How many times have you felt you’re playing a video game while commuting the streets of Bengaluru? While most of us rant about the city’s never-ending traffic woes, product designer Harin Nitisvaar, who has worked with quick commerce delivery platforms like Zepto, Swiggy and the now defunct Dunzo, saw something else: a game waiting to be played. “Every commute feels dramatic, funny and chaotic. Perfect recipe for a game,” he says playfully.
Nitisvaar built two concepts with AI tools. The first: a scooter game called Mission Office where players dodge potholes, weave past traffic and try to make it to the office without losing lives. The idea went viral, racking up 2.5 lakh views on X (formerly Twitter).
The second is a Grand Theft Autorickshaw prototype created with Veo3. Here, Harin used AI to generate JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) prompts and stitched static frames into a video. “People immediately started imagining versions for their own cities. The most fun part was watching the idea travel,” he says.
The idea struck him during his commute through rain-soaked potholes, each trip feeling like a level-up challenge. “Once an auto anna was showing off his Need for Speed (a game) skills and banged into a pothole so hard I hit my head on the roof rod. He instantly slowed down, apologised and drove carefully for the rest of the ride,” he recalls.
Scenes like these just felt too cinematic to ignore. Potholes became obstacles, cows snoozing on the road became level bosses and empty stretches turned into rare power-ups. What began as daily grind flipped into playful creativity.
What if Bengaluru’s auto drivers themselves played it? Nitisvaar grins, “They’d probably say, ‘What’s new? We already play this every day.’”
For him, the game sits between satire and survival: “It’s laughing through the pain. People chuckle when they see the game, but then nod because it’s exactly their life on these roads.”
Online feedback has been equally hilarious. One parent quipped they’d only allow their children on Bengaluru roads if they survived the game first. Another suggested adding scammers who fake accidents to drain game money.
And what if he had unlimited resources to add wild features to the game? “Road ragers as end-level bosses,” Nitisvaar says, “...and skins for EVs – Ola for speed, Chetak for nostalgia, Ultraviolette for power. Plus, a filter coffee or dosa mid-game to gain an extra life.”
Traffic still tests his patience, but now he finds himself laughing more than cursing. And with players calling it the Indian GTA, Nitisvaar is already sketching plans to build a fuller version. “There’s endless chaos here to gamify,” he says.