Exclusive: How India's First CCG Was Made
Exclusive: How India's First CCG Was Made
Abhaas Shah, co-founder and CEO of Studio Sirah shares how his team made Kurukshetra: Ascension for PC and mobile.
When you think of card games and India, you’re likely thinking of generic poker and rummy fare which usually have players putting money on the line in the hopes of winning big. Also known as real-money games, they’re not video games though they tend to get conflated often enough that a genre like CCG short for collectible card game tends to be waylaid. CCGs are video games through and through, allowing players to pit their wits against others, engage in a storyline, and well, build and collect their decks of cards. They’re known for their cerebral gameplay and in markets like Asia and US, with Hearthstone and Marvel Snap being two of the biggest around.
While India is predominantly a mobile-first battle royale-crazy market, it’s no surprise that some of the loudest companies are those making such games, which makes Kurkshetra: Ascension an anomaly in the system in the best way possible. It’s a CCG based on Indian mythology for PC (Steam), Android, and iOS. Though it’s been out for some time now, it just received a slew of updates including an Arena Mode, PvE, and more.
Naturally, I had to reach out to the studio to know more. What I didn’t expect was CEO and co-founder Abhaas Shah to be surprisingly insightful on all things Kurukshetra, generously explaining the studio’s origins and the process behind building what is likely India’s first collectible card game. Some responses have been edited slightly for clarity and length.
For the uninitiated, could you give us a brief background of your game development journey?
To put it briefly, I jumped into game dev as a complete novice, and Studio Sirah is a trial by fire. I've done a lot of creative writing and directed several large plays. I've run and closed a startup before, between Berkeley and IIM-B. I was at Bain for five years, where I got the privilege of seeing how CEOs think. But nothing really prepares you for game dev. The motivation to jump in was a passion for games and a deep respect for how cross-functional game development is — a confluence of business, creativity, and tech at the highest level. Prateek [Shah, co-founder and Abhaas’ brother] and I also truly believe that Indian content is deep and rich and massively under-represented in games. We've been gaming together since we were kids, and we've always wondered why there is no Indian content. We truly want to solve that problem and see a massive opportunity there.
The first game out of Studio Sirah is Kurukshetra: Ascension for PC (Steam) and mobile. A card collection game isn't really a genre gamers here in India gravitate towards and the talent needed to build such a game is a lot tougher to find than say, building a shooter or a match-3 title — simply because few CCGs exist in Asia let alone India. With that in mind, what made you decide this was the right fit and how did you solve for these concerns?
We built a CCG game because of three main reasons. One, it was a 2D pipeline that we studied and believed we could execute even as a small team —we had a really strong prototype going even before raising any funds. Two, our thesis was to build mid-core Indian content games. The casual space is already flooded and hardcore games like shooters and open-world RPGs required significant investment. We also saw parallels in China and Japan where the gaming explosion was spurred by CCGs themed on local IP. CCGs have high ARPPU [average revenue per paying user] and long retention curves. Lastly, we thought a CCG was one of the only genres which could talk to the dense, interconnected universe that is Indian mythology. Hundreds of characters can be brought to life in a way that almost no other genre affords, and we felt it was a great way to establish the universe to also build future games off of.
What's the response to Kurukshetra been like so far?
The player reviews are incredible and we've gathered a strong, active community over time, both in India and abroad. We've received immense praise on the art, story, gameplay and integration with lore, and we've achieved all this without ruffling any major feathers. Overall, the high quality benchmark we strive for has been recognized by players. This has not been a straightforward journey though. Our initial attempts to use massy Indian influencers was not received very well since younger FPS players were quick to discard the genre at face value — there's lots to unpack here on current gaming culture in India and how it needs to evolve beyond FPS. We turned our attention to performance marketing, however, and that has brought a lot more success. Laser beam vs. chandelier, as Chesky puts it. Though early retention is unimpressive, Kurukshetra brings great long-term retention. Players are sticking to the game even after a year, with average session times of more than an hour, and organic word-of-mouth contributes to 25%+ of our ~950K install base.
While the game is available globally on PC (Steam) and in India for Android and iOS, have you noticed any differences in user behaviour between users on different platforms? Do audiences have different priorities and feedback for the team or are they in the same ballpark?
