M’Lore: Young video game designers for Scotland

The Hindu

They have undergone training at Manipal University 

• The team will have to compete with 14 teams from across the world
• It has developed a black and white game called ‘Chaya’

MANGALORE: Four students from Manipal University have won the Indian leg of “Dare to be Digital”, an international video game designing competition, organised by the British Council and the University of Abertay Dundee, Scotland. Team “Ghazab”, as the four are known, left for Scotland on Wednesday, where they will develop their concept and compete for top honours against 14 teams from across the world.

The creators of the top three games will constitute the nominees for the BAFTA’s “Ones to Watch” award and will receive a cash prize as well.

Initial stage

The organisers had sought entries from undergraduate and postgraduate students with interests ranging from computer programming to visual art. Team Ghazab emerged victorious after competing with 13 teams across the country. They were presented with their plane tickets and visas at a farewell ceremony, organised by the British Council on the eve of their journey.

The game

Shobhit Mukherjee, Shriyansh Chauhan, Rohan Maheshwari and Gaurav Pant have created the prototype of a black and white game called “Chhaaya”, which is about an alien trapped on earth and allergic to light. The game focuses on solving puzzles in the shadows of the steel canyons of Chicago in the late 40s. It targets children in the age group of seven to 13 and will be designed for the gaming machine Xbox 360 and personal computers.

The team will spend 10 weeks building on the prototype of their game in Scotland before it is unveiled at a special event in Edinburgh called “Dare Proto Play”, which is part of the Edinburgh Interactive Festival. The team will receive technical and creative advice from professionals working in companies such as EA, Activision and Ubisoft.

“This is an opportunity we would not have expected in India. I am confident, we will do well as we have done our homework,” said Shobhit Mukherjee, leader of the team.

“We are ecstatic about this. It is great that we’re going to be working with professionals from such big companies. They are even giving us access to the cryENGINE (a software used for cutting edge 3D games), which is amazing,” he said.