Kristal Piksel (The Crystal Pixel) Video Game Awards ceremony, organized by the Turkish Game Developers Association (TOGED) and METU TEKNOKENT ATOM, will take place at the Istanbul Congress Center on December 8th within the scope of the Turkey Innovation Week.
Fifty three games from mobile, console and VR platforms have competed and these twenty four of them are finalists.
Sponsored by Gaming Istanbul (GIST) this year, Kristal Piksel is helping Turkish developers get better recognition in the industry and society. TOGED Chairman Ali Erkin stated that they aim to contribute both to the development of the industry and to raise awareness for game development with Kristal Piksel. “In our sector, which is in need of trained workforce, it is very important for the developers to trust and be part of the industry. Kristal Piksel is an important source of motivation in this sense. The recognition of achievements in the presence of people and the shift of the negative prejudice for the gaming pave the way for the game studios and developers to do new titles and successful business. “
People from the academy and media are in the jury
The chairman of the jury which consists of the distinguished names of the gaming industry and the academy is METU TEKNOKENT ATOM Manager Assist. Assoc. Dr. Emek Kepenek. Middle East Technical University Informatics Institute Instructor Asst. Assoc. Dr. Elif Sürer, Bahçeşehir University Digital Game Design Department Asst. Assoc. Dr. Güven Çatak, Hacettepe Uni. Computer and Teaching Tech. President Assoc. Professor Dr. Hakan Tüzün, Hacettepe Uni. Applied Mathematics and Informatics Chairman Professor Dr. Haşmet Gürçay, Turkcell – Paycell Gaming Product Manager Abdullah Gökçe, Digitoy Games Founding Partner Can Erçelebi, IMECE Studios Experience Improvement Specialist Gurcan Serbest, Founder of Infosfer Hakan Yüksel, Peak Games Mobile Game Development Team Leader İlk Balkanay, Founder of Merlin’in Kazanı Murat Oktay , Mayadem Digital Education and Entertainment Corporate Communication Director Sinan Akkol and Pantheon Co-Founder Ufuk Şahin are also on board.
Organized by GIST and Shift Communications Consulting, Kristal Piksel’s awards were sponsored by GIST, ASUS and Sony Playstation. Its communications was sponsored by Setipr, and the press sponsorship was handled by Merlin’in Kazanı and Oyungezer.
In addition to the awards given by the award sponsors, the Game of The Year will be directly participating in the Indie Prize contest held under the Casual Connect Europe by skipping the preliminaries. The developers of the game will also receive two “all-access pass” tickets and free accommodation during Indie Prize Contest under the GIST sponsorship.