To clarify, we launched Kurukshetra globally on Android and iOS as well this August. 95%+ of our installs are on mobile, and 80% of that are on Android. India is 90% of our mobile install base, with SEA, NA and West. EU being the major global regions. Largely, PC and foreign players have far better retention and ARPU [average revenue per user], and their feedback focuses a lot more on gameplay and systems. Mobile feedback is a lot more varied and given the high India representation, often also includes opinions on the world, story or characters.
Are there plans for cross-play, cross-save, and cross-progression?
These are all already in. Players can sign in through Google, Facebook, Apple or Steam, and can carry that account forward to any other device.
For the game's PvE mode that's currently in development: are there any specific story beats or mythological aspects that the studio plans to highlight? How much story can one expect — is this going to be more in line with say an Inscription or a Balatro?
We really need to update our Steam Early Access note. The PvE mode is out. The first chapter is free while the others can be purchased in game. The story takes you through four major realms - Narak (Hell), Pataal (Underworld), Prithvi (Earth), and Mount Meru (Heavens). The story is themed around Kalyug and a massive conflict between Sesha and Garuda. These are godly cosmic entities, devoted to Vishnu yet deeply hostile to one another. I was very interested in this duality and tried to represent this in the game. Sesha represents the spiritual tradition of India, concerned with the loss of the ego, while Garuda is an independent wilful warrior, who believes in getting what he wants. Throughout the campaign, players meet well-known characters like Dushasana in Hell or Mayasura in Pataal, and have to take crucial decisions in alignment with either Sesha or Garuda. It's definitely a lot more story than either Inscryption or Balatro, though you can choose to skip and just stick to gameplay as well.
The description for Kurukshetra on Steam states its world is inspired by the Ramayana and Mahabharata. How did you go about researching the topic and what was the reason for this choice of theme?
Mythology has always been fascinating to us. These are the stories that have truly stood the test of time. We fed ourselves a large dose of Amar Chitra Katha when we were young. Besides, mythology games like AoM [Age of Mythology], God of War and Hades are some of the absolute best we've played. Indian mythology is actually alive compared to any of the other atavistic ones like Greek or Egyptian. Research is honestly endless. I've pored over a detailed version of the Mahabharata during the career break before we started this, and read significant unabridged chunks of the Ramayana on a more selective basis. I deeply believe that gameplay must talk to lore for the magic to happen, and we've done our best to be honest to that.
With Indian mythology being an esoteric topic for those outside of India how did you go about bringing it to life in-game keeping in mind that there would be some interest from international audiences?
This has been a difficult balance to attain. We append easily-understood monikers like 'The Divine Archer' or 'The Monkey King' to help an international audience grasp the archetypes. The art also helps us push this. Bheem can be understood as a bloodthirsty tank warrior just by looking at the art. We've also kept English as the core language to help with international adoption. However, we have maintained the original names and this does pose pronounciation issues. We are in the process of offering a simplified form of the names for foreign audiences.
Moreover, Kurukshetra's art direction is striking. What was the thought process and inspiration behind it and opting for that over something a little more in-line with its mythological themes?
We discussed the art style with some leading art directors in the industry and surveyed players before settling on this. There is frankly no standard 'mythological theme' or art style which one can fall back on. Traditional Indian mythology art can range from cave paintings to Warli to Raja Ravi Verma, with almost nothing in common. We did explore some more esoteric styles and tested it with friends and early players. The chief concern is that traditional art forms, though unique and charming, were limited in their vibrancy and palette, primarily due to technological constraints. The Mahabharata has no limitations. It is vibrant in its descriptions, vivid with colour and magic and always larger than life. We felt this could only be served with a more contemporary colour palette. We also wanted our audience to dissociate from their prior bias of Indian mythology and view it in a new light. Colour serves a massive role in UX — in differentiating characters, factions, abilities and properties.
What challenges have you faced developing a game of this kind?
Finding good technical and VFX artists has been a nightmare. We also heavily underestimated the amount of UI work a CCG involves. The current build is already UI version 4.0 — like four complete rehauls.The other major challenges have been learning how to do live ops and catering to the million different Android devices with random quirky bugs which are difficult to reproduce and solve.
