Against the backdrop of a fast developing transnational ITES gaming industry, theres no dearth of career opportunities as India establishes a reputation as the next gaming hubA by-product of the booming IT, ITES (information technology enabled services) and the BPO (business process outsourcing) sectors, the gaming industry, born out of the leisure pursuits of IT geeks, has become a major global industry in its own right. And not only in the US and Japan, but also in slow-coach India where only 3 percent of the countrys 160 million households have internet connectivity.
A rising star of Indias entertainment sector, the annual revenue of the countrys nascent gaming industry is estimated at $45 million (Rs.194 crore). According to the National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), the sales revenue of Indian gaming companies touched $30 million (Rs.129 crore) in 2005 and is expected to rise to $300 million (Rs.1,290 crore) in 2009. Meanwhile the annual revenue flow from the global gaming market estimated at $19 billion (Rs.81,700 crore) in 2005, is expected to take a quantum leap to $36 billion by 2009.
Currently specialist divisions and subsidiaries of IT megaliths as well as garage start-ups are providing console video, desktop, online, mobile and wireless games at bewildering speed. In particular the online gaming market which allows contestants separated by vast oceans to play mind games and match skills, is all set to experience boom conditions as access and broadband connectivity rates improve significantly. Against this backdrop of a fast-developing transnational gaming industry, theres no dearth of career options as Indias reputation as the next gaming hub is growing by leaps and bounds.
The process of games development generally involves three stages — the creative process (conceptualisation and visualisation), production (graphics, animation and programming), and finally, testing on a multiplicity of platforms and media (video, desktop, mobile etc). Designations in this sunrise industry range from lead artist, pre-production concept artist, modeller, texture artist, lighting environment artist, creative writer and FX artist, game coder, level designer, technologist/programmer.
Graduates from engineering, fine arts, science and commerce streams, are employable in this industry. For programming and game design, IT, engineering and science graduates are generally preferred. In the graphics and concepts divisions, a fine arts background is a prerequisite. For porting and testing (the final stage of game development), individuals with engineering/technical backgrounds are most suitable. For sales and marketing, an MBA or any other degree will do, as long as you are passionate about online gaming.
The best study and preparation programmes in this field are of the Sir J.J. Institute of Applied Art, Mumbai which offers a bachelors in fine and applied arts (BFA) with specialisation in visualisation; National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad offers a graduate diploma programme in design with specialisation in communication design and postgrad diploma programmes in graphic design, new media design and animation film design; the arts faculty of MS University of Baroda offers a postgrad degree and diploma in graphic arts. The bachelor of design programme of the Symbiosis Institute of Design, Pune, the digital 3D modelling and animation and digital interactive multimedia programmes of NIIT and Aptechs Skill Builder study courses are also worth checking out.
Certainly any trouble taken to check out career prospects in this sunrise industry is worth the effort. A fresher programmer/designer starts off with Rs.2 lakh-plus per annum which can rise to Rs.3-6 lakh within two years. Salaries at the top are for the asking.
Indias gaming market is all set to explode. It has the potential to become as big, exciting and profitable as it is in China, US, Japan and Korea. With the emergence of MMOGs or massively multi-player online games (huge game communities with lakhs of people playing simultaneously), online gaming is all the rage. My company which is into MMOGs, was the first to create Indias multiplayer online dancing game called Dance Mela, claims Nimit Panpalia, head of advertising and sales at the Mumbai-based Kreeda Games India Pvt Ltd, a start-up venture (2006) of three maverick engineers with big dreams and now funded by IDG Ventures and Softbank Bodhi Investment, two of the top venture capitalists in online gaming.
A commerce graduate of SIES College, Mumbai, Panpalia has considerable experience of the internet domain, having worked with Monster.com and Bharatmatrimony.com prior to signing up with Kreeda Games in 2007. The most crucial requirement for success in the gaming industry is single-minded passion for computer and online gaming. Creating bestseller games is like making movies; it requires teamwork, actors and a technical crew, asserts Panpalia.
With its labour cost advantage, India has the potential to become a hub for outsourced work in the gaming industry, subject to availability of trained professionals. Unfortunately theres a tremendous dearth of game testers, animators, content managers, etc. Moreover theres an urgent need to develop quality gaming syllabuses, curriculums and diploma programmes by computer education institutes such as NIIT, Aptech, MAYA among others, says Panpalia.
Young people would be well-advised to check out this new rewarding and creatively satisfying career.
Indra Gidwani (Mumbai)