Win a Phone for Playing Games, the new Zambian Splashy Hippo game that is

The gaming scene is almost always occupied by gaming apps from out of Zambia but not this time. Created by Kwete Technologies, a Zambian registered company in partnership with Amasampo, we now have our very own gaming app called Splashy Hippo, and yep, this is heavy great stuff.

Splashy Hippo is all about getting Hippo back home, through purple pipes that are obstacles to his journey. You have to use your finger across your screen to guide him between pipes without dropping him. Any slight move downwards and into a pole ends your game, and the pink hippo falls into a herd of antelopes. How  much more Zambian can it get?! The coolest thing about playing the game is that after comparing the scores, the developers will award the top scorer a smartphone and other prizes in a few months time! Worth the download right? Get it here for Android.

So I talked to Sid Parmar, who co-developed  Splashy Hippo with Patrick Kwete, and here’s what he told me about it:

Why did you create Splashy Hippo? 

To address the need of a Zambian based game and to show the world and Zambians that Ama Sampo is a tech company looking to better the lives of people through technology whether for leisure or business.

Was it in any way inspired by the globally popular Flappy Bird, which has similar features?

Yes, we consider it the African version of Flappy Bird, with an African feel. You can see that from the ‘earthy’ colours used and the animal characters.

How does one claim their reward upon completion of the game? 

There’s a score board that updates worldwide and per country. We will give away phones and other prizes to the top scorer in Zambia at the end of September, 2014.

What challenges did you face and how did you sort them out? 

We where (and are still) facing graphic problems but we are working on improvements that enhance the whole user experience so the next update will be far much better, since this is just the first version of many. We want to show Zambians that we are dedicated to improving ourselves every single day.

So apart from just trying to be a winner, how about Zambians start developing more apps. They don’t all have to be gaming ones, they can cater to other needs. For example Action for Transparency launched a corruption tracking app for Zambia earlier this year (even though it wasn’t developed here, the idea was born here). Then there’s the Zhappening and Zaplaces apps that show you the latest events and where to locate places respectively.

We look forward to seeing what more Zambian developers have to offer us.

Image Credit: Splashy Hippo