Turan University Launches Turan GameDEV — a Club for Commercial Game Development

Turan University has launched an innovative educational initiative — Turan GameDEV, a club designed for students and young researchers passionate about game development and digital creativity.

The project aims to help participants transform their creative ideas into commercially viable gaming products.

The initiative was founded by Dmitriy Maintser, Assistant Lecturer at the Higher School of Computer Engineering, MSc in Technical Sciences, and Yerbolat Orazbekuly, PhD, Associate Professor and Director of the Center for Commercialization.

Purpose of the Club

To form a community of young developers — programmers, artists, game designers, and sound engineers — working together to create interactive digital products.
Participants gain hands-on experience with modern game technologies, mastering the fundamentals of game design, animation, programming, visual effects, and business aspects of the gaming industry.

Learning Format

The program is based on the real experience of developing the international indie game Voices of the Void, created by a Turan University student.
The game is downloaded over 10,000 times daily, and reviews about it have accumulated more than 15 million views on YouTube.

Training is conducted in a hybrid format:

Offline — at the Higher School of Computer Engineering, Room 718 (Almaty, Satpaev St. 16A);

Online — via Discord, Zoom, and WhatsApp, ensuring continuous team collaboration, communication, and project coordination in real time.

A total of 24 Turan University students are taking part, mastering the full cycle of game development — from idea and prototyping to release. Classes are held on modern computers optimized for game production.

Program Overview

The program is based on the academic course “GameDev” (authored by D. Maintser) and includes:

• fundamentals of game design and architecture;
• 2D and 3D graphics development;
• creation of user interfaces and visual effects;
• study of shaders, physics, and state machines;
• preparation and publishing of projects on various platforms.

Upon completion, participants develop their own playable game prototypes with potential for further commercialization.

Support and Opportunities

Top-performing projects will receive:

• access to startup development and venture investment courses;
• assistance in publishing games on international platforms such as Steam, itch.io, and Blizzard Arcade;
• support from the Center for Commercialization for bringing gaming ideas to the market.

“We are building not just a course, but an ecosystem where students learn to create, present, and commercialize their own gaming products.
Turan GameDEV is a launchpad for the next generation of indie developers and game designers in Kazakhstan,”
said Yerbolat Orazbekuly, PhD, Associate Professor and Director of the Center for Commercialization.

Turan GameDEV — a Step Toward Building Kazakhstan’s Innovative Game Ecosystem

The club unites education, creativity, and entrepreneurship, enabling students to transform their projects into successful international ventures.