Backstage Pass- Mentor Based Training

Why are We Excited About Mentor-Based Training.

 

At Backstage Pass, we follow mentor-based training.

Do you want to know why we are excited about it?

What is Mentor-Based Training?

A mentor is an expert who guides and supports a studentin developing skills and maximising the student’s potential.

At Backstage Pass, experienced mentors from the industry guide our students. The mentors come from different fields of game-making such as game art, game design, game publishing, and so on.

Also, the mentors are either entrepreneurs themselves or aresenior professionals from leading game development companies in India and abroad. Therefore, the mentoring quality is of the highest order.

Backstage Pass counts several entrepreneurs among its mentors. Click the links to know their stories and their contributions in the gaming world.

Rahul Sehgal, Jay Dev, Asar Dhandala, and Sushil George.

For the gaming industry, mentor-based training is better than lecturingas it enhances the student learning and provides a solid base for their careers.

The advantages of the mentor-based training are many:

Growth Opportunity

Mentor-based training encourages the students to develop an entrepreneurial spirit in any task that they are involved. Therefore, the students own the task and become more independent in thinking and action. They are more engaged in their task and in their own development.

The mentors create a student-centric curriculum that makes learning interactive, fun, and more involved (read experiential) than the standard college curriculum found in degree colleges. The students get an opportunity to think and grow. The mentors validate, support and encourage the students.

Influence

The mentor has a positive impact on the students. Mentor’s success and proximity motivate the students to learn as much unconsciously as they do consciously. Apart from sharing their knowledge and industry best practices, thementors also educate the students on what went wrong when the mentors themselves were budding in their profession and how they learnt from their mistakes.

They let the students explore and learn practically. They pass on their experience and wisdom to the students.Mentorswith a track record of making incredible games are revered by students.

Networking

The mentor-based training program strengthens and deepens the relationship between the students and the mentors. Consequently, the students learn soft skills like public speaking and interpersonal, problem-solving, and self-advocacy skills.

The mentors have a well-developed contact sphere within the gaming industry. Often, mentors help the students using their contact sphere.

The student-mentor relationship continues well after the students graduate and both continue to benefit.

Careers

A mentor-based training programme provides an opportunity for the students to build contacts with alumni and the professionals from the gaming industry. They will get jobs in companies that hire through referral networks.

The mentor-based approach makes the students aware of what to expect when they graduate and get placed in a job. Every company has a mentor based training programme, and they will easily be able to blend in.

Industry Recognition

The gaming industry conducts many workshops and seminars (learning and practice sessions) for our students. Many companies volunteer staff to teach our students as it helps them recruiting the right talent and keep the talent pool relevant to the changing demands of the industry. The added benefit is a rich and industry-relevant curriculum.

 

Every Backstage Pass mentoring relationship has a clear and structured goal of student success, professional development, and all mentoring activities are related to that goal.

A Seminar on Scientific Visualisation – By Sathish Kottravel, a Doctoral Researcher at Linköpings University, Sweden

 

A picture speaks a thousand words.Therefore, the world prefers that acomplex ideais conveyed through an image.

Scientists deal with huge amounts of data when dealing with physical phenomena such as the weather, space, human brain activity, and molecules. They visualise the data using various techniques of image generation. Since these images are based on data, they are accurate. Also, they are more comprehensible than the raw data. Scientists use the images to explore the data better.

According to Wikipedia, scientific visualisation is used to graphically illustrate scientific data to enable scientists to understand, illustrate, and derive insights from the data. Scientific visualisation is a subset of computer graphics which in turn is a branch of computer science.

Seminar

We invited Sathish Kottravel, a doctoral researcher at the Linköpings University of Sweden to Backstage Pass, to conduct a seminar on Scientific Visualisation and its significance in game development.

We bring you an excerpt of his interview and a peek into the seminar.

About Sathish

Sathish Kottravel is a doctoral student at Linköpings University in Sweden. He specialises in Scientific Visualisation. He has published research papers in Scientific Visualisation.

His rendezvous with computer graphics started when he started working, after a bachelor’s in computer engineering, as a simulation software developer. After 6 years of work, he joined the master’s programme in Advanced Computer Graphics from Linköpings University in Sweden. After the master’s programme, he joined the university’ research force as a Research Engineer and went on to become a doctoral researcherspecialising in scientific visualisation.

