The Game Innovation Lab is a hybrid educational hub and innovative research unit that encompasses a curricular initiative by Alfaisal University meant for advancing the learning experience by focusing on game research, innovation, design and development. Alfaisal’s Game Innovation Lab aims to explore the possibilities of play and enable game creators to drive real-world change using games that help people to learn, improve their communities, and contribute to make the world a better place.

The lab was created to help students and researchers explore the creative and strategic possibilities of games through interdisciplinary study. Its goal is to introduce a new way of looking at games and to develop a local research field around them. To support this, Alfaisal’s Game Innovation Lab provides a fully equipped game studio with advanced technology and gaming workstations. The lab hosts activities such as game jams, competitions, research projects, and collaborations with partners and external organizations interested in using gaming technologies in their own fields.

Alfaisal’s Game Innovation Lab provides a space for designing innovative prototypes, explore various techniques for building effective games with physical graphics and animation in the educational, healthcare, entertainment, and even strategic sectors. It also contributes towards knowledge sharing on social and individual effects of digital games on daily activities using advanced technologies like Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) technologies and gaming robotics.

In May 2025, the lab held and executed the Alfaisal Gaming Innovation Conference, a 2 day event bringing speakers from both the local and international game development community, serving as a dynamic platform for industry leaders, innovators, and enthusiasts to converge, collaborate, and catalyze the Kingdom's gaming ecosystem. Inviting 40+ speakers and 250+ Game Innovators. Furthermore, the event hosted multiple workshops and teaching sessions on the topics of Esports, Content Creation, Blockchain & AI in Gaming, Immersive Experiences (VR & MR) as well as Game Development & Design. In collaboration with the Game Development Club, the event also included a game development tournament, where both students and studios participated. Each team created a game

In January 2025, The Game Innovation Lab also hosted the Global Game Jam, a 3-day event where over 120 participants formed teams to develop games from scratch, guided by the theme "Bubbles!". The teams showcased their game prototypes, with 33 presenting playable versions. The jam showed the amazing potential of games in education, fostered the local game development community in the Kingdom and emphasized the blend of creativity engineering and game design expertise.

The RoboGames & Esports Academy, held during the summer semester at Alfaisal University, introduces middle and high school students to the world of robotics and gaming. Organized in collaboration with Gen.G, the academy blends hands-on robotics training with engaging gaming experiences, offering participants a unique opportunity to develop technical skills, teamwork, and creativity in a dynamic learning environment.

In partnership with Gen.G, the Game Innovation Center at Alfaisal University hosted the Gen.G Esports Practicum, a unique program that combines academic learning with practical industry exposure. The initiative offers students the opportunity to explore esports culture and business fundamentals through lectures by Gen.G staff, professional mentorship, and field experiences, with an optional internship track in Korea providing further international exposure.

As part of the Software Engineering program, Alfaisal University offers a specialized Game Track in the fourth year, equipping students with both technical and creative expertise in game development. The track covers advanced areas such as game engine architecture, fundamentals of game design, game mechanics with prototyping and production, as well as innovative topics in immersive game development, providing a comprehensive pathway from core technical foundations to cutting-edge applications.

The Annual Mini-Games & ProGames Exhibit, held from December 8 to 10, 2024, highlighted the creativity and technical growth of students in the newly launched Game Development and Digital Media Track at Alfaisal University. With over 130 participants and 35 projects on display, the event brought together sophomore and senior students showcasing their work across categories such as Creative Execution, Esports, Narrative and Design, and Games for Good. Supported by industry partners including MSI, Immerstec VR, Qandeel Studio, Shafra Games, 6wrni.com, and Updown Studio. Organized under the leadership of the Game Innovation Center, the exhibit underscored the track’s strong foundations in programming, game engine development, and design, while emphasizing the growing role of partnerships in advancing game development education at Alfaisal.

The Game Innovation Center is also focused on research, during the 2025-2026 Academic Year, the annual research call hosted over 120 interested members, with 100+ members signing up to participate in research and projects. These ongoing projects focus on 4 main categories: Sports, Games, Virtual Reality and IoT.

In collaboration with Nesma Group, the GIC hosted a PUBGM World of Wonder (WoW) Booth, giving students a hands-on opportunity to explore map design. Using the WoW platform, participants could create and customize their own game modes, experimenting with terrain, obstacles, and interactive features, and then share them for others to play. The event also featured a small competition with a cash prize, adding excitement and friendly rivalry among participants. Overall, it encouraged creativity, innovation, and collaboration, allowing students to experience the cycle of game development and gain practical skills in designing engaging gaming environments.

In 2022, the lab introduced a new theme for driving interest in this applied domain focusing on pre-collegiate students at the “Apps & AR Games Developer” track this summer in AUEP program. For more details, please check: https://auep.alfaisal.edu/apps-ar-games-development. Furthermore, the game lab participated in the Gameathon, that took place at Alfaisal University and gathered around 10000+ serious games development enthusiasts during summer 2022. In addition, game innovation lab participated in AI summit introducing 30 innovative game poster ideas and launched the annual mini-games exhibition and students’ competition for the first time in Saudi universities and was open to 100+ visitors and reflected 94 sophomore students’ work on developing 17 mini-innovative games and posters during Fall 2022.

