenezer Gyeedu Apau described the first week of the Playful Obscura Residency Program as a creative adventure that blends community, culture, and code.

He considers it a turning point in his creative journey, as he enjoys local Volta cuisine and exchanges feedback with fellow gamers and developers.

“The feedback I received during our sessions sparked fresh ideas, and I’m excited to incorporate them into my game,” he said.

Gyeedu Apau also engaged in hands-on experimentation with Node Eight’s Arduino STEM kits, which allowed him to build a working traffic light and ultrasonic sensor.

This playful tinkering has inspired more complex world-building for his Virtual Reality (VR) game. He is currently in the integration phase, working to bring environments to life, just like one of his projects, which transports players into a VR recreation of Ghana’s iconic Black Star Square.

Playful Obscura is Africa’s first arthouse games residency program, an initiative that provides a platform for a vibrant creative community of gamers and artists focused on growth, innovation, experimentation, and pushing the boundaries of electronic games. The program was launched on September 14, 2025, in Ho.

Playful Obscura is an initiative of the Goethe-Institut, part of the Games Connect AFRICA project, and is implemented in partnership with A MAZE (Germany) and Node Eight (Ghana).

Host partner and Node Eight Executive Director, Brian Dzansi, says hosting the residency program in the Volta Regional capital is a milestone for Node Eight in empowering artists to reimagine game-making for the continent and beyond.

“Hosting Playful Obscura in Ho is a milestone for Node Eight. We’re proud to give artists the space, tools, and community to experiment with gaming as an art form,” he said.

“Ho has always been a city of creativity and green beauty; now, it’s also a place where Africa’s next big cultural innovations will be born,” he added.

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