Scientific Visualisation – The Seminar

Sathish started the seminar withimages of scientific visualisation and introduced the concept to us. The very techniques used for scientific visualisation also power the 3D graphics engines of game design tools. This is the common thread between scientific visualisation and game development.

Further, he spoke about the application of molecular and volume visualisation to 3D graphics and games.To elaborate,he explained how thecommon techniques such as raycasting and the depth of a field are used in making games.

The use of aesthetics in scientific visualisation was also a dominant theme of the seminar. He described the common features that aesthetics and game art and design share.

The session was interactive,and Sathish answered many questions that students had.He enthralled the audience with images and graphs showing the effective and right application of scientific visualisation.

Interview with Sathish Kottravel

Sathish, thanks for visiting us at Backstage Pass and spending 3 days of your vacation here with us. Please tell us something about your research interest?

“Thanks for having me here. I loved the interaction with the students. I specialise in the field of scientific visualisation. This is a unique field of study where mathematics, programming and aesthetics overlap. This field is also quite interdisciplinary, meaning the knowledge that you gained can be applied in many areas such as game development, special effects, graphics application developer, research, and so on.”

Can you tell us about your research in this field?

” I do research in thevisualisation of scientific data. Currently,I specialize in molecular visualisation. Here, my primary goal is to explore material structures and proteins at theatomic level in high-detail. Also, my research implicitly includes volume visualisation at low-detail representation.

My team of researchers work in close collaboration with physicists to help them understand the scientific process through any desired visualisation techniques. Some of my research publications are published here.

How is this related to computer graphics and gaming?

“The volume visualisation techniques such as volume rendering is often used in 3D graphics. For example, realistic rendering of fire. In molecular visualisation, we use techniques such as ambient occlusion to create the effect of soft shadows to improve the depth perception. The depth of field is also another technique inspired by digital photography thatfocuseson one plane. All these techniques are quite common in 3D games that borrow ideas from computer graphics.”

What are the new technologies that are being used in Scientific Visualisation?

“The new technologies such as augmented reality, virtual reality, and haptics are used for scientific visualisation.”

What Activities Did You Conduct for the Backstage Pass Students?

“On Day 1, I conducted a seminar to give an overview of scientific visualisation and its significance in the field of 3D graphics. On day 2, I organised a workshop.  The aim of the workshop is to introduce shader programming tasks to implement special effects filters. We framed the tasks into basic, intermediate and advanced levels and day 3 was open for discussions and Q&A.

How was Your Experience Interacting with the Students of Backstage Pass?

“During the seminar, the students were very enthusiastic about the techniques that I presented in the seminar and had many questions. They asked about GPU optimization and raytracing.

During the workshop on Day 2, the student’s feedback was excellent. Also, I observed that the students are good at programming. They could solve all the tasks that we assigned to them. They showed interest in extending the basic ideas discussed on Day 1.

This shows that the institute has awell-structured syllabus and active environment for learning game development. I am certain that the students are industry ready.”

What is Your Advice toBackstage Pass Students?

“Backstage Pass has an excellent infrastructure that is easily accessible to students. The college has strong ties with the gaming industry, and these industry collaborations put themmiles ahead as the ties increase the students’ industry interaction multi-fold. To stand out in the crowd, students must make use of this resourceful environment as much as possible.”

 

Thank you, Sathish, once again, for sharing knowledge and giving a glimpse of scientific visualisation in gaming.

Backstage Pass alumnus game - Enemy Waters Naval Simulation Game

Backstage Pass Alumnus Launched Enemy Waters, a Naval Simulation Game

 

TeaPOT Games has launched a naval battle simulation game called Enemy Waters.

About Enemy Waters

Enemy Waters is a naval battle simulator where you can command and manoeuvre warships and submarines to fight pirates. The aim is to defeat the enemy warships and submarines using deck guns, depth charges, and torpedoes (a torpedo is a cigar-shaped self-propelled underwater missile fired from a ship or submarine). By defeating your enemies, you can conquer seaports and oil wells.

