Chennai | Seek adventure on the vibrant streets of the city with this indie open world game

Experience the thrill of an open-world game set in Chennai with Project Madras, a unique indie game in development.

Has driving an auto been on your bucket list? How about running on top of a local train, or leading a double life with a secret mission? No matter how unrealistic something seems in real life, it is possible, and sometimes even necessary in the world of video games. 

Among the numerous types of video games and the millions of worlds and fantasies available, , the most interesting ones seem to be those set in locations that exist in our reality. Los Angeles (GTA V), New York (Spiderman), Tokyo (Street Fighter), and London (Uncharted) are just some examples.

While there have been games set in India, there has rarely been an accurate representation because it mostly showcases a Westernised perspective of an exotic tropical nation. Project Madras, an indie open world game set in the city of Chennai, comes as a breath of fresh air.

“I have always been interested in game development because I was learning VFX and video editing during college for personal projects in film making. ,” says 25-year-old game developer Royston Ragul A, who is currently developing Project Madras, with his friends. “When Unreal Engine (a 3D computer graphics game engine and creation tool)released new features in 2020, it made game design accessible and that’s when we decided to make this game.”

Project Madras is a semi-linear open-world game which immerses players into the vibrant, chaotic and real streets of Chennai. For non-practising video game enthusiasts, a semi-linear game is one with a branching storyline that can be played in any order, as opposed to one mission and one path to the end. An open world game, is one where the player is free to explore the limits of the game without necessarily following a set mission.

“Back when we were filmmakers, we would think of many fun concepts and storylines that we wanted to bring to life on the screen, like shooting a chase sequence on top of a train. It is not practically possible on an independent scale,” says Royston. “In a game, however, we can make a player do those things.” 

In Project Madras, players will follow a secret spy mission while going through iconic locations like Mount Road, the LIC building, Marina beach , Napier Bridge, and more. The gameplay glimpse video shows an auto zipping through what looks like the Nochikuppam settlement near Loop Road. “The hero of the game is the city of Chennai. I’m not a native of Chennai, but I have fallen in love with it over many visits and through glimpses of it on the big screen. Our ambitious storyline suits Chennai’s personality,” he says, adding that he and his team have made multiple visits to Chennai to get the ambient feel. “We have recorded audio and video, taken photographs, done extensive research to replicate it in the game.”