By Alexander Villafania
INQUIRER.net

AT the recently concluded Games Convention Asia 2008 in Singapore, the Game Development Association of the Philippines (GDAP) had another crack at promoting the Philippines as place to get services for game development and great talent.

GDAP President Gabby Dizon and International Game Development Association (IGDA) Philippine Chapter Manager Ranulf Goss sat with INQUIRER.net to talk about the organization’s expectations for the GCA.

Dizon, who is also president of his own company Flipside Games, said that their attendance to GCA 2008 was the second since the first GCA event in 2007.

While the previous year was to let other countries know that there is a growing game development industry in the Philippines, Dizon said they aimed to strengthen the partnership that they built last year in this year’s in GCA 2008.

By building the relationship they have with other developments firms across Southeast Asia, they’ll be able to bring in more foreign companies to work with Asian firms for various projects, he added.

Dizon said that the GDAP is working hard to ensure game development firms in the Philippines are prepared to accept projects from foreign firms.

So far, GDAP has 10 member companies. Dizon, however, pointed out that there are at least 20 other development firms in the Philippines.

If there is one big challenge that development firms in the Philippines have, Dizon said it is the steady supply of skilled programmers and artists.

Meanwhile, IGDA Philippines’ Ranulf Goss said that the Philippines also needs to train talents to work for the gaming industry. He said that there is a healthy community of gamers who may want to join as game developers.

Goss said that Filipinos are known for its talent and artistry in Asia. This has become known because of the local animation industry, where Filipino companies currently provide services to foreign animation firms.

Both Dizon and Goss said that the industry needs more support to achieve its goals as a game development hub. They also believed that younger generation of people must also develop their skills if they want to join the game development industry.