Smash Games Talks About Making Games In India & Their Upcoming Game The Last Train

Smash Game Studios are working on a brand new game called “The Last Train”. They are an independent game studio based out of Mumbai.  The game will be launching on Steam sometime during April-May 2018. You can support them in their campaign at Indiegogo.

We got the opportunity to have a chat with Hari Prasadh, Lead Creative at Smash Game Studios to talk about his inspirations and ideas behind The Last Train.

Gaming Central: Tell us a bit about yourself. What got you interested in video games? (and what was the first game that you remember)?

Hari Prasadh: I’ve been in the industry for the last 4 years. I completed my Game Design and Film and Television degree from Bond University Australia and then I moved to Digipen for a year to improve my programming skills. My career started off at Games2Win, I got an opportunity to work on some of their best franchises, after that I begun work as a Lead Creative Designer at Smash Game Studios.

I’ve been into video games ever since I can remember, especially playing Super Mario Bros on the Famicom. However, during my teens just as my interest in video games began to dwindle, three franchises came along that encouraged me to make a career in video gaming. The franchises were Final Fantasy series (Specifically 7), Metal Gear Solid and Pokémon, the complex and beautiful stories that the medium was able to convey with the limited scope and technology available to them at the time absolutely blew me away. Since then I’ve been striving to create games which resonate with the player on a personal level.

GC: How did you get started with developing games?

Hari: I started developing games at a very young age using some basic software like Scratch Engine and the really early versions of Game Maker. Infact, the first full-fledged project I ever worked on was at the age of 14 and surprisingly it’s still available online!

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/11899/

During every summer vacation in school I made it a point to learn one or two new softwares a year since grade 6 or 7. Started off with Photoshop, Flash, then moved on to 3ds Max, Maya, Premiere, etc. Knowing well that I wanted to make this my career I started doing the ground work pretty early on.

GC: Tell us about The Last Train? What were your inspirations for the game? Why did you choose to to make the game in this particular genre?

Hari: The Last Train is an Alternate History Survival Strategy Game. As one of the last few survivors of World War II America, you help the remaining survivors using your train piloting skills. On your way through the country, you will come across a wide range of interesting characters and will be rewarded generously by the rich and get the moral satisfaction of helping the poor. Who will you choose?? The game will feature deep, engaging crafting and scavenging systems along with a compelling storyline.

The reason we decided to go with this project was because we initially had an idea for a disaster management sim. Which was about helping people move from destroyed cities to safe shelters spread across the country using the subway. In the development stage we chose to use all the knowledge we had about World War II and design a game around it. The timeline worked out perfectly, the game starts a few months after the Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The question we asked ourselves was what if Japan had the resources for one last devastating blow and how would that have affected normal people like you and me.

Telling stories about people going about their day to day lives really intrigued us. The year, 1945, was one of the most defining years in the history of the United States. A lot of things were changing, the role of women in society was changing, the start of the television revolution and it was the start of the suburban family life. All this gave us a huge opportunity to explore different kinds of people and how a disaster of that magnitude would affect their lives.

GC:  If you weren’t a game developer you would be a…?

Hari: I would have probably been a Writer for Movies/TV shows or a Doctor, since I have about 20 odd doctors in my family.

GC:  What inspires you outside of gaming?

Hari: The thing that inspires me the most apart from gaming is definitely my reading habit. From current affairs, politics, business, to sports, etc. everything interests me. Being a fan of World History, for The Last Train the knowledge about the World War II really came in handy. Music is also a big inspiration, you will mostly find me with my earphones on listening to some Hip-Hop (Jay Z, Kanye, Kendrick, etc.) and Modern EDM.

GC:  What lessons have you learned, working in the gaming industry?

Hari: One of the most valuable things I’ve learnt working in the gaming industry is the importance of collaboration and team synergy. Making games is one of those things where you need all the teams working on your project to be on the same page at all times and the importance of communication between teams so that the company stays efficient in the use of its time. Which is why we need to take our hats off for huge studios like Ubisoft that have so many teams across the world working on the same project. It must be one of the most difficult task to manage the project let alone have the game ready for release almost every October 31st.

GC: What’s your current viewpoint regarding the gaming scenario in India? Where do you see it heading in the next 5-10 years?

Hari: If the Indian Gaming Industry was a human being, we are at the awkward teenage years. When you look back 10 years, studios from India have contributed to help bring some of the biggest releases made by other studios come to life. Now we are at the cross roads, where we are seeing developers mature and take bigger risks in creating New IPs. The trailblazer in that category is the team behind Raji: The Ancient Epic. The team has done an exceptional job in not only showcasing the history of India but also highlighting the talent we have here in our country. If the team manages to pull it off it will pave the way for more studios to take risks in making AAA titles.

Apart from this exciting development we also have developers thriving in the mobile space. Lead by Studios like Games2Win, Nazara Games, Octro Inc. etc. In the next 10 years the amount of talent which will be coming out of game design colleges like DSK, iCAT etc. will be huge and it will not come as a surprise if we have many AAA studios based here in India. I’m really looking forward to be a part of that moment.

GC: Which games did you enjoy playing this year?

Hari: I really enjoyed playing Legend of Zelda: BOTW, Horizon Zero Dawn, Final Fantasy 15, Persona 5, Fortnite and a fair share of NBA 2K18.

GC:  What is your favorite game at the moment and what makes it special?

Hari: I’ll have to choose between Final Fantasy 15 and Persona 5. I’m still playing Persona 5 so I’ll wait till I play a bit more and then judge the game, however since I just got a chance to complete Final Fantasy 15 it’s still fresh in my mind. By no means was that game perfect because I felt like the 2nd half of the game was rushed for release. If the entire game was like the 1st half then I think FF15 could have easily been one of the best games this generation.

I enjoyed the story, the synergy between the characters and the new Combat System. When they opened the game with the statement saying “A Final Fantasy for Long-Time Fans and New-Comers” they weren’t kidding. I think it was probably one of the most unique takes on an action based combat system ever. One of the main reasons I chose this game over Breath of the Wild was because of the story and the writing. The story pacing was great, the game featured so many memorable characters and I think this game has one of the best opening sequences right up there with Bioshock’s Welcome to the Rapture and Unchartered 2’s Train Sequences. The camaraderie and the banter between the four characters made them so grounded and relatable and let’s not forget about the Florence + Machine’s title track “Stand By Me”. These are just a few reasons why I love the game.

GC:  Anything else you would like to add?

Hari: You can get more insights about The Last Train by checking out the dev blogs we put out. Here are a few we have so far Dev Blog 1, 2 and 3. If you want to know anything more about the game feel free to hit me up on twitter @hariprasadh.

Thanks Hari for taking the time out to speak with us amidst your busy schedule. We’re are looking for to The Last Train. The game will be launching on Steam sometime during April-May 2018. You can support them in their campaign at Indiegogo.