Will Smash n' Survive herald a new era for Indian games?

A few months back at the annual NASSCOM Game Developers Conference, the NGDC, held at Pune,  Mr Rajat Ojha, president at Version 2 Games based in Hyderabad, India, discussed the making of Smash ‘n’ Survive -  developed exclusively for the Playstation 3. Smash ‘n’ Survive (S‘n’S) is a vehicular combat game which in a nutshell means that as the protagonist, the player will be driving around vehicles of all sizes with retrofitted weaponry. Each car has a unique weapon that must be used to defeat one or more enemies. These range from chainsaws to flamethrowers to even a sonic blaster that flips the opponent’s vehicle around. Earlier this year I visited their Hyderabad studio to playtest the game and came back impressed to a degree that I can safely say this is undoubtedly one of the the best current generation games developed by an Indian studio. The game boasts of an intense singleplayer campaign — complete with an original storyline that puts the player in the shoes of a gladiator who gambles for his life and death. As a gladiator, the player will be part of a team being a part of which requires skill, dedication and above all, loyalty. The singleplayer promises to keep the player busy for 8-10 hours but that’s not the end of it. The game also has some unique multiplayer gameplay modes. S’n’S released exclusively for the Playstation last week and we caught up with Rajat a few days before that. Smash ‘N’ Survive is finally releasing, how do feel now? Anxious or confident? Anxious but confident. We are anxious because this is our first mass product but we are pretty confident that we made a product which is entertaining, gripping and action packed. If you spend 10 minutes in our game, you’ll not like to leave it in between. How long has it been in development? Close to two years. Why did you plan to make a game for the PS3? Usually developers take it slow… they go for a mobile or PC platform judging how difficult it is to make games for the Playstation. We are not new to the 3D interactive medium. We had been doing some kickass stuff in simulation development and had been extensively using game technologies which involved all the core components of a game sans entertainment. So it was natural for us to want to move forward from there and to make a game for a console is definitely a step forward. Also, look at development studios in general, and you’ll see that a majority tend to stick to whatever platform they initially work with and get a grip on.  So for example if you successfully execute mobile games then chances are that you will remain a mobile game development studio. [caption id=“attachment_229241” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Each car has its own special weapon: Screenshot of the game”] [/caption] Are you traditionally a fan of vehicle based combat games? Yes, I have loved Carmegaddon, Twisted Metal, Interstate 76 and 82, Full Auto etc. but that was not why we chose to do Smash ‘N’ Survive. We chose to do it because we have expertise in vehicle dynamics, physics, AI and other vehicular aspects and we didn’t want to do a racer as big franchises are already very active there. There was a vacuum in vehicular combat and that could set us apart so we decided to do that. How difficult was it to choose a team fit for a gaming project from the existing set of employees at Zen? It was the biggest challenge for me. There were a lot of qualities I had in my checklist and some of them were problem solving skills, a passion for games and the ability to take risks or challenge oneself. When we started we knew that we were trying to attempt something which did not have a domestic knowledge base or open forums on the Internet. On top of that, I needed to make sure that no other project at Zen would get affected because of the resources I was taking for the game. What lies ahead for Version 2 Games and you in particular? We have two projects running at the studio. One is in the last phase and the other one is in the design phase. You’ll see an action adventure game called TUM getting launched this year. My focus will be to generate close relationships with publishers, investors and platform owners. Smash ‘N’ Survive gives us a platform to start talking closely to various studios for setting up our next goal. [caption id=“attachment_229294” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“Screenshot from game”] [/caption] You debuted TUM during the NASSCOM GDC held last year. Can you share any more information on that game now? The game is about a guy “Jay” who’s an accidental hero doesn’t have a choice but to fight against robots who have destroyed the life from our planet. Since Jay is not a superhero, he has to solve tons of puzzles to eliminate those robots and bring life back. This is just the base premise and I can’t disclose anything beyond that at this moment. The game supports PS Move and is definitely not something which has been seen before. Traditionally the Indian Gaming Industry has been an outsourcing powerhouse but lately we are seeing a surge in the growth of independent studios with some seriously talented folks. Do you think they need to change the norm and start competing globally and stop being concerned about an ‘Indian’ studio and pleasing everyone here? I mean no one ever calls Angry Birds a Finnish game.. I share your thoughts here. Games should be for gamers and shouldn’t be demography specific. I’m not sure what advantages one can get by calling oneself an Indian Studio and why at this point of time, the world will be interested in watching Indian content. People keep talking about Indian content for Indian masses but that has been unsuccessfully tried already. People in India play the same games the rest of the world plays so why not make a global game? Any particular indie studios, both Indian and International, you’d like to point out that look promising? Among the Indian ones I loved, are ‘It’s just a thought’ from Yellow Monkey which was pretty abstract and awesome. Some more like Rolocule and Ironcode have huge potential too. As far as international studios are concerned, Supergiant Games, Frozenbyte and Mojang are awesome. I hope they continue to remain indie (Referring to Twisted Pixel and PopCap) Lastly, do you have any plans of making S’n’S available on other platforms? No plans as of now but we are not rejecting this idea either!