Desert Tycoon is an iPhone game created by two guys one of whom is Kuwaiti Abdullah Al Zabin. The game is similar to SimCity but in this case you are based in the Gulf and you start off as a humble Bedouin. Step by step you build your business empire of real estate, business, energy, and tourism assets with the aim of basically turning your city into an Arabian metropolis like how Dubai is today.
The cartoon graphics are great and the music fits the game perfectly. More importantly the game is free and available to download from the iTunes store right now. [English Version] [Arabic Version]
Update: I got an email from Abdullah with some details regarding who they are. This is what he had to say:
A brief background about us. Myself and my business partner Ali Diab started Lumba in January of this year with a simple premise: build the next generation Arab mobile entertainment company. We are based in San Francisco, actually in the same shared office where many of the [now] large mobile game developers (Pocket Gems, SuperCell, Kabam, etc.) started over the past 3 years.
Our team consists of:
– Product Managers that worked for AdMob, Yahoo, Microsoft, and Bain
– Artists and Illustrators that worked with Pixar, Dreamworks, Fox, and Disney
– Software Engineers that worked for Google
– Music composer and producer who scored music for console game titles on PC, Xbox 360, and PS3. He also produced music for Kelly Rowland, Rick Ross, Black Eyed Peas, and Nicole ScherzingerWe are taking it upon ourselves to tastefully fuse Silicon Valley tech with our Arab cultural roots for all our mobile games. We hope our first, Desert Tycoon, is representative of that.
15 replies on “Desert Tycoon”
*downloads*
There was another game made by a Kuwaiti as well . It was called doodle destroy. Good to see game development by Arabs.
No Android and WP8 love?
Do we have option of firework when it is one year anniversary of my tycoon ?
Truly intrigued- how come you have still not posted about the Prestige district or the Souk at the Avenues?! I smell a rat!
Because everyone else had already posted about it
Isn’t the personification of a rat that they snitch on someone. So in other words aren’t you more interested in hearing from rats snitching on what you are interested on to get an inside scoop. Or if they weren’t rats then it would be just reporting it as others do. Just seems like a strange word to choose.
Very cool game, its honestly addicting, been playing it for a little while and I like it! And I was surprised when I found out that it was developed by a Kuwaiti since the game is very smooth and has a fun story line!
isn’t AlZabin Saudi? 😐
No, there is a Kuwaiti Al Zabin family
Does it show what is going to happen when the oil runs out?
love it when people put some effort in creating something.
thanks for supporting Mark
No news if this ia gonna be on android soon, would oove to see it
awesome…this should be a PC game or ipad…
The game is amazing! Super addicting! Love the characters!