Seven Summits Studio focuses on building ‘emotional’ game apps

Asar Dhandala, 20, has always been a computer game buff. But he found most themed around guns, wars, horror or cars.

“You don’t see any theme there that involves emotions. I wanted to create a niche space that gives players a touch of emotion,” said Dhandala, speaking to Business Line .

To build mobile and computer apps that ‘stand out’ from the rest, he co-founded Seven Summits Studio in Hyderabad with his brother Nawaz. Dhandala and his team from Backstage Pass School of Gaming in Hyderabad have just made a mark at a global competition held by Microsoft. Their project, Just Born, won a special mention at the Microsoft Imagine Cup Blueprint Challenge this year. This year, the Imagine Cup offered three non-technology challenges — Pitch Video Challenge, Project Blueprint Challenge and User Experience Challenge. The top ten teams from each category were honoured as Challenge All-Stars.

‘Just Born’ seeks to address the issue of female foeticide in India. “The gamer inches ahead by killing viruses to win the game but he will learn towards the end of the game that the child actually is killed even before he sees the light of day,” said Dhandala. Commenting on the challenge, a Microsoft spokesperson said: “The Imagine Cup gives engineering students an opportunity to create innovative technology solutions that aim to solve world problems. About 13,000 Indian students are participating this year in different categories.”.

Interestingly, Dhandala’s brother Nawaz had won the Windows Azure Challenge held in Russia last year.

“Just Born is a combined effort with my college friends Anshul Soni, Harsha Pawha, Rana S and J Peter,” said Dhandala.

Asked what drew him to develop apps, Dhandala said: “You see someone everyday doing something interesting and making it big. You get inspired seeing people like that.” .

Dhandala’s Seven Summits Studio has already started making money in a small way, enough to win over his father, who initially wanted him to become a businessman.

“Now, even he is interested in the games we create. He, in fact, longs for more levels,” he said.

The start-up is busy building a final version of the game Petite. Currently available in beta, this game is about how a woman handles her emotions and depression.

“The idea is to make the player emotionally attached to the game. We have developed 72 levels,” he said. After getting encouraging reviews, Dhandala is planning to monetise this game.