Under Occupation: Agdam computer game presented in Baku
By Nigar Orujova
The second part of the first Azerbaijani 3D shooter computer game, Under Occupation: Agdam, was presented in Baku on October 7.
Under Occupation: Shusha game about Azerbaijan's Nagorno-Karabakh territories under Armenian occupation was first presented to the Azerbaijani public in June 2012. The game was created by the youth initiative group AzDimension.
While the first game's missions took place in the ancient Shusha city, the second game, which will be available in the next two weeks, will represent Agdam city, precisely depicted by AzDimension from old photos and maps. Thus, the group created a 3-dimension map of the city.
Agdam is abandoned and was ruined by Armenian troops during the 1990s war, with only one construction that is left, which is an old Agdam mosque. It was once a city with 50,000 residents with developed infrastructure, including winemaking, machine building plants and a railway station.
Nine missions, including a tank battle, will take place in the ghost city streets, a military base, and a bazaar. The main goal of the game is to liberate the city from the occupation.
The game has two time lines - the early 1990s, when the city was occupied (June 1993), and a virtual future whereby Azerbaijani soldiers fight to liberate the city.
The second game by AzDimension is outstanding in terms of improved graphics and new special effects.
The game also includes modern Azerbaijani weapons, such as "Istiglal", "Zafar", "T-90" and "Marauder".
The game is being created in the frame of the implementation of the state youth program for 2011-2015 and the ICT Year in Azerbaijan.
Under occupation: Agdam is expected to provide an opportunity to explore the history of the country and positively affect the military-patriotic education of Azerbaijani youth.
The AzDimension group includes eight young Azerbaijani programmers, 3D designers and visual effect artists, who created this national "Call of Duty". The music for the game was specially written by composer Agshin Alizade.
According to the head of the development group, Farid Haqverdiyev, their previous game was welcomed by the local youth.
In the next stage, it was decided to make the game more professional and interesting. "The biggest difficulty was to create the game in a one-year period," he said.
Farid, who has played computer games since his childhood, while being a student decided to create a game about Azerbaijani realities.
Now Farid is keen to continue creating shooter games.
Speaking at the presentation, Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Intigam Babayev said Agdam, which was ruined by Armenian invaders, is on the list of the 20 ghost cities of the world. Babayev expressed belief that along with the other occupied Azerbaijani regions Agdam will soon be liberated and removed from the list.
According to Babayev, designing games on historical themes will be continued, and another computer game is expected to be presented by the year-end.
Deputy ICT Minister Elmir Velizade praised this youth initiative and urged to implement such projects in the future. The ICT minister is supporting this process, he said.
This free-of-charge game will be soon available at www.isgalaltında.com and www.facebook.com/AzDimension.
Armenia occupied over 20 percent of Azerbaijan's internationally recognized territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions, after laying territorial claims against its South Caucasus neighbor that had caused a lengthy war in the early 1990s. The UN Security Council has adopted four resolutions on Armenian withdrawal, but they have not been enforced to this day.