Dec 23, 2015 | By Andre
The digital world and the physical world have been separate from each other since the digital revolution began in the closing decades of the 20th century. More specifically, video games and screen based media have always been a step removed from the physical realm. But with the internet of things making its way into our homes at an ever increasing pace, that separation is starting to narrow.
Gamaya, a small video game company is among the early pushers that want to combine the two. With Gamaya: Restore the Legend they have created a fully 3D virtual environment for your tablet or smart phone that tells much of the story of Ramayana, an epic poem often regarded as one of the great works in Indian literature.
The physical world enters the conversation with a rather unique style of character presentation. To play the game, you also need a 3D printed statuette that is produced and sold by the company. From there, the player needs to place their collectable 3D printed character onto a platform that in turn communicates wirelessly directly via a bluetooth connection to your tablet or smartphone.
A unique feature to this is that purchased figurine stores individual scores and achievements directly onto the toy so you can move from one tablet to another all while keeping your character statistics intact. This is something that was touched up on in an interesting interview with Narayanan Vaidyanathan, CEO of Gamaya as seen below.
While the Gamaya mission statement ”promotes the tradition of storytelling through simple stories that have been passed down through generations to teach values that enrich our lives”, there’s no doubt ambitions of profit are in their minds as well.
In the above video, Narayanan Vaidyanathan suggests that “legends don’t die, they get tired.” This basically means the more real-world characters you have at your disposal, the longer you can play and the further along in the game you can get. Additionally, he believes players will be enthusiastic of the box design and physical characters to the point they will quickly become collectables.
All being said, the merger between the virtual and physical realm for entertainment platforms is definitely in the early stages. And while this game hasn’t blown the roof off of anything from a technological standpoint, the presentation and novel approach to gaming is something to be praised. It appears I’m not the only one that thinks this. They have been funded by valley based Tandem Capital & NEA along with some independent investors so further development and manufacturing of the physical characters is all but guaranteed in the short term. From a development standpoint, the team includes 7 members from Silicon Valley & 12 from Chennai, India.
As time goes on, the company expects to expand with other folklore based products, possibly enter the VR space and expand on their already growing collectables. In fact, since its launch in November and through to to June of 2016, new levels will be available free with the purchase of each character and their unique skillset.
The Ramayana characters of Rama, Mahiravana, Hanuman, Sugriva, Sita, Jatayu, Lakshmana, Indrajit, Anjana & Ravana are all part of the adventure. You can get yourself a copy of the game today through the Google Play and Apple Store.
Posted in 3D Printing Application
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Not really seeing the innovation here as: Skylanders, Lego Dimentions, Disney Infinity, and Nintendo amiibo are all in full swing and have been for years.
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