The game features the submarines and warships from nine countries. They were used in World War II, Cold War, and some of them are part of the current fleets of leading navies.

This is an action-strategy simulation game where you ambush and destroy Pirate John’s convoy by laying the perfect trap. You are the captain of the ship and you can choose to sneak past Pirate John’s convoy or face their torpedoe salvo directly and launch a counter-attack before they destroy your ship. (A salvo is a slew of weapons released from one or more warship or submarine in quick succession.)

The simulation grade controls will let you fire missiles and torpedoes, engage silent running on your submarine to sneak past the enemies, control the depth of your submarine and dive into deeper waters as you escape the depth charge from enemy warships.

We bring you an exclusive interview with Satish Chandra, founder of TeaPOT Games and an alumnus of Backstage Pass Institute of Gaming & Technology:

Why did you choose to make a naval battle simulator?

“The inspiration to make this game came from the many anxious moments spent watching underwater war films. We wanted to create an authentic submarine experience for the gamers who play a lot of mobile games.”

Can you elaborate the stages the game went through from start to finish?

“The game’s combat mechanics went through many iterations to get that perfect balance between simulation and fun. We felt we were spending a lot of time experimenting without any sense of direction. However, in the end, we are satisfied with the well-balanced combat mechanics you see in the game. Our effort didn’t go in vain. All this was possible as we were very clear about our objectives and target audience.”

How difficult is it to play the game?

“At TeaPOT Games, we make hardcore games accessible to the mid-core mobile audience while sacrificing as little as possible on realism or attention to detail. This was the reason behind the success of our game, Avion Flight Simulator.

Enemy Waters is fairly easy to start, but as you progress and come to manage and lead a fleet of warships and submarines, you will compete with an even bigger enemy fleet. You will have to come up with your own tactics as the game slowly ramps up its level of difficulty. This is the challenge, and a big one in fact.”

Is it a multiplayer game? How do you get the best experience playing this game?

“We are working on the multiplayer part of the game at the moment. You can’t pay, buy stuff and win. Instead, you have to use the warships or submarines from the campaign. But unlike the single-player version of the game, you can only control one vessel(warship or submarine) in a 4 vs. 4 or 3 vs. 3 team battle.”

What challenges did you face? How did you overcome and what did you learn?

“One of the main challenges was optimising the game given that the game is both CPU and GPU-intensive. One of our major objectives was to have scalable graphics making the game look absolutely gorgeous on high-end devices and also be suitable for mid to low-end devices. This was not an easy task. We sank 2 months of work into optimising the game and found many unknown optimisation tricks in Unity 3D. We optimised the game to such an extent that it will run smoothly even on a 6-year-old flagship device. This is a major learning for us, something that we will certainly use in our upcoming games.”

Can you tell us about the monetisation aspects of this game?

“The game has two in-game currencies: oil and money. Both of these resources can be earned either by completing missions or by controlling oil wells and seaports. The player can purchase oil using real money and exchange the oil for money in a market that is inspired by the market system in AOE 2. In other words, the more you sell the less you will get for that particular resource. Every mission in the game requires a certain amount of oil to play, and the money is used to purchase new ships or perform repairs on the damaged vessels.”

Enemy Waters has been shortlisted for Indie Prize Showcase by Casual Connect USA 2017.

Check out the game play trailer and the game links on both Android and iOS.

Backstage Pass Institute of Gaming & Technology

Six Reasons to Invest in Your Education at Backstage Pass

 

1.    Collaboration with JNAFAU

Backstage Pass is the first college in India to collaborate with the Jawaharlal Nehru Architecture and Fine Arts University (JNAFAU), a University Grants Commission (UGC) recognised State University.

At Backstage Pass, you can earn a bachelor degree of four-year duration in

B.Tech (Computer Science and Game Development) or

B.F.A (Game Design and Game Art).

2.    Faculty and Mentors

At Backstage Pass, you will not only learn game design, game art, and game development, from the experts, entrepreneurs, and practising game developers, but you will also learn how to market and monetise games.

 

Backstage Pass counts several entrepreneurs among its mentors. Click on the links to know their stories and their contributions in the gaming world.

