Today, we sitting with Ishan Maduranga, the game developer behind the upcoming anime-themed multiplayer game Shooting Genjitsu. In an interview with GamersRope, the game developer shared how he started his journey, how the development process is going, system requirements, and the potential release window for the game.
GamersRope: So, first of all, can you give us a little introduction to yourself?
Ishan: I’m currently a student pursuing a Masters in Artificial Intelligence at DBS. Currently lives in Ireland, near the city of Dublin. I've got a degree in cyber security management, but I got bored of it because of the same repetitive tasks. I needed to explore more of the programming environment, which led to AI and machine learning related stuff. Getting into AI was the best decision I made because I learned a lot from it.
GamersRope: What motivates you to be a game developer?
Ishan: Well, since childhood, I used to play games a lot, and one of the dreams I had was to develop my own game someday. Even though I do AI programming and stuff, that goal or the dream of creating your own game was still there. I was mostly inspired by the shooter genre, where I loved games like Call of Duty, CS:GO, and Valorant. I grew up playing COD 4, so it inspired me a lot to make a satisfying game like it. Even though I played mostly FPS-type games, I loved the aspects of TPS games like PUBG. It’s kind of a different vibe compared to FPS, especially if you like to combine stuff like powers with it.
GamersRope: Is this your first game, or have you developed games in the past?
Ishan: Yes, it’s my first game ever made. I started developing this game two months ago. Before that, I was just tinkering with AI and stuff. especially related to stable diffusion and deforum combined with beat sequences.
GamersRope: Can you share some insights about how you came up with this anime-inspired idea?
Ishan: I mean, I love anime a lot. I've seen a lot of them, and many of them had a good vibe to them. For example, combining weapons and anime is cool, but I also learned that there aren't many proper shooting games featuring anime characters.
GamersRope: As you previously said, the game is being developed using UE5. What led you to choose that?
Ishan: I’ve tried Unity before, when I was back in my school days. Even though I didn’t had time to complete a project at that time and I was just messing around with the engine, but got to know the mechanics of it. Also, it’s not open-source, and there are some limitations to it until I get the paid version of it. Unreal Engine 5 was the best option for me since it was open-source and completely free as well. Also, the technology behind it is the latest I could get my hands on, like FSR and raytracing. especially Nanite, which saves a lot of time for me since I don’t have to manually adjust LODs and stuff. It’s also powerful when combined with the language that it uses, C++. It’s a high-level language, so the performance that I could get is much better compared to C# in Unity.
GamersRope: Can you provide us with a little glimpse into the game modes that players can expect in the game?
Ishan: I’ve already implemented FFA (Free for All) at the moment, and I do plan to implement TDM (Team Death Match) as well. There won’t be any kind of mini-battle royale type of game mode because the expected player base is low as of now. If there’s good feedback and all, I might release a Battle Royale mode as well.
GamersRope: How is the development process going now?
Ishan: All the hard parts of it are already done, thanks to the structure I’ve developed. Right now, it’s easier to implement new stuff quickly. Expect more of a modern type of features from the game. The game will be unique thanks to the powers that I’ll be adding to it. Players will have so many ways to win the game.
GamersRope: Anime is a very artistic theme, so how do you approach character designs in the game?
Ishan: As of now, I’ve implemented different kinds of post-processing shaders within the unreal engine that’ll be helpful to keep the theme of anime. Characters already have built-in toon-like shaders since I’ve created them according to the VR (virtual reality) type of characters in the game. That’s part of the game as well, since the name of this game is Shooting Genjitsu, which means reality or facts in Japanese.
GamersRope: Are there any plans for single-player mode, or is the focus primarily on the multiplayer experience?
Ishan: No, I don’t have any plans for a single-player mode since I’m a solo developer and I don't have much time to develop a story, animations, and such. My focus is on multiplayer only as of now.
GamersRope: How do you plan to balance the game between hardcore gamers and those who are new to multiplayer games?
Ishan: The mechanics I’ve implemented in the game are pretty much simple compared to games like Fortnite, which has editing and building walls. I’ve seen so many kids playing that type of games, so obviously it should be easier to play this type of game with certain powers. It’ll be easier to browse the servers in the game.
GamersRope: Did you think about servers yet? Many game servers are crashing or going down due to server instability and server issues.
Ishan: I’ve not come to any conclusion yet, but I’ll be using p2p connection networking as of now. I would do my best not to have that type of situation. If this goes well, I don’t think there will be any need to maintain the servers or anything, unlike other services. This choice was made as a solo developer since I don’t have any funds to pay for the servers. If I happened to get any donations, I would rather choose dedicated servers for this game.
GamersRope: Are there any plans to make the game cross-platform?
Ishan: Nope, I was thinking of porting to Android, but I would need the same servers since I’m using Steam. It's not possible to do that yet. But if I happened to get any other type of service for the servers, It won’t be that hard to port the game to Android as well. The same goes for the consoles as well, since I would have to pay for them to port.
GamersRope: Without revealing too much, can you share with us any upcoming announcements, such as the trailer release date and expected launch window?
Ishan: As of now, I don’t plan to release it until January, but you will be able to add it to your Steam wishlist around mid-December if I happen to create a proper teaser trailer ready.
GamersRope: What are the minimum and recommended system requirements that players can expect?
Ishan: Minimum specs will be a 4th Gen Core I5 CPU, 4GB of RAM, and a GTX 750 Ti as of now for a decent 60 FPS. Anything above should work fine. I can’t make sure of anything below since I’m still optimizing the game. I’m going to do my best to optimize the game for lower end Hardware as possible.
GamersRope: Is it going to be released on Steam, or how do you plan to publish the game?
Ishan: The game will be available on Steam only.
GamersRope: How do you monetize the game? Free to play, microtransactions, one-time fee, or what's in your mind.
Ishan: I’m planning to make it free to play. So, all the players could enjoy the content without any restrictions or paying for anything. I’ll be relying mostly on donations and funds. Anyone can join by helping me promote the game and funding it with donations from Indiegogo or Patreon. I haven’t started the campaigns yet because it’s still in early development.
GamersRope: As a Sri Lankan game developer, do you see opportunities to collaborate with other game developers in the country, and what do you think about the growth of the Sri Lankan gaming industry?
Ishan: Not quite, because most of the indie games developed in Sri Lanka were not successful at all. They lack in gameplay mechanics compared to other indie titles, which are not focused on graphics at all. They need to learn that to have fun in a proper game, we don’t need graphics. Just the gameplay mechanics alone could do the job.
GamersRope: Finally, tell us what your plans are, and do you think you will develop more games in the future?
Ishan: Yeah, after getting my hands on this game, I liked the way it came out, and I loved the development process. So, I will release another game after this one, but it’ll mostly be with the help of others instead of focusing on developing it alone. I would love to start a small startup of my own for that game.
for purpose of improved readability, certain modifications has been made to the following interview.
Image credit: Shooting Genjitsu