Video game project co-founded by Indian student donates proceeds to UK charities

Project Pixel focuses on developing 2D games for mobile devices.

Aamir Ali / LinkedIn/Aamir Mohamed Thahir Ali

A newly-launched video game project, co-founded by an Indian student studying at a university in northern England, is donating 100 percent of its revenues to UK charities. This initiative is part of their mission to develop gaming for the betterment of society.

Indian-origin Aamir Ali, a computer science student at the University of Sheffield, is one of the co-founders of Project Pixel. This project focuses on developing 2D games for mobile devices, with plans to release them on both Apple's App Store and Google Play.

What began as an idea between two friends less than a year ago has evolved into what is believed to be the largest team of students creating video games at any UK university, according to a release from the University of Sheffield.

“As the project started to develop, we quickly found that lots of students from all over the University of Sheffield, who are studying on all kinds of degree programmes, are passionate about gaming and want to work in the industry, but they are not sure how or where to start," said Ali.

"Project Pixel has given us all the opportunity to learn about game development together and take our first steps in the industry, whilst also doing something good for society,” he continued. “We would love to inspire students at other universities and turn this into a global movement. Everyone at Project Pixel has shown that it doesn't matter what degree you're studying or whether you know anything about game development - you have a chance if you have the passion and willingness to learn.”

Over 25 students from various degree programs spanning arts, humanities, engineering, science, and social sciences have joined the initiative.

The University of Sheffield stated that all students involved in the project have no prior experience in video game production. However, they are leveraging their passion for gaming, their aspirations to work in the industry, and the skills acquired from their respective degree programs to learn game development as they progress.

"The team has already produced two games - 'Color Dash' and 'Flight Frenzy' - both endless runner-style games in which the player has to avoid obstacles while constantly moving and survive for as long as possible," the university said.