Highlights
- Most games fail before launch due to weak planning and a lack of coordination across design, marketing, and distribution teams.
- Game development needs to be treated as a complete system instead of a mix of disjointed parts.
- Mahindra University is educating students through live projects, exposing them to real users, failures, and iteration from the first semester.
Game development is often framed as a creative or technical pursuit that combines technical skills with storytelling. Most projects that aim to combine creativity with technical expertise succeed or fail long before players ever experience the final product. Decisions around design and development can affect a game’s success long before it reaches stores.
At Mahindra University’s School of Design Innovation, Dean Dr. B. K. Chakravarthy and Assistant Professor Chaitanya Solanki approach game design through that broader lens. Their focus is not limited to how a game is built but also to how it is positioned, tested, and presented to the audience. This point of view is also present in their curriculum. Students are introduced to real-world constraints early, work across design disciplines, and learn to treat games as evolving systems.
Development Begins Long Before a Game is Built
Many early-stage projects tend to focus heavily on building the game itself, assuming that things like design and presentation can be addressed later. This practice does not work out in most cases. Dr. Chakravarthy addressed this issue, saying, “Game development is just not one-sided. It’s innovation. You need to have a complete pipeline available. You can’t just do design and development and then leave the rest for somebody else.”
What he describes is less about development and more about coordination. A game exists within a chain of decisions that includes identifying the target audience, defining how it will reach them, and ensuring that the product is supported after launch. Without clarity and vision behind a game’s design, even the most technically sound projects can fail.
He further pointed out that teams often begin without answering a basic question. “A lot of people don’t have their target demographic in mind. I need to know who I am making the game for. You need to identify your player base, along with your marketing, distribution, and development teams.”
Development is one stage in a larger creative process, and it should not be treated as a separate discipline, according to Mahindra University’s educators.
Game Development is Changing Rapidly
As games have grown in scale and reach, the way development teams are created has also expanded. The process now draws from fields that were not traditionally associated with game development.
Solanki explained this shift by pointing to the kinds of expertise involved, saying, “A significant chunk of the team designing and developing a game may not be from the game design background at all. They can be from humanities, they can be from psychology.”
There are many moving parts in game design that might not be evident to many. Player behavior, motivation, and decision-making are studied by studios to create new content or monetize their titles. Systems such as rewards, progression, and incentives rely on an understanding of how users respond over time.
He added that this also changes who can enter the field, stating, “Even if somebody is not an avid gamer, they can still very well become a part of the gaming industry because play and games are an inherent part of modern culture.”
Game development is not a singular skill. It is an amalgamation of different disciplines that come together under one roof. This broader understanding is reflected in how the two educators train their students. Instead of working on isolated assignments, they are introduced to live projects early in their academic journey.
Dr. Chakravarthy described this approach, saying, “From the first semester onwards, we make them work on live projects. We connect them to a live audience, and our students quickly understand how to identify failures and improve from their learnings.”
The presence of real users changes how their students develop games. Since the feedback is immediate, the developers learn how to identify mistakes early. Students begin to see how design choices affect usability, engagement, and overall experience in the real world. By the time students begin working independently, they already understand that development is only one part of a larger process.
Making Game Development a Secure Career Choice
The skills developed through Dr. Chakravarthy and Solanki’s approach are not limited to game development itself. They translate into a broader set of applications across industries that rely on interaction and digital systems.
Chakravarthy explained how this is positioned within their program and explained, “If a student is interested in game design, we teach them design concepts through game design, but their skills can adapt to the industry. They can transition to multiple industries like advertising, filmmaking, and online education.”
Students at the university are trained in interaction design, systems thinking, and visual communication. These skills allow them to move across domains depending on where they choose to apply them. Solanki added that the ability to build digital environments has wider relevance, stating, “If you know how to build virtual worlds, it can be applied in simulations and other corporate practices beyond traditional media.”
This flexibility becomes important in a field where tools and platforms continue to evolve. The educators achieve this by encouraging collaboration across disciplines. Students work with peers from engineering, management, and other fields, similar to how real-world teams operate.
This exposure helps students understand how different roles contribute to a project and how decisions are made across teams. Despite the varied skills that game designers acquire to be able to work in diverse roles, there are concerns around the games industry’s job security.
Emerging artificial intelligence (AI) tools could potentially threaten the workforce in the coming years. Solanki addressed the rise of AI, noting that their impact depends on how it is used. He added, “If the students are good with their fundamentals, they can use AI very well. They can actually utilize it to enhance their workflow.”
He wants AI not to be seen as a threat but as a tool for the gaming industry. However, the emphasis remains on building strong foundations as a game designer to truly succeed in the industry. He expects the tools to serve as extensions in game development instead of replacing talented individuals. The two educators have a positive outlook on the gaming industry and hope to see Indian game development rise in the future.
