At a time when gaming is seen as a mainstream source of entertainment with the shift largely taking place due to the proliferation of smartphones, a popular gaming platform, a team of youngsters from a Visakhapatnam based gaming firm - The Red & Black – is gearing up to launch a new 3D game called ‘Swords and Crowns’ on the android platform this month.
This will be the gaming startup’s second 3D game after the first successful launch of ‘Bowmen’, a PC-based game launched last year.
The team of the startup includes V.J. Ramesh, Satya Dev, Siva Krishna, Naveen Kumar, Phani, Bharat and Bhargav who along with two freelance animators from Nagpur and Jaipur are developing this online real time multiplayer game of ‘Role Playing’ genre. Developed at a cost of Rs. 5 lakh, the game is expected to raise the bar of 3D gaming experience in mobile platform in India.
Speaking to The Hindu, co-founder of the startup V.J. Ramesh said: “This will be one of the few real time multiplayer 3D games from India. Our game will be on line with the immensely popular games like ‘Darkness Reborn’ and ‘Clash of Clans’. Since medieval scenes games with real time battles have been a big hit in the mobile game arena, we focussed on this genre.”
Developed with Unity5 game engine, the ‘Swords and Crowns’ is in a beta-testing phase currently and will be launched later this month after sharing it with co-developers and other gamers at the NASSCOM Game Developers Conference (NGDC) in Hyderabad to be held from November 10 to 12.
According to NASSCOM, the Indian gaming industry is close to $ 890 million with over 100 game development organisations already.
The promising growth is validated by the creation of NGDC which aims at bringing out “the exciting ecosystem in India.”
“NGDC is a big platform and we will get a feedback on the beta version of the game after which we will be launching it on the android platform followed by the iOS,” Ramesh added.
In ‘Swords and Crowns’, the user can play the game in five different avatars named Tanaya, Tadashi, Qadira, Zaire and Aziath. Each character will have a special power and can be used by activating that respective avatar.
Battles can be fought in different modes with friends or online player or even with online mobs. The game includes upgrading system to upgrade his capabilities in battle and unlock new arenas as he moves on.
“We are also planning to conduct tournaments for the game. So a player sitting in Vizag can challenge another player in Delhi or any other place,” said Ramesh.
A couple of other strategy games are in pipeline for the gaming company that would be published in the next six months.
