KOCHI: The gaming industry in India off late is flourishing. I want to design and develop new games,” says 17-year-old M Jayanth Gupta from Hyderabad. He started gaming four years ago, with GTA-5 and PUBG. “When the game ‘Most Wanted’ released in 2012, I finished playing it within two days on my Xbox. I was always inclined towards gaming. Gaming is my calling,” he says. Jayanth likes to play car racing and adventure games. He is now playing Need for Speed.
On being asked why he chose to game at a young age he says, “Games these days have greater details, increased settings, complex characters and objects. So, the games of today attract a lot of teenagers and adults.” He is doing his intermediate from Sarath Junior College, and wishes to pursue his graduation in game designing and development.Despite his busy schedule, he practises three hours every day and on holidays, it goes up to 10 hours non-stop.
“My biggest motivation is my family. They gifted me a PS4. They always encourage me to take up new challenges and help me stay motivated. Often in gaming we tend to fail. However, my parents inspire me to keep moving ahead. One of my uncles works for Unity Software, and that is how I started understanding and exploring gaming. I don’t just play games instead I also understand the minor details that go into creating a game – the graphics, plot, characters etc.”
He was part of Gaming Monk Tournament held at Gachibowli stadium. Although he got selected for the final round of ‘Need for Speed, he did not make it to the final cut. He says, “Winning and losing is a part of any game. We must never give up and keep practising, identify mistakes and rectify them at the earliest, and be humble.”
Gaming has taught him to be calm. He says that he is more focused and learned time management. He also gets to meet different people from several cultures in the virtual world, where he is known as ‘Guptaj2054’
Jayanth plans to design and create new games. He wants to focus on all the aspects of a game while doing so. He says, “Game creators are being recognised globally. They have equal respect like that of other mainstream professions. Games are now considered a powerful medium for artistic expression which includes designing, sounds, animation and coding.”
Future plan
He plans to take part in regional level tournaments and then move to national and international tournaments like Electronic Sports League. He also wishes to start his own gaming blog and share his experiences, and tips and tricks of gaming.