How Ogre Head Studio found its niche with Indian folklore
Following the success of its debut title Asura, Ogre Head Studio is busy developing its next roguelike: a deckbuilder called Yodha.
GamesIndustry.biz recently caught up with the developer's founder Zain Fahadh, discussing how the studio came to be and the importance of making games for everyone rooted in Indian culture and folklore.
Fahadh entered the industry as a 3D artist, working at an outsourcing studio making characters for AAA titles. After five years of looking for an opportunity to work on PC and console games, he started his own studio.
"We founded Ogre Head Studio with the idea to make PC and console titles [taking] inspiration from the local folklore and culture," he says.
As an independent developer, Fahadh says Ogre Head has not received any external funding or support from investors. Initially, he personally invested $2,000 of his savings into the studio.
"We burned that out in six months," he explains. "With the little bit of money we had left, we went to Dubai and showcased the prototype for Asura, and that's where we got a lot of traction for the game."
Released in 2017, Asura is an action roguelike featuring a procedurally generated skill tree, meaning no two playthroughs are the same.
"The current Indian culture is very vibrant – there are so many stories that can come out"
"Because of Asura, people were asking us if we could help them with their games," he says. "We used Asura as a tool to expand our other businesses."
Outside of developing their own games, Ogre Head provides outsourcing and consultation to companies including Warner Brothers and Paramount. The studio builds "entire games" for firms alongside partners who manage localisation and marketing.
"[This], in turn, enabled us to fund the studio by consulting with other game developers and companies," Fahadh continues. "We'd get paid for that, then we funneled that money into Asura, and Asura sold well, and that also made money."
While promoting the game at events, including BitSummit in Japan,
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