Game development in India: Youngsters are taking lead

A new generation of Indian developers is challenging the status quo, transforming gaming from a mere pastime into a serious profession. This was evident in the young developers, most still in college, who participated in Xbox Game Camp Asia, an initiative by Microsoft Xbox to support and nurture game developers across the Asian region.

Arjun Varma, India lead for global expansion at Xbox, says this marked the first time the event was brought to Asia, covering Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, and India. The two-month programme ran earlier this year and provided a structured environment for aspiring game developers to hone their skills and develop their ideas.

Among the participants were Ankit Kumar, Khevan Thanki, and Ayushi Sharma.

Ankit, 26, co-founder of Amnesea Studios, is working on K1, a platformer with an innovative twist. “We had a vision to create a game so immersive that players lose themselves in a whole new world,” Ankit says. His team’s game challenges players by limiting their movement keys, requiring them to collect new abilities as they progress.

Ankit’s journey began with a childhood fascination with console games like Mario and Contra. Now, he and his cousin Mayank are leveraging their computer science backgrounds to create immersive experiences for PC and XR platforms.

For Ankit, the biggest challenge has been perfecting the game’s appearance and feel.

Khevan, 19, represents a new wave of developers eager to showcase India’s rich cultural heritage. As part of Team Ludum Factory, Khevan is working on “Bone Voyage,” a 3D platformer rooted in Indian mythology.

“It’s a puzzle platform game set in India that follows a skull who has lost all his limbs. You navigate hell and its different Tibetan and Indian-inspired regions, collecting limbs and gaining different powers,” Khevan explains.

Khevan’s journey began with 3D modeling, which he describes as “the gateway for me to start studying game design and game development.” His team’s biggest challenge was establishing the game’s identity, balancing combat with puzzles and logical challenges.

Ayushi, 19, part of Team Arturo, says she and her all-female team from VIT Bhopal University are developing ?Spirit Solace’, an Android-based escape room game focused on storytelling. “We wanted to make a game heavy on story,” Ayushi says. Their game follows Zulu, a gender-neutral character stuck between heaven and earth, dealing with mental clutter and relationship challenges. On skills & Unity game engine

Asked about useful skills, the developers offer varied perspectives. Khevan emphasises programming and art, while Ankit stresses the importance of balancing different skills in programming languages and graphic editing tools. Ayushi recommends starting small and following tutorials.

Arjun of Xbox adds that knowing how to pitch the game and create a pitch deck is crucial. “When you’re making a game, you need to tell people about it,” he says. A common thread among these young developers is their use of Unity, a popular game engine that has become a cornerstone of indie game development worldwide. Ankit explains the appeal of Unity: “It has robust features and cross-platform capabilities. It allows us to develop for both PC and consoles without having to rebuild the entire game for each platform.”

For Khevan and his team, Unity’s 3D capabilities were crucial. “Unity’s 3D tools are incredibly powerful,” Khevan says. “They allowed us to bring our vision of an Indian-inspired underworld to life with rich, detailed environments.”

Ayushi’s team, focusing on mobile development, found Unity equally valuable. “Unity’s mobile optimisation features are fantastic,” she notes. “We can create a visually appealing game that runs smoothly on a wide range of Android devices.”

However, Unity’s learning curve can be steep, says Ankit. “We spent a lot of time watching tutorials and experimenting to get things right,” he says. Khevan says performance optimisation was tricky. “We had to learn how to balance visual quality with smooth gameplay, especially for less powerful devices.” Unity’s community support was also invaluable in overcoming some of these challenges. “Whenever we hit a roadblock, we could always find help on Unity forums or in online communities,” Ayushi says.


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