Whenever we catch breath of “news” like this, our somewhat attempts at analyzing it usually draws to the same conclusion. Indian developer announces or shows off game project. Indian developer assures that the game will hold significance when released to the masses. The Angry Pixel pans Indian developer, with the sort of reasoning you get after getting being butt-whipped with a wet towel in the boy’s locker room while changing. Rinse, lather, repeat. And trust me, I don’t like it coming down to that. I want India to grow as a viable platform for game development. But this is just making it too easy, that even Ravi decided not to comment about it. And he wrote the book on Bollywood bashing around these parts.

UPDATE: Apparently, these screens are from an in-house engine test and are nowhere near the current version’s visual representation. Expect to see some real hard facts, and less PR blunder. Thanks to Sanjit for the coolly, collective clarification. Gosh, aren’t I the bumbling douche bucket now. I don’t suppose anyone from the Rocking Pixels team would be interested in dressing up as a ninja, eh?

Fact-checks for the uninformed: Love Story 2050 is a Bollywood futuristic slash romance slash more futuristic film, tapping into a budget of over 60 crores and starring newcomer Hrithik Roshan Harman Baweja (his dad being the director) and Priyanka Chopra. Sci-fi oriented flicks are usually an anti-dime in a anti-dozen when you’re talking about this kind of industry – in fact, I think the last picture I saw of such sorts was back in 2006, when Harman Baweja Hrithik Roshan decided to don black clothing, a half-broken mask, and call himself a superhero with a name that practically spelled out his secret idenity. And Priyanka Chopra was in that one too! Whoa, small world.

Anyway, I’m not directing any heat on the film here. I’ve had my fair share of arguments on what the Bollywood industry should be focusing on, but hey, I’m also one biased speck of dust when it comes to all the films I try to relate to. But when ContentSutra posted up the first batch of screens on the PC game that the movie is being based upon, well, I got pretty flustered. The film is supposed to be set in the future. The future! The future can have anything! You want friggin’ Indian ninjas doing friggin’ backflips off friggin’ flying cars with friggin’ androids packing friggin’ lasers, shit, the film just might have it (just not in the order of pretense)! But what does the “future” have for this game?

White t-shirted, behind-the-back 3D model’s view of a darkened room with illuminating computer screens of the same wallpaper texture. Red cross hair. Standing there, leaning shoulders and all.

A jet flying (?) over arrow-tip shaped buildings, with no indication of life anywhere to be seen. No traffic of any sorts, be it the flying-car types or the grounded-car ones. Apparently, the sun decided to explode that day. Maybe that has something to do with the lack of life.

Don’t pull out the “Well, it’s better than what most Indian developers churn out” card. Is it my fault games from other countries are sold legally here in India too? Do I even need to link to all the stuff the Indie gaming community has been showcasing? Because I’m gonna! Even from an artistic point, Agni suddenly seems more appealing to me than this.

I’m not asking for the next Shadow of the Colossus or BioShock here. But tell yourselves: do you really think, you, the developer of a game of which no one knows little to nothing about, will want to hear what others have got to say when you show them something like that? You’re better than this, dammit. I’ve seen what artists in India can do. Just because you have the financial backing of an industry that has more money than it knows what to do with, doesn’t mean you have to resort yourselves to pointless cash-ins of which only the saas-bahus of the world will want to contemplate bringing to their children. You deserve better.

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• Crazy Says:
  Sunday, May 25th, 2008 07:16 am GMT +5.5 at 7:16 am

  I ve to admit the draw distance is pretty good…even GTA IV cannot manage such a suliminal draw distance with a stable framerate…:-p

• Vijay Sinha Says:
  Sunday, May 25th, 2008 03:29 pm GMT +5.5 at 3:29 pm

  You are seriously chugging some nasty dishwater fluid if you think you can even compare the draw distance to this game and GTAIV. There aren’t nearly as many objects being rendered, there aren’t any pedestrians or traffic to speak of, and last time I checked – screenshots don’t tell you a game’s framerate.

  thankyou, comeagain~

• h3lios Says:
  Monday, May 26th, 2008 02:21 am GMT +5.5 at 2:21 am

  *sigh*

  Another Indian effort bites the dust. i wonder if they were too busy swimming in the cash blindly donated to them by the movie execs to even bother making a half decent attempt. Whatever the case may be we’ve all seen stuff which is easier on the eyes.

