A Whanganui UCOL student is set to take gamers on an adventure through ancient China, and on a mission to colonise the solar system, with the launch of two new video games.
Originally from Hyderabad, India, Anirudh Cheruvu, is currently pursuing Master of Design from UCOL and is set to launch two games for Android and iOS; Eternal Vengeance – a martial arts role-playing game set in 16th century China – and Celestial, a planet-colonising strategy game.
Mr Cheruvu had showcased both these games in separate events on UCOL’s Whanganui and Palmerston North campuses on Tuesday, June 27, and Wednesday, June 28, respectively.
At these events, people were able to play versions of the games before they are officially released on both Android and iOS in mid-July.
Anirudh has collaborated with a number of fellow Whanganui UCOL students on the project. Music students have made the audio for both games, while Computer Graphic Design student Reuben McGinity is helping with the level design.
UCOL Lecturer Gary Whiting, who is supervising Anirudh’s Master of Design Research, says it’s exciting to see a student take on such ambitious projects while studying.
Speaking to Indian Weekender, Mr Cheruvu acknowledged the support of his family, especially younger sister Pramada Lanka who has been a continuous source of inspiration behind this project.
“My sister is the reason behind this project.
“She is a homemaker with two kids back in Hyderabad and had learned about game development from me over the Skype in last two months and had been working on this project since then,” Mr Cheruvu said.
Before coming to New Zealand, Mr Cheruvu had been working on games in Hyderabad for five years and had a degree of Btech in Information Technology along with a Diploma in game designing from Maya Academy of Advanced Cinematics (MAAC).
The project is being designed, developed and funded by an Auckland-based gaming start-up company Puppet Masters Interactive Ltd (PMI).
Speaking with Indian Weekender, the CEO of the company, Giri Tata, another Indian of Telugu descent, said, “We are planning to showcase these games in Beijing Game Developer Conference and few other international destinations,” Mr Tata said.
Mr Tata has been a Java developer for about twenty years before venturing into property development and game development. He has expressed his confidence in the product.
“We are confident that it will be well received by the market,” Mr Tata further said.
The idea of the project began about four years ago in 2013 and is currently at an advanced stage of completion with plans to launch it officially in mid-July.