We’re exploring a beautiful world in this week’s Indie Game Spotlight! Raji: An Ancient Epic is an action-adventure game set in ancient India. Raji, a young girl, is chosen by the gods to stand against the demonic invasion of the human realm. Her destiny is to rescue her younger brother and face the demon lord Mahabalasura. We chatted with Nodding Heads Games’ co-founders and art directors, Shruti and Ian, co-founder and game designer Avichal, and lead programmer Paras, to find out more.
The game has stunning visuals. What inspiration did the team look to when creating this art style?
The art style comes from Shruti, who has a traditional art background. She was influenced by Pahari paintings, a traditional art form in India. This led to the unique hand-painted art style of Raji, which was achieved with UE4.
India’s vast wealth of medieval architecture also inspired locations and settings in the game, and this is something that the art team adapted for Raji.
How does the game incorporate culture and myths into the story?
The game’s setting, characters, enemies, and story arc take inspiration from myths and stories in Hindu and Balinese mythology. We have designed specific features that tell tales from Hindu mythology through hand-painted murals narrated by the God Vishnu. Our 2D cinematics were inspired by Wayang puppetry.
What has been the biggest challenge in creating the game?
Finding the necessary funding! Here’s the journey we went through:
After the cancellation of our Kickstarter in December 2017, there was little development until October 2018, when we signed up with Super.com. Throughout that period, we were continually chasing potential leads. As you can gather, this was a very stressful time for all three of us. At one point, we had to sit down and say, “when are we going to call it quits?”
We told the other members to start looking for work and look after themselves. Unfortunately, these are the realities when you’ve thrown all your eggs into one basket. But this shouldn’t stop you from turning down offers, which we did because it may not have aligned with our long-term goals.
At the end of the day, you have to be prepared to walk away or dig deep. In our case, we dug in, not prepared to give up on our dream and “what if’s.” Around this time, Shruti sold her apartment so we could survive a little longer.
The Epic grant came in the nick of time and helped us survive until we secured a deal with a publisher; it’s been 200% ever since. The team increased to 13, and we haven’t looked back. We are, however, very grateful to have been recipients of the Unreal Grant system. Without it, we can safely say that we would not be here telling our tale.
What are some of the mechanics you incorporated into the game?
The game features a combat system based on Raji’s acrobatic abilities. In the backstory, Raji is a street performer. Keeping this in mind, we designed the core combat mechanics so that her movement leads to a diverse set of attacks. Combining the light and heavy attack combos with the character’s dodging and wall-running capabilities leads to a fluent execution of attacks.
There are many parkour and platforming elements in the game, including wall-running, grabbing and moving along ledges, and jumping from pillar to pillar. The level design allows the player to chain these individual mechanics to perform sweet and satisfying parkour combos and progress through the areas specifically designed for platforming.
The game contains simple yet holistic environment puzzles that are either linked to the player’s progression in the level or are tools for us to tell stories that tie in to Raji’s wider universe.
What do you hope people take away after playing?
This game has been our attempt to tap into the rich ancient history, myths, and lores from the Indian subcontinent, which are cruelly underrepresented in the gaming industry. We hope that the people who play Raji become familiar with it and realize the true potential for storytelling in Indian culture and history.
Raji: An Ancient Epic is available for purchase on PC through Steam and the Epic Game Store, Playstation 4, Xbox One, and Switch!
