Landmark is level 2 of 4 in the South Sudan Hall of Fame: a first that opened a door, or the pre-eminent figure of their generation in this country. See how the levels work.
Why they are here
Born in a refugee camp, twenty-two years in another one. His mother saved three years to buy him a computer. He taught himself to build games, and made one where buying food for your character buys food for a real refugee.
Lual Mayen was born at the Aswa refugee camp and grew up in a camp in northern Uganda after his family fled the war, spending twenty-two years there.
Self-taught, he founded Junub Games, which employs around twenty engineers, designers and developers across Uganda and South Sudan. Its game Salaam — the Arabic word for peace — puts the player in the position of a refugee under fire who must find food, water and medicine to survive; Mayen's design partners with non-profits so that in-game purchases of those items buy the real thing for people in refugee camps.
Self-taught, he founded Junub Games, which employs around twenty engineers, designers and developers across Uganda and South Sudan. Its game Salaam — the Arabic word for peace — puts the player in the position of a refugee under fire who must find food, water and medicine to survive; Mayen's design partners with non-profits so that in-game purchases of those items buy the real thing for people in refugee camps.
- Wikipedia — Lual Mayen
- CNN — South Sudan refugee creates video game to help refugees
- NPR — A kid in a refugee camp thought video games fell from heaven. Now he makes them
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