A few days back we posted in-game pics from the upcoming LoveStory 2050 game developed by Rocking Pixels. Today we go deeper with a detailed interview with the CEO of Rocking Pixels, Sanjit Daniel:
Q) Lets begin with a brief introduction about the Lovestory 2050 game, please give us a brief description about the game.
Q) There have been a few games based on Indain themes bollywood included but they have been heavily critisized, the team must have been under tremendous pressure while working on Lovestory 2050?
Will answer both of the questions above here.
Well, 2050 is not really a “game”. It would be foolish to release a multi-level 3D game into the Indian market and have it pirated. We will not be following the Hollywood model where a game based on a movie is a complete game in itself and is sold through the standard publisher driven distribution channels. Large development costs and a small market in India make this un-viable from a business standpoint for us.
Bollywood however does have tremendous recall and drives the youth entertainment market. Since we already have in-house engine technology available freely to us which enables us to make Bollywood based games rather easily, we hope to make smaller 3D gaming experiences aimed at competetive events which help publicize the movie as well as 3D gaming in India.
Q) The screenshot show a very detailed Harman Baweja charactrer model, and honestly this is by far the best looking game developed in India. My question is regarding the game engine, was it developed in-house?
Our USP is our shader based 3D engine technology. We have a complete unified dynamic lighting model on par with the best in the business. We have deep integration with Ageia PhysX for destructible environments and vehicles. Physics driven moving objects combined with our lighting pipeline means that we can make very interesting levels where everything moves and interacts with scene casting realistic soft shadows etc. We can do large outdoor terrain with a very realistic sunlight model as well as indoor moody levels all seamlessly blending into one another.
We also have solid online multiplayer technology to handle thousands of players per server cluster.
We have put in over 5 years of R&D into the core engine technology. We believe this is what will differentiate us from the others in the fray and deliver high quality 3D gaming to India - no bullshit.
Q) Who are you targeting as your main audience, the hardcore gamer or is the focus more on a causal gamer.
The terms “hardcore” and “casual” are overused dubious terms.
We are targeting the CounterStrike / DoTA players who are looking for more challenges. Also in our radar are players who are just about getting into gaming and like action in general and so will take to the shooter genre easily.
Q) What other projects are under-wraps at Rocking Pixels
Our main project is “Karma”, a series of online multiplayer 3D games along the lines of Battlefield, CS etc with DoTA style RPG elements. The design is based on futuristic Indian mythology which sets the look and feel of the graphics but the gameplay will be adhere to standard multiplayer design principles. More info, e, demos etc coming up on our website soon.
Q) Your advice to aspiring game developers (individuals) in India, how to go about fulfilling one’s dream to be a game developer?
There are really two paths that you can take.
(a) Level Designers (b) Programmers.
For Level Designers you need to break free from the 3D artist environment that currently exists in India which is a factory environment geared at low end outsourced projects. Artists in these “factories” only are allowed to do one thing - modeling, lighting, texturing, animation etc. If you want to be a level designer you need to pick up a 3D tool and learn a bit of EVERYTHING. Also start modding existing games - the level editors are all free to use and you should make your own level and make it exciting.
For programmers: you need to be very very good at hardcore C++. Thats a hard fact. Your education might help but is not important - you just need to write great code. Also observ games carefully - look at how others have implemented their technology and then dig into documentation from NVIDIA etc and implement that on your own.
In both streams a huge level of commitment is required - game development is unforgiving. You need to fight your way into the machine. But the rewards are great !
Q) Last question, what do you think about the future of gaming India?
India is a HUGE opportunity for anyone who has the commitment to make great games. What most companies are missing is that gamers are all the same. They will not accept a poor product - flash / mobile “casual” games just don’t make the cut. We need seriously good localized 3D games which gamers will love - no compromises.
We have a plan, we have the technology and we are pro-gamer. We hope to deliver great 3D gaming experiences to the Indian gamers and be the driving force for the gaming industry in India.
Thanks for appreciating our work and stay tuned for more rocking stuff from us !
Nice Graphics…. Would check out the Made in India stuff:)
Nice interview… What did he mean by - its not really a game.. what is it then?
@ Balu
When he said “it’s not really a game”, he actually meant that it’s not a full fledged game like Prince of Persia or WarCraft.
I meant that it is not a full blown 40 level single player game in a box. The general market here does not justify something like that. But we are focusing on creating high quality realistic 3D games which are smaller, cost less to produce and promote 3D gaming in India and hopefully the movie as well…. However our other multiplayer focused products for India have greater depth - release coming soon!
Brilliant!