Asar Dhandala, Sushil George, Rahul Sehgal, Jay Dev

 3.    Internships with Game Studios

Backstage Pass collaborates with game studios such as Purple Talk, Yes Gnome, GLU Games, Timuz, Plazio, and so on.

The students of Backstage Pass can take part in workshops, seminars, game-jam competitions, lectures, and company tours of game development studios. These studios also provide internship opportunities to the third year students every year.

Game Development Studios recruit interns and employees from Backstage Pass.

4.    Backstage Pass Gaming Forum

Backstage Pass Gaming Forum is an online discussion forum open only to students, alumni, faculty and mentors of Backstage Pass. This discussion forum serves as a platform where students can connect, ask questions, and seek feedback. It also acts as a job board where you can apply for employment and internships.

The alumni of Backstage Pass are working in some of the top gaming studios in the world. A section of the alumni are entrepreneurs creating games, while some of them are pursuing their masters in the well-known universities abroad.

Backstage Pass Gaming Forum builds an invaluable network of personal and professional connections from around the world.

 5.    Placements

The best game companies in the world like Ubisoft, EA Sports, Purple Talk, and so on seek to recruit the students of Backstage Pass.

70-80% of the students are placed every year with the rest opting out for higher education or entrepreneurship.

Backstage Pass students get placed as game developers, software testers, programmers, game programmers, game artists, and so on.

 6.    Incubator

Level2 is the Backstage Pass’ incubator for game development. It provides mentoring, infrastructure, marketing, and publishing support to the students and alumni of Backstage Pass. The first game at Level2 developed by students of Backstage Pass is ready for the release.

Backstage Pass incubator Level2 is located in the Backstage Pass college campus. It  is a creative space which has the facilities such as high-end computers, software, infrastructure, and mentors.

At Level2, mentors from the industry support the students in making games and launching entrepreneurial ventures. The incubation of a game takes about three to six months from inception to launch. The ventures are also eligible to get venture capital funding from Backstage Pass.

Check out this space for more on the first game made at Level2…

What are you waiting for?

Enroll Now

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Five Reasons to be Excited About Backstage Pass Gaming Forum

 

The aim of Backstage Pass Gaming Forum is to build a network of students, mentors, and alumni of BSP. The students look for answers to questions, need feedback on solutions, and a sense of connectedness. The discussion forum is born to address these needs.

Backstage Pass Gaming Forum’ Benefits

Backstage Pass Gaming Forum intends to create a community to support passionate gamers. Some of the first order benefits are here:

Networking

The forum serves as a networking platform for all things gaming for Backstage Pass students. The students can interact with their peers and alumni of Backstage Pass on a variety of topics that interest them.

Knowledge Sharing

The Backstage Pass Gaming Forum is intended to act as a knowledge base. The discussions and answers to questions can bring out knowledge which otherwise remains personal. The students get exposure to mentors and alumni who have developed and marketed games and built indie game companies. The seniors and alumni share knowledge and best practices that will help the junior students excel.

Problem Solving

The students of Backstage Pass can post their specific queries and seek answers from alumni who have industry experience. This will help them manoeuvre difficult situations such as game architecture and design challenges.

Job Board

Backstage Pass Gaming Forum serves as a job board where the alumni, faculty, and Backstage Pass students can post job openings and internship opportunities. In this forum, students and alumni network and improve their career prospects by manifold.

Participation Rights

The students, faculty, and alumni of Backstage Pass alone can participate, network and contribute to the community.

We look forward to the Backstage Pass Gaming Forum evolving into a thriving destination like Facebook in due course.

 

Here is an info-graphic talking about the features of Backstage Pass Forum.

Five Reasons to be Excited About Backstage Pass Gaming Forum

 

Things to Consider While Monetizing A Game

Mobile Game Monetisation

 

The success of a game depends on many factors that make mobile game monetisation, such as an amazing design, best graphics and interaction, compelling game-play, marketing prowess, and well-thought out monetisation options.

