Video Game Development in India: A Cultural and Creative Industry Embracing Regional Cultural Heritage(s)

Game development and production practices are complex and highly reflected processes—worldwide. This explorative article discusses video game development as a cultural and creative industry in India, including the industry’s history and introducing recent trends which indicate profound transformations—the use and implementation of Indian cultural heritage in game settings. In the rather short history of Indian game development as compared to other countries—a significant number of games made in India first were produced around 2010—the industry has already lived through big changes and challenges. This article aims at introducing Indian game development and argues that especially independent (so-called indie) game studios in their search for their own, region-specific game development and stand-alone characteristics for Indian games increasingly turn to what they perceive as their own cultural heritage, including, for example, elements from history, art (music, dance, dress styles, and others), and architecture.

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The perils of project-based work: Attempting resistance to extreme work practices in video game development

Organization ◽

10.1177/1350508415572509 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 22 (4) ◽

pp. 570-587 ◽

Cited By ~ 31

Author(s):

Amanda Peticca-Harris ◽

Johanna Weststar ◽

Steve McKenna

Keyword(s):

Working Conditions ◽

Video Game ◽

Work Conditions ◽

Control Mechanisms ◽

Work Practices ◽

Game Development ◽

Video Game Development ◽

Dominant Ideologies ◽

Reader Comments ◽

Game Developers

This article examines two blogs written by the spouses of game developers about extreme and exploitative working conditions in the video game industry and the associated reader comments. The wives of these video game developers and members of the game community decry these working conditions and challenge dominant ideologies about making games. This article contributes to the work intensification literature by challenging the belief that long hours are necessary and inevitable to make successful games, discussing the negative toll of extreme work on workers and their families, and by highlighting that the project-based structure of game development both creates extreme work conditions and inhibits resistance. It considers how extreme work practices are legitimized through neo-normative control mechanisms made possible through project-based work structures and the perceived imperative of a race or ‘crunch’ to meet project deadlines. The findings show that neo-normative control mechanisms create an insularity within project teams and can make it difficult for workers to resist their own extreme working conditions, and at times to even understand them as extreme.

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“All bets are off”: Flexible engagement with music-listening technologies by autistic adults

Psychology of Music ◽

10.1177/0305735620971037 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 030573562097103

Author(s):

Michael Matsuno ◽

Deon Auzenne ◽

Leanne Chukoskie

Keyword(s):

Video Game ◽

New Music ◽

Music Listening ◽

Typically Developing ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Personal Taste ◽

Convenience Sample ◽

Game Development ◽

Video Game Development ◽

Autistic Adults

This qualitative study used semi-structured interviews to explore daily experiences with music among a convenience sample of 12 autistic adults interning at a video game development lab. Our analysis indicates that music technologies enabled autistic individuals to explore new music and to engage reflexively with personal taste and self-curation. We also show that participants used music to accompany a range of cognitive and emotional tasks. These findings are consistent with broader sociological literature on music-listening habits of typically developing adults and indicate that autistic adults use music to meet their personal needs. Our cohort also described expressly creative and proactive engagement with music, suggesting that habits with music may differ among unique sub-populations of autistic individuals.

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Perspectives on the European Videogame

10.1017/9789048550623 ◽

2021 ◽

Keyword(s):

Popular Culture ◽

North American ◽

Game Development ◽

Global Impact ◽

Collective Work ◽

Philosophical Ground ◽

History Of ◽

The Creation ◽

European Production ◽

Made In

The history of European videogames has been so far overshadowed by the global impact of the Japanese and North American industries. However, European game development studios have played a major role in videogame history, and prominent videogames in popular culture, such as Grand Theft Auto, Tomb Raider and Alone in the Dark were made in Europe. This book proposes an exploration of European videogames, including both analyses of transnational aspects of European production and close readings of national specificities. It offers a kaleidoscope of European videogame culture, focusing on the analysis of European works and creators but also addressing contextual aspects and placing videogames within a wider sociocultural and philosophical ground. The aim of this collective work is to contribute to the creation of a, so far, almost non-existent yet necessary academic endeavour: a story of the works, authors, styles and cultures of the European videogame.

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