Confession Time
I would like to make a confession before I begin. I never understood the term – “entrepreneur”. A definition in my school textbook sounded like this -“A person who risks his money to start a new business.” But I never got the gist of it and considered an entrepreneur to be a businessman.
Follow Your Passion
From a very young age, I wanted to do something of my own. I was very fond of PC Games and waited anxiously for the launch of big titles like GTA, Hitman, Assassins Creed etc.. and spent all my pocket money on buying these games. But what inspired me more than the gameplay were graphics and animations in these games. I was fascinated by how developers used motion blur technology and created some fantastic effects in games.
After my board exams, I decided to follow my passion and was planning to join a full-time animation course for graduation. After all, exploring creativity is a risky proposition.
My Experience with a Start-up
Then came the next big hurdle – placements. I got a job offer as “3-D generalist” in a Delhi Based Gaming Start-up. I decided to take it and it turned out to be one of the smartest decisions I have ever made in my short career so far. My decision was considered a mistake then by my friends because my peers and friends joined established companies and got good salaries as freshers. But working in a startup gave me an opportunity to learn things rapidly, provide feedback, argue and even reject a model completely (yes we were given that much freedom).
We were a team of 4. All of the same age with similar thoughts, values and ethos. We had our fair share of arguments – but most of it resulted in positive feedback.
We used to make 2-3 minute 3-d animation intro clips for games. The major challenge was the small size of our team. There were on two 3-d generalists that handled everything from character sketching, storyboarding till the final composting. We needed to deliver a final product that was presentable, appealing and complied to industry standards within a month. I believe that our pain will be shared by those people who are familiar with rendering.
But we learnt from our mistakes and found innovative solutions to complex problems.
Going My Own Sweet Way
After some time, I started working on the Unity3d Gaming engine. I used to make enhancements in the overall scenes, import and blend 3d animations, play with the source scripts to optimise the game and make overall adjustments. I learned each and every bit of it. All on my own.
I got fascinated by the enormous power that a great engine had and the fact that a rookie like me got so familiar with the tools and coding. When I was used to the overall production pipeline, I decided to develop my own mobile game. Another crossroad and yet another tough decision. I left my job and practiced coding for the next 6 months and then I started working on my solo project.
My Experience Developing My First Game
I burnt the midnight oil and spent 12-16 hours at a stretch on development. Since this was an independent project, there were days when I was fed up of trying to find solutions to problems. I had no choice but to keep on going. When I was too tired to carry on, I used to take a day off and relax.
Finally after an extensive amount of coding, headaches, sleepless nights, and what not, my game was live on the App Store and Google Play. It took me 6-7 months to build the entire game. Even the music and sounds in the game were developed by me.
The game got accepted on the apple store at the first go.
And in Android It is currently in the “Top New Free Games” section of Adventure Category in Android Google Play India.
Final Thoughts
Perhaps working in a startup was the best thing that ever happened to me. Working on projects all alone gave me the power and confidence to go solo. The willpower, hard work and persistence of my founders inspired me to make a difference and follow my passion.
The last few months made me realise that there is a lot more to the term – entrepreneur.
In fact, there is a world of difference between a businessman and entrepreneur.
An entrepreneur believes in his vision and is willing to take any risk and prove the naysayers wrong.
An entrepreneur invents things!
An entrepreneur can change the world!
Feel free to check out my firstgame – “Kuhu’s Planet” in the App Store and Google Play store. I would love to get your feedback on this.
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asha chaudhry
wow. really neat story akshay!
and congrats on being in the top 20!
do you have a twitter handle? if you could add it at the end of the post it would help me mention it while tweeting 🙂
Akshay Mahna
Thank you for your wishes Asha. Yes i do have a Twitter handle. I will definitely add it. 🙂
Thank you for pointing that out. 🙂
Rajat Das
Hey Akshay, played Kuhu’s planet and loved it. I remember that you introduced me to the world of gaming in seventh grade. And I am very happy to see you follow your passion.
Keep up the good work! 🙂
Joginder Tanikella
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Hi Akshay,
Fantastic! Great game.
BTW, I’m download no. 101 🙂
I just love the facts that You –
1. Used your best resource, i.e., You
2. Taught yourself new skills including conceptualising the content and the music.
3. Created a new game-play paradigm.
Keep going and remember all it it takes is just one game-changer! (pun intended)
I would be very happy to help out in any way possible and please get in touch when free.
Wishing all the best and looking forward to updates about Kuhu’s planet and your future creations.
Best Regards,
Joginder
LinkedIn Profile
Akshay Mahna
Thank you for your wishes Joginder! Going solo really helped me to get more organised.
I learned the music from Garage Band in iPad, its a great tool for a beginner to learn new skills .
You will see lots of challenges and levels in the next update. 🙂
and yes, Will definitely get in touch ! 🙂
Akshay Mahna
Haha! Good old Days Rajat.
Thank you so much for your wishes 🙂
Alok Rodinhood Kejriwal
Loved the Art – especially the Icon. Its super.
3 questions:
– Why is the game 24 MB? Because of the Unity framework?
– What is 7 day retention?
– Have you written to Google Play for promotion? Attention?
– Are you open to making more games on a revenue share basis? We (games2win) promotes – you make – we earn 50-50?
Congratulations. We need 100000 more Gaming entrepreneurs like you!
if you have ANY challenges, write to alok@rodinhood.com – always there for you
Akshay Mahna
Thank you so much for your wishes Alok! 🙂
First the answer to your questions
– Why is the game 24 MB? Because of the Unity framework?
Yes, it is because of the Unity framework. I really had a hard time struggling with reducing my file size. Earlier it was coming out to be around 50 mb. Adjusting the stripping level, API compatibility level and even texture compressions made a lot of difference and it got reduced to 24 mb. But I agree that the size is still heavy (if we compare it to the gameplay). Will try to figure it out, may be i am missing something.
– What is 7 day retention?
According to the Analytics, 85% of users who installed the game were active 7 days later.
– Have you written to Google Play for promotion? Attention?
No, I haven’t written to Google Play yet.
And yes, i do have many ideas about the updates and other games for the future. Would love to meet you soon 🙂
Thanks for sending me your email Id. I will mail you all details by tonight.
asha chaudhry
hey akshay,
plan to make a game on the blue moon?!
🙂
Akshay Mahna
That seems to be an interesting concept Asha!
Can give an Indian touch to my game 😉