Want to be a Gaming Artist?

How is this different from developing “non-entertainment” software?
Non-entertainment software is intended to solve a problem — playing music, sending e-mail, word processing, etc. To do this, we have a structured process and the development is geared towards solving the problem efficiently.

Game development is more of a creative collaboration. We are trying to create fun. We have game designers who conceive the basic game mechanics and the overall structure. We have artists who conceive how the environments and characters look. We have story writers, music composers, and then, we also have the software component, which is the engine that actually runs the game. People are bouncing ideas back and forth, trying them out, keeping them if they work.

Eventually though, we have to buckle down and get the job done — just like in conventional software.

What do you think about the growth of the gaming industry in the 21st century?
The Indian gaming industry has a great advantage: Lower cost of development, but there are some disadvantages too. We don’t have a domestic games market or enough talented people. Software and hardware is costlier here, and so on.

After the huge popularity of iPhone and Facebook games, do you think gaming has ‘arrived’ in the true sense of the word?
It is difficult to say. In the West, gaming had ‘arrived’ years ago, when the first 3D game, Doom arrived. In India though, it will take some more time I think.

Are there a few Indian game developers, too, who are making it big at the global level?
If you are talking about big budget games selling a million copies, then no, we don’t have any. However, Indian companies have developed games that sold globally on a much smaller scale. Chayowo games made a successful iPhone game, and Ironcode made a downloadable casual game for the PC (Pahelika: Secret Legends). Dhruva Interactive has been working on an iPhone game. So, we have people working on it, but no one has made it big – yet.