Making a profitable game is one of the motives of game development. A game developer can consider these options to monetize a game:

  1. Subscription: Pay a monthly subscription fee and start playing the game. You can play the game till the subscription is active. If you subscribe, you can choose from a list of games and play as much as you want.
  1. Paid App: Buy the game from websites or gaming portals such as Steam.
  1. Freemium or Free-to-Play (FTP): Download the game from Google Play Store or App Store for free and play the game. Later, you can optionally pay for in-app purchases that enhance your playing experience. You can buy coins, characters, currency, and so on. For example, you can even buy Usain Bolt (the fastest man in the world) to run for you in Temple Run 2.
  1. Advertisement: A game can include adverts in the form of commercial breaks and product placement. In this method, place an advert on the screen (often a full-screen advert) during the course of the game. Such an advert usually interrupts the game.

5 Things to Consider While Monetizing a Game

Figure out your monetisation strategy and integrate it into early game design documentation.

If you are a game developer, you need to start thinking about how to make money selling your game even before you decide the format, style, and structure of the game. This is in the pre-production or the prototyping phase. To achieve your goal, the monetisation strategy must interact well with the game design.

We spoke to Satish Chandra, an alumnus of Backstage Pass Institute of Gaming & Technology and the Founder of Teapot Game Studio. He says:

“If the game is scoped to have a detailed monetisation strategy that’s woven into the game design process, then it is absolutely essential to develop monetisation on par with the game design. On the other hand, if the game’s monetisation is delinked from game design, then monetisation takes a back seat. But mobile gaming is increasingly shifting towards the former.”

The monetisation strategy must be flexible and tailor-made for your game.

The player who downloads the game must come back for more. A well-thought-out monetisation strategy that understands the end-user and makes him happy will yield the benefits. You can understand and predict user behaviour by looking at your competitors’ games.

Satish says, “User surveys can really help here. At this point, you should also be absolutely clear about who your target audience are, and their spending habits.”

Study the successes and failures of free-to-play games.

There are many free-to-play games available in the app stores. If you study what went right and what went wrong with games similar to the one you want to build, you can avoid the mistakes in monetisation.

Satish says, “The key is to look at the competition in the genre of games you are against. Make a note of what they are doing right, and what they are doing wrong. Look for ways where you can give more value to the players, and come up with a list of areas where your product/game can stand out from the competition.”

Have a good idea of what your monetisation levels are, regardless of the stage of game development you are in.

Each member of your team makes choices that affect the game’s monetisation strategy and having a clear idea ensures that your team gets the desired results.

Satish says, “A solid monetisation model is harder not just to code, but also to design. Resources will have to be spent not just in bug testing but also balancing the monetisation strategy.”

He adds, “The ease of adding monetisation into a game is directly dependent on how complex the monetisation is.”

Use segmentation to monetize different user behaviour.

A game developer can adopt different monetisation strategies in one game. You need to find the right balance between providing plenty of free content for all the people and allow your biggest fans to give you money for playing the part of the game they love a lot.

For example, when a user wants to make in-app purchases that enhance his gameplay, do not interrupt him with adverts. Instead, if a user is not willing to buy anything, it is best to show him adverts that are not interruptive and is built into the game design.

You need to plan ahead, understand your target audience well and then implement monetisation into your game design. This will bring revenue by reaching out to more people who want to play the games you make.

Satish was kind enough to share the gameplay trailer of “Enemy Waters”. Take a look and enjoy.

 

backstagepass

The First Game Developed by Backstage Pass Students at Level2

 

Level2 is the Backstage Pass incubator that provides mentoring, infrastructure, marketing, and publishing support exclusively to Backstage Pass students who want to make games and establish indie game companies.

There is a lot of activity with the students at Level2 working on their first game.

Let us find out all about the game here. Here are the teasers and an exclusive premier of the game, just for the curious souls like you…..

For the past three months, students at Level2 have been developing a mobile game. It is the first game developed by students at Level2, and it is taking shape under the watchful eyes of their mentor, Asar Dhandala. Asar is a Backstage Pass alumnus, entrepreneur, and has developed many games.

We caught up with Asar to bring you a sneak peek from Level2’s game studio.

The Progress So Far

The game is in the beta stage where we have completed making the game and testing it. After testing and the bug fix stage, we are planning to go for a soft launch.

A Soft Launch

A soft launch is a selective release used to gather early feedback from players. It helps us improve the game.

