Reine Abbas is a Lebanese video game designer and artist who is one of the first female game designers in the Middle East. Abbas co-founded Wixel Studios in 2008, one of the first independent game studios in Lebanon.

Biography

In 2000, Abbas earned her Master's degree in Visual Arts from the University of Balamand.[1][2] From 2002 through 2008, Abbas attended the DigiPen Institute of Technology, located in Redmond, Washington.[3] She later established the art department at DigiPen in Lebanon,[1] serving as the department head over a period of 6 years.[3]

In 2008, Abbas co-founded Wixel Studios, the first independent game studio in Lebanon.[4][5] The name "Wixel" was chosen as it stands for "weird pixel" in recognition of being the only game studio in the region at the time.[1] The studio's first released game was Douma, where the player controlled government leaders as puppets, and was considered a "political football" at the time.[6] Abbas took inspiration after witnessing political violence in Lebanon.[7]

Abbas is a co-founder of SPICAtech, a school that teaches young people skills needed to design and produce video games.[4] Originating out of a request from her 4 year old son to learn how to create a video game, Abbas was motivated by the popularity of digital games within the MENA region.[2] One of the academy's goals is to encourage designers to create original video games rather than Arabizing existing games.[3] Abbas also teaches a course on Game Design and Development at Lebanese University[8]

Abbas regularly gives talks at workshops and conferences, and advocates for women to join the video game industry.[9]

Awards and honors

  • In 2010, Abbas won the "Innovation in ICT" Award, presented by the Women in Information Technology[2]
  • In 2013, Abbas was recognized as one of the "5 most powerful women in gaming" by Inc. magazine[10]
  • In 2019, Abbas was a finalist for the Cartier Women's Initiative which recognizes women entrepreneurs[11]

Abbas was selected as one of the World's 100 Most Powerful Arab Women two years in a row by Arabian Business.[12]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c Marie, Meagen (4 December 2018). Women in Gaming: 100 Professionals of Play. DK Publishing. p. 160. ISBN 9780744019933. Retrieved 28 January 2025.
  2. ^ a b c Salman, Ranim (16 September 2019). "This Lebanese Woman Is One of the World's Most Powerful Women In The Region". The961.com. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  3. ^ a b c Wolf, Mark J.P., ed. (24 May 2021). Encyclopedia of Video Games: The Culture, Technology, and Art of Gaming. ABC-CLIO. p. 1. ISBN 9781440870200. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
  4. ^ a b Elias, Monica (19 December 2018). "Founder's Journey: Reine Abbas". ArabNet.me. Retrieved 29 January 2025.
  5. ^ Girltalkhq (28 March 2016). "These Five Women Are Destroying Gender Stereotypes In The Gaming World". GirlTalkHQ.com.me. Retrieved 31 January 2025.
  6. ^ Takahashi, Dean (29 April 2015). "Lebanon's Wixel Studios expands from Middle East drama to games that fight kids' cancer". VentureBeat. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  7. ^ ""We can change children from consumers to producers and young entrepreneurs"". TheirWorld.org. 8 March 2017. Retrieved 31 January 2025.
  8. ^ "Bolstering Lebanon's game development: Translating passion into a career". Executive. 27 April 2017. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  9. ^ "Gamer, mother, advocate: Meet the woman taking the tech industry by storm". Al Arabiya. 7 March 2015. Retrieved 31 January 2025.
  10. ^ Dalakian, Glen (21 May 2013). "Lebanese entrepreneur named one of the five most powerful women in gaming". wamda.com. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
  11. ^ Michael, Maya (7 March 2019). "Here are the 21 finalists of the Cartier Women's Initiative 2019". PrestigeOnline.com. Retrieved 31 January 2025.
  12. ^ Bradley, Dave (21 October 2022). ""I'm not only an entrepreneur, I'm an activist." Reine Abbas talks games and education in Lebanon". Pocket Gamer. Retrieved 27 January 2025.
Allikas: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reine_Abbas
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