22 June,2024 07:19 AM IST | Mumbai | Junisha Dama
With dramatic leaps, twirls, and gravity-defying stunts, in Aikyam you can dazzle your opponents in high-octane battles inspired by Indian films
Would you explore the ruins of a palace during the summer holidays? All while taking care of other tasks: farming vegetables, making clay pots, collecting herbs and firewood, and of course, painting landscapes - your one true passion. Sounds like a busy life in rural India, no? That's the narrative in The Palace on the Hill, a slice-of-life game set in a fictional village of the 1990s. Published by Niku Games, an indie gaming studio headquartered in Mohali, the adventure, role-playing game is a peek into Indian culture, art, history, and stories. "Visit any village in India and you will spot some ruins, and villagers are ready to tell you stories around them. We wanted to create a life, give it challenges, and attach Indian art to it," says Mala Sen, co-founder, who has worked on the game's art. She says the idea came to her after she stumbled on ruins during a trip to the historic state of Rajasthan.
When did you last play a video game representing South Asian culture, let alone the Indian countryside? Masala Games, a studio based in Ahmedabad, mirrors this new focus as it readies to release Detective Dotson, a story-driven adventure game set in modern-day India. The idea came from observing almost-comical crimes that occur in this country.
In the West, US-based studio Outerloop Games released Thirsty Suitors in November 2023, showcasing South Asian characters and culture. They are now working on Project Dosa, where South Asian characters fight lawyers, and cook the Tamil breakfast staple. In Canada, Toronto-based studio Thousand Stars Studio is gearing up to launch Aikyam, where you fight turn-based battles in a Bollywood-inspired fantasy. It's inspired by the game developer Parth Soni's childhood, which he spent watching Hindi films. It looks like you will be turning, jumping, and fighting in typical Hindi cinematic fashion.
Sally Luc, co-founder of Thousand Stars Studio and art director of Aikyam laughs about how many Bollywood movies she watched [during its making]. "We have a Discord channel with just dance clips that I can look at. So we've been populating that just to get that research [right]", she says.
As more South Asian narratives in gaming get published, it feels like India is catching up instead of leading this brand of content. "Creating a game is highly technical. We lacked a headstart. When the Japanese gaming industry was growing, we had limited access. Nintendo Switch is still not officially sold in India. The market for games is only developing now," thinks Mridul Kashatria, co-founder, Niku Games. Shalin Shodhan, director of Masala Games has a different theory. He says, "The audience is not demanding enough. Some people play shooting games, but there are takers for casual games too. We need to create such games for this audience to know what is possible."
Loud or not, the gaming industry in India is seeing a shift. A report from video games market research and consulting firm Niko Partners highlights that India will likely add 277 million more gamers by 2028. This accounts for 72 per cent of the total growth in gamers across Asia and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA), surpassing China.
And, support for game developers is pouring in. The Indian government and state governments are coming up with more and more schemes to support the industry. Works to set up a National Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming and Comic (AVGC) Centre of Excellence in collaboration with IIT Bombay are underway. Meanwhile, a report by Deloitte and the Federation of Indian Fantasy Sports (FIFS) states that Indian gaming raised $2.8 billion from domestic and global investors in the last five years. PlayStation India too launched the India Hero Project (IHP), an incubator program focused on identifying and supporting emerging talent from the region. Furthermore, Microsoft is exploring investment in Indian game developers. The Palace on the Hill has been chosen to be part of Microsoft's ID@Xbox Developer Acceleration Program. And, Detective Dotson was selected by ID@Xbox to be a part of IGN Showcase 2024.
In the West, where interest in gaming is already high, studios are now exploring storytelling that is more aligned with their culture. It's either because the global market for games is saturated or because South Asians globally are keen to represent their culture.
Speaking of why his characters are South Asian and love to cook, especially dosa, Chandana Ekanayake, co-founder and creative director of Outerloop Games, says, "I love to cook, and I grew up in Sri Lanka. There's a great personal sort of expression [by the team] in exploring some of the food [in the games]." Ekanayake has been in the gaming industry for 27 years and launched Outerloop, a minority-led indie video game studio seven years ago. "I have spent about 20 of those years working on projects in studios that were run by American white males. And so culturally, I was more interested in telling stories about immigrant culture, but also bring in some South Asian influence." His studio, helmed by a mostly South Asian team, has produced three games with their culture at its core.
In Falcon Age, you fight colonisers, in Thirsty Suitors the protagonists are South Asian, and the upcoming Project Dosa follows suit.
Another reason such narratives have taken time to come out is how businesses react. Parth Soni, co-founder of Thousand Stars Studio and game director of Aikyam, says, "They [investors] are far more business focused. They don't necessarily prioritise pushing the narrative and taking a little bit more risk with newer audiences. This trend and openness about accepting narratives through games started happening recently."
As curiosity about new narratives in the gaming world increases, what are we depicting? Often mythology acts as inspiration or games are set in ancient India. Lately, some games have a flavour of Indo-futurism. That's where Detective Dotson, Thirsty Suitors, or Project Dosa stand out. "What puzzles me is why they're not doing at least an equal amount [of content] about modern India. I think it's the most interesting place on earth because we have got the ancient stuff and [the modern]; we kind of blend it. Someone sitting in Sweden, Japan, or North America today watching Indian content, whatever has made it out there, is going to form an impression of India [as ancient]," says Shodhan.
It's safe to say that India is moving towards the more creative side of tech. "There is an audience for these unique perspectives. And people are bored with the same hero prototype, and the same sort of structure. There are South Asian [players], and I think they have been under-served," says Ekanayake.
277 M
No. of gamers in India is likely to add by 2028, according to a Niko Partners report