Team Size and Duration

We have a mix of students. The team consists of five members. They are:

2D Art

Monideep Chakraborty

3D Art

Vamsi Krishna

Programming

Sai Rohit Thota

Vivekanand Prajeev

Venkat Ram Reddy

It took nearly three and a half months to make the game.

The Game Design

While conceptualising the game design, we researched thoroughly to ensure that the concept is new. We wanted it to be simple and easy to make. Early, we felt that it should also be immersive and fun to play. It took us a couple of weeks to finalise the concept, and we started after all the team members understood and agreed upon the concept. Then we began the game design.

Name of the Game

We are yet to name the game. We will let you know soon.

What did They Learn by Being a Part of This Project

This is a first game developed by most of the students at Level2. The project taught them game development from start to finish.

We started from conceptualisation of the game, sketching it on paper, making the 2D and 3D art, adding graphics, programming and blending all to make a full-fledged enjoyable game.

The learning curve was steep for the students. In college, they learn game development, game art, and game design. This project helped them to connect the dots and complete the picture — how to make a full-fledged game and know the monetisation. (Monetising the game means that you add elements that a player can purchase as he progresses through the different levels in the game.)

How did You Mentor the Students

It was a more hands-on experience for the team. It took more time than I thought it would take for getting the students into the groove. But, the end product turned out to be the best in class.

For the team members, this has clearly been a transformational experience from being a student to a game developer.

Backstage Pass is a great place. The support we got from the college helped the students immensely in their journey.

Watch out this space for more updates about the game — the visuals, the trailer, and more…

Backstage Pass Institute

The Making of a Game | Backstage Pass Institute of Gaming and Technology

 

Work like it is a game. This is what die-hard gamers always wanted to do. The journey of two young game developers, Anand Dhavle and Anmol Nikam is no different.

Both Anmol and Anand were students of Backstage Pass. They work in game development companies and make games that they like to play.

IMG_20151110_160638

Our conversation began with the usual round of introduction. They spoke about the games they make, with each one filling in where the other left. The camaraderie they shared was ubiquitous. On the whole, it was inspiring to peep into their world and understand game development from their perspective.

 

Team Name: Digital Cartridge

No of team members: Two

Education: Anand studied B.Tech (Gaming) and Anmol studied B.F.A (Game Design). Alumni of Backstage Pass,

Important events: Participated in a game jam competition held at NGDC 2015 (Nasscom Game Development Corporation). They made a prototype of their game.

Games developed: Reverie, Rock It, and Blind Boy Project

Play Reverie by clicking here

They love to play games.

 

The Beginning

“It all started when we made a prototype of a game when participating in a game jam held at NGDC (Nasscom Game Development Conference) 2015 at Pune. We got a lot of positive feedback. And we decided to flesh it out further.”.

IMG_20151109_134740

 

What Was The Game About

“The game was called “Reverie” which means getting lost in thoughts, something similar to daydreaming. It is a gesture-based 2D platformer for the Android platform. You get to draw shapes to create objects, defeat enemies, and solve puzzles to help the little girl to get out of the world she is trapped in”.

IMG_20160303_211321

 

The Making

“It was a great learning experience. We underestimated the effort we need to put in to make a full-fledged game. Initially, we got our friends to play the game and tell us how they felt. Then, we improved the art-style, animation, added new graphics, changed the controls a number of times to get it right. We created unique mechanics which made our game fun to play. Lastly, we released it on platforms like Itch.io. Within five days, our game crossed 2000 downloads. We released the code into the public domain so that anyone can edit and enjoy the game. Here’s the link to the full source code”.

16507793_1383699381681094_646635357_n

What Was Your Motivation For Making This Game

“We wanted to present our ideas and make a game that we wanted to play. And we hoped that others will enjoy playing as well”.

10628069_779072072156160_8600570710355349193_n

How Did You Choose To Work With Each Other

Anand said, “ Choosing the team member is very important. I would look for team players who can complement”. Anmol added, “Each team member should contribute and fill gaps in the process. Their ideas should be in sync though. We should play the same type of games and be aware of the type of game play that our target audience enjoy.”

 

What Did You Learn While Making The Game

They both echoed that a lot of patience, hard work and perseverance is required to complete a game like any other creative pursuit.

