A new India-made game is ready to enter the global PC market. It’s set in the Ramayana era where you can fight Ravana’s army, as you get a taste of Kalamkari, Madhubani, Warli, and Thanjavur art styles
At its core, Kapih is the story of a common man and how he overcomes challenges. 88 Games consciously decided to make a commoner the protagonist of their game because stories of heroes are always told, but their followers are often ignored
Kapih, a vaanar in the Ramayana era, loses his anklet when his village is under attack by Ravana’s army. Determined to get his anklet back, Kapih is ready to go on a quest. That’s when he hears about a good king, Rama. As he finds out that the two of them have a common enemy, he joins Hanuman’s vaanar sena and sets out to fight for Rama.
ADVERTISEMENT
What unfolds is a game full of action and legendary boss battles set in the epic’s universe. Kapih is 88 Games’ first-ever action platformer game. An off-shoot of 88 Pictures, an animation studio in Mumbai, this game studio is now set to launch Kapih in the next three months. Kapih’s trailer, which released on February 15, showcases an action-packed game where Indian art and design are front and centre.
Milind D Shinde, Founder and CEO; (right) Shiben Bhattacharjee, Game Director
At its core, Kapih is the story of a common man and how he overcomes challenges. 88 Games consciously decided to make a commoner the protagonist of their game because stories of heroes are always told, but their followers are often ignored. But why place the protagonist in an ancient Indian epic? “I was talking about Sugriv and Vali to my niece and nephew,” says Milind Shinde, founder and CEO of 88 Games. “Unfortunately and sadly, they don’t know what the vaanar brothers did. Theirs is a story of great sacrifice. If you look at the Ramayana or the Mahabharata, what does it teach us essentially? It is teaching you ways of life, right? Our generation has grown up watching the Ramayana on television. Now, it’s made for the gaming audiences who may or may not have heard of it.”
For Shinde, Kapih is also a way to sensitise and make a global audience aware of Indian culture and its sensibilities. The game is narrated in Sanskrit, although translations in English and other languages will be available. Additionally, Kapih, the protagonist’s name, also means “monkey” in Sanskrit.
The art style of the PC game is drawn from traditional Indian art forms and music. In the game, you will encounter styles like Kalamkari, Madhubani, Warli, and Thanjavur. For the art team, naturally, this meant researching styles and deciding upon what could be worked into the game. “The team did go to some places to figure it out. What we found was that some of the styles are very tribal, some just very appealing, and then some of them are a little bit quirky. And, then there is Indian calendar art as well, which no one knows who created but it exists widely. We studied them, whether digitally or by going there physically. And, the style of the game kept evolving,” says Shiben Bhattacharjee, game director at 88 Games.
This evolving nature of art styles was a challenge but also necessary, as Shinde explains, “When we put everything together, it became too much. For the Indian eyes, it is beautiful. But we have to look at it from the Westerners’ perspective as well. With our art style what was happening is that it was just taking over everything.” As most video games go, the action, key missions, and objectives are the core. Most other things like the art styles are subdued.
Shinde adds that as a gaming studio that wants to pay tribute to Indian art and artisans, producing a game that appeals to a global audience is essential.
Increasingly, India-made PC games are hitting the market. In terms of revenue, India accounted for 3.6 per cent of the global gaming PC market in 2023. While in Asia Pacific, China is projected to lead the region in terms of revenue, India has the fastest-growing market in the region. The Indian PC gaming industry is projected to reach USD 5,875.8 million by 2030.
As the theme of the game is nostalgia, Bhattacharjee and his team of developers have paid homage to retro video games most gamers have grown up on. “We looked at what games we enjoyed back then. They were types of games like Contra or Super Mario. To top that, we are telling an ancient story. So, these two things came together so well that it clicked,” says Bhattacharjee. While the game is a retro classic, its play, design, and elements are all modern.
To further the nostalgia factor of the game, Kapih has also been designed to be a co-op (couch cooperative) game, meaning two players can play at once. “One generation of gamers are now adults. They grew up playing video games. Now, they can play Kapih with their children,” says Bhattacharjee. For a while, the gaming industry had reduced its production of co-op games. But a report by Video Game Insights found that co-op games are making a comeback as that’s what gamers are seeking. The number of co-op titles being produced globally is also rising year after year. In 2023, six per cent of all games released were co-op titles and by July 2024, 5 per cent of all games released were co-op titles.
As Kapih readies to release in the next three months, 88 Games already has two more games in the works. Kapih is the gaming studio’s action adventure 2D shooter platformer game. Next, one can expect an AA game (double-A games are games with bigger budgets than indie games) on the lines of Indian cultural storytelling. And, the third will be a modern-day drama. “But everything that you will see is with South Asian content, with compelling visuals and storytelling for the global audience,” concludes Shinde.
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