• Tubadoor Says:
  Monday, May 26th, 2008 11:06 am GMT +5.5 at 11:06 am

  Shh shh… C’mon, a little round of applause for the effort..
  It’s a screenshot, there’s no mention of how far into development it is, or when the screenies were taken, or well.. anything else about the game.
  What engine is it? Only PC? Any idea what kind of specs they’re targetting (hence Target market… smaller cities probably have less hardcore hardware)

  What else… yeh… Are these screenies just to show us what kind of engine they’re using, or what (approx) graphical quality we can expect.
  Maybe they will have some traffic thrown in, some more objects, better looking environment.
  Hell, maybe the story will be amazing..
  YEh… it could happen..
  (… couldn’t it?)
  ..

  C’mon people.. let’s hope for the best, put on our skimpy tops, yellow thongs and shake those Pom POMs!!
  GO Indian Gaming INdustry GO!

• Sanjit [ Rocking Pixels ] Says:
  Monday, May 26th, 2008 04:46 pm GMT +5.5 at 4:46 pm

  Hi Guys

  Some retarded half assed moron has released these pics claiming that these are the 2050 screenshots. These were rough inhouse engine tests which our PR agents with zero IQ had released to the public. The real game runs on an NVIDIA 9800GTX and above using GPU accelerated Physics (tearable cloth, breakable objects etc), vehicles, full HDR etc. And yes we do have huge draw distance with a completely dynamic sunlight model with soft shadows (thanks for noticing). This is running off our inhouse shader based engine. The actual game we are developing for 2050 will obviously feature visuals similar to those in the movie.

  So most of us dont own a 9800? Well we do have solution to that as well, stay tuned You wont be disappointed – infact we are glad that there are guys out there who appreciate Bioshock and dont believe that all India needs are those childish flash / mobile games !

  Cheers!
  Sanjit
  Rocking Pixels Entertainment Pvt Ltd.

• Vijay Sinha Says:
  Monday, May 26th, 2008 09:28 pm GMT +5.5 at 9:28 pm

  Thanks for the update, Sanjit. Had I known these were shots from an older build version, I would have gladly kept my yap shut and not jump the gun. I will make the necessary changes to this post reflecting your comments, that is, once I get home from work.

  Still, I stand by my earlier comments and expect to see some significant improvements/changes in your team’s game (as well as future projects). Best of luck to you all!

• Sanjit [ Rocking Pixels ] Says:
  Monday, May 26th, 2008 10:45 pm GMT +5.5 at 10:45 pm

  Thanks Vijay. Well, these shots are not just an older version but something else totally – completely unrelated to 2050. Surely you dont expect to see Harman Baweja, dressed in an ordinary white shirt standing in the middle of the desert! The actual screenshots and in-game videos will be available in 2 weeks time and a press meet is scheduled for the end of June where we will reveal our plans to deliver top quality 3D Indian games.

  Its a positive thing to see so many craving for quality gaming from Indian developers and we wont disappoint them!

• Cerius Shah Says:
  Tuesday, May 27th, 2008 12:36 pm GMT +5.5 at 12:36 pm

  Sanjit, you are right, the retarded half assed morons for a PR agency shouldn’t have released the retarded half assed moron screenshots. I mean, why would they go to town with it without getting a confirmation from the developer? What kind of firm takes it for granted that promotional material is provided to the mills when the product is not ready? Oh! And they don’t even have the shame to offer a retraction, in-fact, they completely change the game (literally)!

  Completely understandable,

  Cheers,
  Cerius

• Sanjit [ Rocking Pixels ] Says:
  Wednesday, May 28th, 2008 01:53 am GMT +5.5 at 1:53 am

  Enjoyed that thoroughly ! Thanks dude !

• salada Says:
  Sunday, June 1st, 2008 03:33 am GMT +5.5 at 3:33 am

  oh my cod
  luv this film