I think there’s huge potential for growing the video game industry in India: Jodie Azhar, CEO at Teazelcat Games, and BAFTA Breakthrough 2016 finalist

Q. You launched your company, Teazelcat Games, in 2018 with the vision of working on games that tell stories from the perspective of those factions of society who often go underrepresented in the larger narrative. How are you looking to help the subaltern voices find a larger space in a game’s narrative?

Jodie Azhar: Many large mainstream video games focus on hero stories that fall back on stereotypes and similar-looking protagonists to provide experiences to a proven audience that investors know are already interested in this type of game.

I’m interested in seeing different types of characters in these hero stories. There are also many kinds of stories that can be told through video games, giving players new and different experiences and insights.

As with literature, there are many genres that games can explore, such as slice of life, mystery, satire, romance, etc. I feel that video games are an excellent medium for telling stories in these other genres.

We can create immersive experiences where players must make choices and experience different ideas and perspectives by interacting with them.

I also want to play games made by different people, with varying ideas, cultural and life experiences, and interests. I’m excited to both be able to tell stories that interest me and come from personal experiences, but also work with others who have stories to tell that aren’t yet prevalent in mainstream video games.

Hopefully, this will be of interest to existing game players who want to play different games and new audiences who desire experiences they’ve not yet found in video games.

Q. Raji: An Ancient Epic by Nodding Heads Games was nominated for Best Debut Indie Game in 2020‘s Game Awards and was immensely praised for its unique style of narration and visual representation. What are your thoughts on the potential of the Indian video game industry?

Jodie Azhar: I think there’s enormous potential for growing the video games industry in India. More and more people play games daily, whether on PC, console, or mobile devices.

The value of our industry keeps increasing as well. This means there are opportunities for studios to create games for new audiences and develop fresh ideas for providing new experiences to existing audiences.

Image via Raji

Building links between the games industry globally is an opportunity for those already successfully making and investing in games development in places like the UK to support new developers who have different ways of running a studio, different ideas for games, and different ways of engaging with players.

Those in India will be a lot more familiar with what platforms their local communities use to play games, and what types of games are popular within their region. This allows creating experiences that appeal to home audiences, but that may also be something new and exciting that people worldwide will want to play.

Q. What words of advice would you give someone who is just starting in the video game industry?

Jodie Azhar: Game development is complex and takes a range of skills and different job roles to create a finished game that players will enjoy. Hence, it’s vital to think of your work in terms of the end product: how it will look or behave in the finished game and how it will make a better experience for players.

This can mean learning a bit about what other disciplines do to know how your work integrates with the game’s different parts. For example, how code works to control animations, or what level designers need to consider to make levels fun, and how that impacts what’s needed from the art.

You don’t need to know how to make everything in a game to be a valuable part of a game’s development, but the more you understand how your work combines with others’ work, the better you’ll be at creating a great game.