Omar Souissi

Role: Founder, Ribat Studios

Location: Rabat, Morocco

Background

Omar Souissi founded Ribat Studios at the start of 2026, taking its name from the word Rabat itself derives from, a fortified outpost on a frontier. He is an environment artist by trade, having spent years building environments and worlds for other studios before deciding to build one that reflects his own influences.

His work on Kasbah draws on a long-standing fascination with Moroccan, North African, and Andalusian architectural traditions, styles he felt were consistently reduced to generic "Arabian" set dressing in games rather than treated as their own distinct visual language.

Speaking with IsaKaba in an interview, cites games like The Witcher, Lord of the Rings, and Warhammer as long-standing creative influences, specifically their use of richly built fantasy settings, and describes Kasbah as his answer to wanting to design one of those settings himself.

Current Focus

Souissi is leading development on Kasbah, a first-person mystery set in a fictional ksar, a fortified desert city, where the environment itself is the subject of investigation rather than any single character. The game draws specifically from Maghrebi references including Aït Benhaddou, Taourirt, and Chellah rather than a generalized regional aesthetic. Ribat Studios operates as a seven-person, fully remote team based mostly between Rabat and Marrakech.

The studio is self-funded to date, with Souissi citing Morocco's lower cost base as a deliberate advantage that extends development runway. Ribat attended Gamescom 2026 through AMDIE's Morocco Now pavilion, where the studio held its first publisher meetings.

Industry Position

Souissi is among a small but emerging group of Moroccan founders building original IP rooted specifically in Maghrebi identity rather than positioning North Africa as a generic backdrop. Kasbah's development is being closely tied to institutional momentum in Morocco's games sector, including AMDIE's growing support for studios attending international events.

What He Is Open To

Publisher conversations once Kasbah's vertical slice is complete, targeted for 2027. Broader visibility for Moroccan game development as a distinct creative identity within MENA gaming.