In February 2023, Game Innovation lab also hosted the Global Game Jam, a three-days event where over 170 participants formed 34 teams to develop games from scratch, guided by the theme "roots." The event, coordinated with the Game Developers Association (DGA), had teams showcased their game prototypes, with 16 presenting playable versions. The jam highlighted the potential of games in education, fostered the local game development community in the Kingdom and emphasized the blend of engineering creativity and game design expertise.

Moreover, Game Innovation Center arranged “Maze of Hope” event that was sponsored by Boeing from May 13th to 15th. This charity initiative, aimed at supporting children with cancer, showcased the talent and compassion of Alfaisal students introducing a VR maze game, developed in collaboration with by UpDown Studio, a startup founded by Alfaisal University students. The event received immense support from various university departments and student associations. The success of the Maze of Hope event underscores the potential of technology for social good, emphasizing collaboration, innovation, and the dedication of the students, leaving a lasting impact on children battling cancer and inspiring students to contribute positively to society.

The Game innovation Center has also launched a set of workshops in June including “AI in games” workshop by Dr. Areej Alwabil and Eng. Hoda Elsayed, “Series Games” workshop by Dr. Hanan Makki, “Building Mobile Game Studios” by Fahy Studio and “XR in Healthcare” workshop as part of Women in Data Science (WIDs) event as well as “2D and 3D Platformer” by Game Development Club at Alfaisal university as part of AUEP program in Summer 2023.

Furthermore, the Game Innovation Center and Dimensions, hosted a pioneering 40 hrs XR (Extended Reality) Bootcamp over two weeks in July and August in collaboration with Saudi E-sports Federation (SEF). This event, aimed at promoting innovation in extended reality, attracted a diverse group of participants, including students, professionals from various fields, and gameathon winners.

Guided by CoE faculty, attendees delved into XR technology, hardware design, software development, and 3D modeling. Using tools like Unity, Unreal Engine, and Blender, participants created three notable projects, with plans for further development and intellectual property acquisition. The bootcamp emphasized interdisciplinary collaboration and showcased the Game Innovation Center's commitment to fostering XR advancements. The center's initiatives promise a bright future for XR enthusiasts and professionals.

Students’ competitions took place this year for courses’ projects to encourage students develop web projects for game center and winners were declared by the end of the event. In August, Game Innovation Center hosted a competition for LEGO EV3 playful robotics for AUEP’s high school students as part of the AI Academy program.

The lab’s past list of projects and publications includes these serious games under society services umbrella:

• Capstone: LexiaQuest: VR Game for Dyslexia Screening
• [publication on Springer presented in HCI2023 Conference held in Denmark]
• Capstone: BugsExplorer: A 2d/3d and VR Educational Game for Coding Bugs Detection
• Capstone: DebuGame: Interactive Virtual Reality Game for Novice Coders
• Capstone: AlfaVR: Alfaisal Virtual Reality Engineering Expo Platform (Boeing Award winner)
• Capstone: Ishara Tawasu: Virtual Sign Language Chatbot for Arabic language
  • [publication on Springer presented in HCI2025 Conference held in Sweden and Patent Application Registered]
• Capstone: Diabetes Guardians: An Educational Game for Diabetic Children
• Capstone: MasterM1nd: A Cybersecurity Educational Game
  • [publication on Springer presented in HCI2024 Conference, held in Washington DC]
• Capstone: MasterM1nd: A Cybersecurity Educational Game
• Capstone: Drone Traffic Incident Response System
  • Patent Application submitted
• Capstone: Hexabot: An Interactive Robot for On-Campus Navigation
• Minigames Exhibit: “Golden Quest: Interactive Educational Game for Physical Science” (Boeing Award winner)
• Pro Exhibit: “Juha: An Arabian Quest for Cultural Reflection” (Boeing Award winner)
• XR Bootcamp: VR Smoking awareness and cessation Application
• XR Bootcamp: SpeakEasy: VR Simulation for public speaking training and phobia control

Check our game lab’s gallery from past events during 2022 and 2023 here and the completed projects demos here. The lab also supports 2 students’ studios at Alfaisal. If interested in joining us, knowing more about our current game projects, and taking part of upcoming projects or events as volunteers or sponsors or to join a summer internship in the game innovation lab, please contact us at gamelab@alfaisal.edu

Game Innovation Lab Team

• Lab Director: Eng. Hoda Elsayed
• Lab Assistants: Mohamad Alderi, Abdullah Ajam, Yasmin Alfares, Sara Alhams, Najwa Dalati
• Lab Affiliates:
  • Dr. Muhammad Umair Khan, Prof. Nidal Nasser, Dr. Mohamed A. Bahloul, Dr. Areej Al-Wabil, Dr. Anis Koubaa, Dr. Abd-Elhamid Taha
  • Merak Exel, GenG, Tencent
• Student Affiliates:
  • GDC leading team (Ahmad Younis, Mohamad Alderi, Mohammad Alghamdi, Joodi Tarabulsi, Aljohara Almudaiheem)
  • IEEE Student Branch (Abdulrahim Kachoum, Anas Kharrat, Maha Shaheen, Sara Abbara)

Collaborators: