The Unites States and Japan have, for the longest time, enjoyed top positions on the leader board for game development and consumption. Neighbouring Canada has many design studios and publishers that help further its own market while catering to others. However, in recent decades, Europe has emerged as an interesting case that countries like India can learn from.
Germany was the hotspot for students of game design, and many of its schools still see enrolments from other nationalities. But Croatia and other parts of Eastern Europe are now popular as low-cost production sites, in addition to witnessing a significant rise in gamers. Some of the most popular social games today originated in Scandinavia, while France can boast of strong technical talent in the area of game development.
What we see in many of these countries is a strong ecosystem: whether it be institutes that teach the discipline, independent developers practising the trade, publishers being willing to populate their games, platforms that are ready to adopt them, official bodies that represent developers, studios that hire them and of course, consumers that are high on the fun and strategic challenges presented in these games.
India has been traditionally the hub for outsourced development. Testing, of course, and other components of development have always been carried out here. But much of the time, a company like Electronic Arts may not be hiring for a whole product or game to be indigenously designed by developers in India. So while we’ve built a reputation for certain services, our designers are not active at the forefront of innovation in sizeable proportions.
Some of this has changed with independent game designers here generating a range of apps and games for a diverse user base – children, mothers, young adults, and professionals. However, the uptake of gaming in other areas like healthcare (for disabled people or patients) or untapped segments – think the cleaning staff in a large corporation or institution – is relatively minimal. With games bringing communities together and platforms allowing the sharing of content and experiences, rural markets can also be addressed. So while the potential for indigenous design is immense, India needs to look at building an ecosystem that can sustain itself.
Starting early
In Switzerland, for example, young people, even pre-teens, are avid gamers. Students who graduate in game design have the opportunity to create games that consumers are going to love. Its universities are nearly as popular as the ones in Germany, attracting a good number of students who see game design as a career. In many cases, those working in areas like graphic design choose to skill themselves in the development of games.
The Swiss market sees many active independent (indie) developers. A number of them hold part-time jobs that help pay the bills while keeping them in touch with the industry and allow them the freedom to focus on a core passion – the creation of fun. This way the ecosystem is continuously feeding itself.
2013 – 2014 is the ‘Year of Swiss Architecture Design and Engineering in India’. Pro Helvetica – Swiss Arts Council and Swissnex India put together ‘Game Gazer’, an exhibition showcasing games and apps developed by students from Geneva University of Art and Design and the Zurich University of Arts. Goa and Bangalore were chosen as locations for game enthusiasts to interact with developers and to have a ‘peek into the play of tomorrow’.
Game developer and web designer Simon Kovatsch and a partner Marc Gruber developed ‘Ned & Ted’, one of the games that was on showcase at Game Gazer. Simon is excited by the rules of games and their visual appeal. ‘Ned & Ted’ took about 5 months to develop and was always aimed at the casual gamer market. The game involves helping two lunatics escape a psychiatric institution. Ned & Ted’s USP lies in the gamer having to control two characters (Ned as well as Ted) simultaneously. Simon says, “This is not a game you have to play all day. We’re selling fun. We designed the game to involve ‘slapstick humour’ and this is the key experience we’re promoting with Ned & Ted. Game design is about creating a new world while not losing sight of some core elements”.
Mischa Geiser who graduated along with Simon has his own thoughts about what is important in game design. “Games are primarily for fun. If they become meaningful for business and industry that is a bonus. While designing a game, we have to be clear what the user experience has to be and the game has to be tested against that USP throughout the process of its development”, explains Mischa. His game ‘Journey of a Roach’ was designed as an adventure game and it sets the user in a post apocalyptic world. As a roach, the gamer gets to explore walls, ceilings and collect items he comes across on the way.
REPRESENTATION AND SUPPORT
What has helped the Swiss game developer community is the establishment of bodies like the Swiss Game Developers Association. University level programmes, practical exposure to needs of target markets and the number of companies willing to hire those with a game design background create the opportunities.
South East Asia is getting stronger for consumption of games across platforms although many countries are not ready to cater to those with game design credentials. There are very few studios that can hire these graduates. China looks set to be a stronger market in a few years, while South Korea has a firmer foothold in the gaming space.
Robert Zepeda who founded Playbasis to offer gamification-as-a-service and chose to operate out of Thailand puts it this way, “There are challenges in some of these markets because monetizing games is proving to be difficult with piracy issues still rampant and credit card penetration not at the optimum levels. Countries like Thailand have been good at instituting game design into university programmes and the habits of gamers here show that they are willing to work more in a game. But the developer community here needs to focus on other competencies that matter – getting the marketing right and better monetization strategies”.
INDIA PROJECTIONS
Gaming across platforms (PC, mobile, social media, local networks) is set to grow in a quantum fashion over the next few years. India has 15 million social gamers at the moment. This will grow to 31.96 million by 2018. Kabir Ahmad, CEO and Lead Analyst at Gamification Research says, “The market for indie developers will expand significantly over the next 2 years and every platform known will welcome them. The rise of mobile users itself has led to India becoming more of a game-playing economy. Gaming will soon become a way of community management and connection with local content”.
India has always been strong on technical talent. For it to be that quintessential goldmine for game design, some pertinent issues in its ecosystem must be addressed. A support system for the game developer community, practical exposure at universities and creation of opportunities are key steps in that direction.