Teddy Kossoko is the 23-year-old black Frenchman behind the genius that is Masseka Game Studio.

According to its website, Masseka Game Studio exclusively develops games dedicated to African culture. The company allows players to immerse themselves in a transformative, alternative universe.

Avec «Kissoro Tribal Game», Teddy Kossoko veut promouvoir l'histoire et les cultures de l'Afrique #jeuxvideo
#Toulouse
https://t.co/IYJiQrFfRW via @20minutes
pic.twitter.com/rmdEBekzbl

— 20 Minutes Toulouse (@20minutestoul) February 19, 2018

In a 2017 interview with MIAGE Connection, a French publication, Kossoko said he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in computer science applied to business management. A Central Africa native and Toulose-based painter, Kossoko wanted to realize a personal project to validate his knowledge. From there, he joined the world of video games.

Today, his first project, Kissoro Tribal, is the digital equivalent of "Mancala." When describing how he came up with the idea for the game, he admitted he was not a gamer.

"I am not a gamer and arrive in the world of games and wanting to find an innovative idea was too ambitious. However, I remembered a quote that says that if you do not know where you are going, you need to know where you are coming from," Kossoko said. "So I started looking for ideas based on my culture and popular games at home. After purging several ideas, I ended up keeping the Kissoro board game."

"The principle of the game is simple: it is necessary to recover the pieces of the opponent to prevent it from moving," he continued. "This game that combines strategy and reflection is actually a millennial game that has the distinction of being present in different variants in all African countries and is found even in the Middle East, Asia and the Caribbean. Not to develop an annoying board game, I decided to create a whole world around the game, with a campaign mode, a multi-player conquest mode, a challenge mode and many other modes to support the game. [Giving the] user a unique experience."

While Kossoko is currently finishing his studies, his gaming network is still available for those who want to play.

Teddy Kossoko

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