World Environment Day 2023: Kerala backwaters gets its own video game

'Spirit of the Backwaters', a Kerala video game.

He calls himself Rural Bandit, and although he divulged his real name, it is his earnest request to keep it a secret. “It would be great if my real name is not used as I'm quite a private/reserved person,” he emailed from Oxford, England. However, he is willing to talk about the promo he just loaded on YouTube and Steam store page, a game trailer which has garnered more eyeballs than what he had expected.

'Spirit of the Backwaters', a Kerala video game.

The Spirit of the Backwaters is probably the first video game to be set in Kerala and judging by the messages, people are eagerly waiting for its release and some have even asked if they could support the project. Having put a snippet of a year’s worth of work on public platform, Rural Bandit is delighted. “The trailer somehow captured the attention of a LOT of people who got very excited about it. So, I decided to push it out a bit more and it seems like the people, who are into farming sims like Stardew Valley, have really liked the idea. It was very important for me that a global audience should also be able to enjoy the game without the culture being kind of a barrier. But I'm glad It hasn't.”

In the game, the player moves to a quaint village by the backwaters and learns the art of toddy tapping. Eventually, they get to take over the local toddy shop and then, get to run it however they like. There will also be some farming and fishing, interacting with the local villagers and slowly, the player gets to be a part of the community by attending the festivals and taking part in the mini-games. “I'm trying to incorporate some local folklore into the narrative, there are some supernatural elements and most importantly, the game is about the art of brewing this amazing drink. Toddy-tapping is a traditional job which is slowly in decline despite having so much interest and demand for it. It is hard work and although the government is helping, the younger generation has some apprehension about taking up the job.”

'Spirit of the Backwaters', a Kerala video game.

Rural Bandit hails from Thrissur in Kerala. A college dropout, he describes himself as a self-taught illustrator and animator. He worked for a couple of design studios and as a freelance artist in Bengaluru. Prior to becoming a gamer, he simply played video games. The idea of developing games was just intimidating given his lack of knowledge in it. “As an artist, something as technical as writing codes was just daunting, so I never bothered enough and chose to enjoy playing games instead.”

Two years back, when he and his wife moved to the UK, Rural Bandit started to send out applications for jobs so that he could continue his career in a design agency in London while his wife pursued her studies at Oxford. “Out of the 50-odd applications I had sent out, I barely got any response, let alone an interview,” Rural Bandit recollected. “So, I took up whatever job that I could find at that point, which was driving industrial tow trucks at a car production plant here in Oxford.” Unfortunately, the plant temporarily shut down last year due to the conflicts in Ukraine. “I was home with nothing much to do. I used to be on 12-hour night shifts, so, out of habit, I ended up staying up all night and sleeping all day. It was one such nights, I randomly started googling about making games. I had never assumed it was possible for a game to be made by a solo developer or that it could also be financially viable. When morning came, I convinced my wife that I'm going to make a game.”

'Spirit of the Backwaters', a Kerala video game.

The indie scene of game developing in India is quite active. There’s a community called Gamedev.in where one can get to know the developers and the games coming out from India. Some of the successful games like Raji and Asura have marked Indian influence and some games have a lot of culture representation. One of the upcoming games, Venba, designed by a Toronto-based game developer, is a short narrative cooking game where the player plays an Indian mom who immigrates to Canada in the 1980s.

Yadu Rajiv, game designer, developer and the founder of Gamedev.in, said, “I personally feel that smaller indies telling newer and interesting stories which are, maybe, more contemporary are far more interesting than those revisiting mythology without much deviation or using it as just flavouring.” Not only that, more games are trying to move away from the regular cultural tropes (read mythology) and Indian gamers are now quite open to trying Indie games like Mumbai Gullies or The Palace on the Hill.

From the beginning, Rural Bandit’s intention was to make a farming simulator because Stardew Valley had left an indelible impression on him during the pandemic. “I also knew the game had to be set in or at least be inspired by the place and the culture that I grew up with. I remember watching TV shows from Kerala about the food served in toddy shops. I had also come across a student documentary film which showed a day in the life of a toddy tapper, a fisherman and the chef of the Toddy shop. All their activities conclude with a glass of fresh toddy served with hot spicy food. It seemed like the perfect premise for a farming sim.”

'Spirit of the Backwaters', a Kerala video game.

Choosing the setting of the picturesque backwaters was a masterstroke. Rural Bandit believes that his farming sim can influence the game world, its mechanics and economy and just the overall feel of playing being in the place. As Rural Bandit opined, “In the farming sim genre, which is mostly representative of the Western ideas of rural life, I think this can contribute to something different.” A Stardew Valley gamer, after seeing the Spirit of the Backwaters trailer, agreed, “Since I have visited Kerala as a tourist, I think it will be thrilling to navigate the waters virtually. I don’t care for the taste of toddy but why not be a toddy tapper?”

Although there aren’t overheads like hiring someone (which is an expensive component in game developing), Rural Bandit is working part-time jobs to fund the game development. He is actively seeking a publisher and has yet to formally announce the launch date. The pace may be slow, he admits, but so is the life at the backwaters.