 

What Is Your Motivation to Play Games

“I enjoy playing games as we can break free from the routine and it relieves stress. I also like to play games as it is interactive and we can see our actions changing the outcome,” says Anand. “Playing games promotes skill building for sure. Also, it disconnects us from reality”, adds Anmol.

 

What is Your Advice For a Person Who Wants to Try Their Hand at Gaming

IMG_20170128_003842_020

“If you are sceptical about starting just like we were, start small and participate in a lot of small projects and game jam competitions. Being hands on will build your confidence and you will learn a lot in the process.”

“Learn to program, use a game engine, play a lot of games, start small, find a partner who can support you, enter competitions like game jam, and do projects.”, they said.

 

Here Are Some Valuable Thoughts to Ponder Over

“Try to make something different and be proficient in different art-styles, animations, graphics, controls. More than anything else, enjoy the entire process”.

The Backstage Pass Incubator for Game Development

Level2 – The Backstage Pass Incubator for Game Development

 

Level2, the Backstage Pass incubator, is a creative space with the all the facilities to support developing games through launching entrepreneurial ventures of our students.

An incubator acts like a seedbed. It provides mentoring, infrastructure, marketing and publishing support.Level2 is briskly putting together all these and more.

The Mentors

Experienced mentors from the industry guide our young entrepreneurs. Our mentors come from different fields of game making such as game art, game design, game publishing, and so on. Also, the mentors are either entrepreneurs themselves or are senior professionals from the various leading game development companies. Consequently, the mentoring quality is of the highest order.

The Process

Backstage Pass provides the infrastructure including the software, systems, and offices.The development of each game will take about 3 to 6 months from inception to launch.

The first phase of the incubation involves the market fit of the game. Once themarket fit is found, we move on to game design. Game design is followed up by game development, testing, a soft launch, a marketing phase and then, finally, launching the game.

The incubator is currently open only to the students and alumni of Backstage Pass.

The Selection Process

The selection process is simple:

  • Teams with 3-4 student members are selected.
  • These teams will develop the games.
  • Backstage Pass owns the games and the IP.
  • Teams that create winning games will be sent to international competitions such as the Microsoft Imagine Cup, Casual Connect, and so on.

Benefits

Students will have extensive connections with industry experts, develop games, learn to work as a team, and handlethe ups and downs of developing and taking a game to the market. In this process, they also learn from the experiences of mentors as well as fellow team members.

Marketing a game is both an art and science. While a small part of it could be learned, mostof it experiential. Student teams gain expertise in this area as well.

They know how to deal with failures, either collective or individual.

 

Looking Forward

Backstage Pass is eagerly looking forward to becoming the “go to”space for student game startups.

US polls bring rich dividends to city game developers

US polls bring rich dividends to city game developers

 

The ‘Avion Flight Simulator’ downloaded more than 7.5 million times

When people across the globe were backing either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump late last year, two game developers from the city bet their luck on the U.S. presidential elections.

Finally when the elections were declared, Asar Dhandala and Satish Chandra were richer by a few lakhs. The duo behind the mobile game, ‘Avion Flight Simulator’ introduced an update during the elections which doubled their revenues.

“We wanted to take advantage of the elections and introduced Air Force One flight, the official carrier of the U.S. President to the existing fleet,” said Mr. Dhandala.

“Users had to purchase the flight for $ 3 if they wanted to fly it using simulator. A lot of people paid for the additional feature and our revenues doubled during the U.S. elections,” he added.

The game has been downloaded more than 7.5 million times on Android, IOS and Windows operating systems since its launch in mid-2015. The game also helped the team generate revenues of around Rs. 50 lakh.

The game is a big hit in other countries than in India.

According to the developers, the game has the maximum downloads from USA, Russia, Brazil and Germany followed by India in the fifth position.

It was a chance meeting of the two gamers from Backstage Pass Institute of Gaming and Technology which gave birth to the idea of working on a simulator game.

“Though our target was three months, we developed the game within two months. We almost worked for 18 hours a day.

We analysed the top games and went through the reviews. We wanted to develop a product which was the best among the flight simulator games.

We are glad that our game is in the second position in this category of mobile games,” said Mr. Dhandala.

In 2017, the youngsters want to come up with a better version of the game which includes refined engines and improved graphics.