UAE University students develop mobile game using Emirati dialect

UAE University students develop
mobile game using Emirati dialect

Four students of the UAE University (UAEU) have developed the first mobile application, a 2D game, using Emirati dialect language to teach the cooking of local cuisine in an entertaining way.

Called ‘Tabekh Time’ (meaning Cooking Time), will be released among the fellow students to collect feedback and enhance the quality and levels of the game, said the developing team.

The team included Amna Al Daheri, Mouza Al Neyadi, Kalthoom Al Awar and Nujood Al Sayari who are all senior IT students at the College of Information Technology at the UAEU.

“This is just the start. We would love to be involved in bigger projects in the future using gaming; for example, focusing on tourism and local events,” said Nujood.

The students worked in collaboration for almost a year to come up with this innovative idea whilst feeding their passion for programming, games and food. They wanted to preserve part of Emirati culture for the new generation and also share their national dishes with the rest of the world.

Another team member Kalthoom said the use of mobile applications had continuously been growing around the world.

“We aim to take this opportunity to reach out to the rest of the world and introduce various aspects of our Emirati culture using various languages,” she said.

The students presented their app at the 8th MAC (Mobile Application Contest) held at Khalifa University in Abu Dhabi where they won third prize and received Dh10,000 in prize money. The competition hosted teams participating from all over the Arab world including Qatar, Oman, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Palestine and UAE.

“The competition provided us with a chance to start marketing our first game. We were one of the best prepared teams thanks to the opportunities we were given in UAEU whether it was for public speaking or experience in developing applications,” said Amna.

Dr Jose Berengueres and Sujith Mathew, lecturers from the College of IT, assisted and advised the students on their new invention.

Dr Jose said, “statistics show again and again that content gamification is a very effective way to convey a message and to enhance learning and interaction.”

Tabekh Time is the second gamification project from the CIT that received an award so far this year.