Video games have become a popular platform for storytelling and artistic expression. The industry has been increasingly dominated by large-scale, high-budget blockbuster titles released by major publishers, but independent studios have been working tirelessly to push the medium in exciting new directions. In particular, the past few years have seen a proliferation of cultural narrative games – games that tell compelling stories set within richly developed fictional worlds. The best cultural narrative games are often developed by small teams with limited budgets, and their output is nevertheless impressive.

One of the game developers, Shruti Ghosh, sold her flat to assist with financing for the development of Raji: An Ancient Epic. Many thought this a reckless decision. In any case, Shruti was investing in her future. What’s more, it paid off!

From the time Raji was launched in August 2020, the game has partaken in various “firsts”: being essential for the Nintendo Indie World exhibit, being the first indie studio from India to get an Unreal development award, being selected for the Best Debut Indie Game at the Games Awards (the Oscars for video games), and, all the more recently, a BAFTA Breakthrough Honoree acknowledgment for Shruti.

The lockdowns in 2020 and 2021 asked us to think about gaming as another outlet of self-amusement and socializing…or on the other hand even a possible source of income. And keeping in mind that we might just be occupied with Fortnite or Dota 2, developing interest for India-made games is, at last, being taken care of by creative designers, who have struck while the industry iron is hot.

Pune-based Nodding Heads Games, the studio behind Raji: An Ancient Epic (2020), met one of the most exceptional milestone video games in Indian history. Alongside Shruti, co-founder Avichal Singh and Ian Maude, carried a gamified aspect to a world motivated by Indian mythology and medieval design. Since its trailer reveal, the action-adventure hack-and-slash has won the hearts of both gamers and game designers, all excited to see a PC and console insight from a studio that embraces its cultural essence.

Sporting a more ruthless art style and gameplay than Raji is Hyderabad-based Ogre Head Studios’ forthcoming Yodha which is still being developed. Originator Zain Fahadh takes note of the changing environment of PC game development in India. It has been an impetus for Yodha’s advancement while carrying a global spotlight to Yodha, following the progress of their 2017 game Asura Vengeance Edition.

Additionally, back in 2009, 9th grader Nikhil Malankar was playing Grand Theft Auto Vice City as a mafia gangster getting different things done for different crime masters. Interested by the open-world idea as he investigated a pixelated Miami, Nikhil began modding (utilizing code to adjust a game to make another experience) to make a microcosmic Mumbai. AAA (big-budget blockbuster) games like Hitman 2 showcase a cut of Mumbai, yet Nikhil needed to make something altogether dedicated to the assortment of the city.

Years later in 2013, this experience would stamp Nikhil making GameEon Studios, Mumbai, and the possible production of role-playing game (RPG) Mumbai Gullies which desires to take the player through the duality of Mumbai and Bombay. Development hit a few obstacles; given mobile games were ‘of the zeitgeist’ at that point, the venture for Indian-made PC games was dry, however, gamers were unyielding about needing to make up for this shortfall in PC gaming.

The money game

Subsidizing is surely a feasible hindrance in game development, particularly for indie studios like Nodding Heads and GameEon; and a lot of this is because of consistent outlooks of investors who have long seen Indian games as low quality. However, we are seeing a slow development in this outlook. Avichal says: “Being Indian indie designers, we needed to go above and beyond to secure a publishing deal which is not the case for our counterpart Western indie teams.”

Maybe for this reason GameEon Studios went to crowd-funding; a move which demonstrated fruitful as they at last raised ₹1.77 lakhs which at last started development in November 2020. At Indian Gamer Developer Conference – where Nikhil is additionally a coordinator – a demo of Mumbai Gullies was unveiled. Toward the finish of 2022, a preamble version of the game will be released while Mumbai Gullies Final Chapter is set for a 2025 launch.

Avichal additionally calls attention to: “One more misinterpretation is that games motivated from India will hurt feelings of a specific segment of individuals; this is something that Indian devs would know how to deal with as we did in Raji.”

For quite a long time, Indian tech studios like Dhruva Interactive (which later got procured by Rockstar Games) have been reevaluated by AAA (big-budget, blockbuster) studios like Ubisoft, Rockstar Games, or Capcom to make motion-capture animations and different renderings for large title games. Nikhil recommends that “right now is an ideal opportunity” that local studios work with these organizations to make a more extravagant and more cooperative environment system for game development.

Into the culture

Recently, gamers were allowed one more opportunity to investigate the remains of the Hoysala empire of South India through a cutting-edge remaster of Naughty Dog’s Uncharted: The Lost Legacy. The game follows criminal Chloe Frazer and previously hired soldier Nadine Ross on a journey to track down the Tusk of Ganesh. The chase takes them through a rainy and crowded Chennai, verdant wildernesses of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka, and across underground demolitions filled with complex stonework, grasping legends, hazardous traps, and drawing in puzzles.

Gamers were excited that perhaps the greatest establishment – presently being transformed into a film featuring Tom Holland – put a cultural focus on India. Also, the current year’s remaster of the game pushed a restored interest in India-based games.

Maybe a precursor to culturally-niche video games is an under-discussed 2017 making of Wandermind Labs and UnderDOGS Gaming Studio: Mukti. A first-individual story exploration game set in a gallery in the Sunderbans, West Bengal. You play as Arya Roy who should demonstrate her granddad’s innocence after his museum has been vandalized.

Likewise, Toronto-based designer Visai Studios’ 2020 independent video game Venba, a 2D storified narrative game on the different cooking styles of South Indian food – from idlis to a basic aloo fry – sees the gamer play as an Indian mother, who relocates to Canada with her family during the 1980s. The game got a ton of affection from gamers and fellow engineers alike for its unexpected comfort factor.

“Worldwide games like Uncharted: The Lost Legacy and Hi-Rez Studios’ Smite are incredible instances of using Indian legend and mythology. They focus light on our way of life and legacy; this, thus, really shows how huge and rich Indian legacy is,” asserts Avichal.

Avichal then, at that point, recalls how he learned young grown-ups let him know that Raji was the principal game their folks took part in. He adds, “Such countless parents from India and NRIs, thus many individuals from around the world played Raji and informed us on how satisfying the experience has been for them. Individuals were inquisitive to be aware of the gods and goddesses, and learned about their origin story.”

Gaming is, and ought to be, for everybody. That has not generally been reflected in the characters we get to play as, be they made by designers or for ourselves. In any case, presently, game designers are engaged to carry India to worldwide screens and offer our accounts in intuitive ways.

Credit: The Hindu