A topic that comes up often with game developers and publishers on Steam is how the current 'meta' to bring about sales success is that it's dictated by wish lists. As an indie developer how do you solve for this?
We haven't solved this yet. I don't think we managed to crack the wish list meta. Also, no one seems to have a good response to how to market a game on Steam, other than putting your game on sale.
Indian audiences usually expect a lower price tag on Steam. I'm curious to know, as a developer and a gamer, what are your thoughts on regional pricing? And does Kurukshetra feature regional pricing for its IAP or do you plan on having your own pricing strategy?
We have our own regional pricing strategy across mobile and Steam. I think it has to be done. CPIs are wildly different and pricing has to adjust to that.
Are there plans to bring Kurukshetra to other platforms? What about Steam Deck verification?
No, not at the moment.
Finally, what next for the studio after Kurukshetra?
We're working on a second game in the same universe. I won't tell much but it'll be 3D and real-time strategy. More on this when we have a Beta ready. :)
Studio Sirah’s sophomore effort will be interesting to watch, particularly with how deftly the company handled its mythology source material for Kurukshetra. Hopefully these low-key developers break cover on it sooner rather than later.
You can play Kurukshetra: Ascension on Steam, iOS, and Android.
CCGs are video games through and through, allowing players to pit their wits against others, engage in a storyline, and well, build and collect their decks of cards. They’re known for their cerebral gameplay and in markets like Asia and US, with Hearthstone and Marvel Snap being two of the biggest around.
While India is predominantly a mobile-first battle royale-crazy market, it’s no surprise that some of the loudest companies are those making such games, which makes Kurkshetra: Ascension an anomaly in the system in the best way possible. It’s a CCG based on Indian mythology for PC (Steam), Android, and iOS. Though it’s been out for some time now, it just received a slew of updates including an Arena Mode, PvE, and more.
Naturally, I had to reach out to the studio to know more. What I didn’t expect was CEO and co-founder Abhaas Shah to be surprisingly insightful on all things Kurukshetra, generously explaining the studio’s origins and the process behind building what is likely India’s first collectible card game. Some responses have been edited slightly for clarity and length.
For the uninitiated, could you give us a brief background of your game development journey?
To put it briefly, I jumped into game dev as a complete novice, and Studio Sirah is a trial by fire. I've done a lot of creative writing and directed several large plays. I've run and closed a startup before, between Berkeley and IIM-B. I was at Bain for five years, where I got the privilege of seeing how CEOs think. But nothing really prepares you for game dev. The motivation to jump in was a passion for games and a deep respect for how cross-functional game development is — a confluence of business, creativity, and tech at the highest level. Prateek [Shah, co-founder and Abhaas’ brother] and I also truly believe that Indian content is deep and rich and massively under-represented in games. We've been gaming together since we were kids, and we've always wondered why there is no Indian content. We truly want to solve that problem and see a massive opportunity there.
The first game out of Studio Sirah is Kurukshetra: Ascension for PC (Steam) and mobile. A card collection game isn't really a genre gamers here in India gravitate towards and the talent needed to build such a game is a lot tougher to find than say, building a shooter or a match-3 title — simply because few CCGs exist in Asia let alone India. With that in mind, what made you decide this was the right fit and how did you solve for these concerns?
We built a CCG game because of three main reasons. One, it was a 2D pipeline that we studied and believed we could execute even as a small team —we had a really strong prototype going even before raising any funds. Two, our thesis was to build mid-core Indian content games. The casual space is already flooded and hardcore games like shooters and open-world RPGs required significant investment. We also saw parallels in China and Japan where the gaming explosion was spurred by CCGs themed on local IP. CCGs have high ARPPU [average revenue per paying user] and long retention curves. Lastly, we thought a CCG was one of the only genres which could talk to the dense, interconnected universe that is Indian mythology. Hundreds of characters can be brought to life in a way that almost no other genre affords, and we felt it was a great way to establish the universe to also build future games off of.
What's the response to Kurukshetra been like so far?
The player reviews are incredible and we've gathered a strong, active community over time, both in India and abroad. We've received immense praise on the art, story, gameplay and integration with lore, and we've achieved all this without ruffling any major feathers. Overall, the high quality benchmark we strive for has been recognized by players. This has not been a straightforward journey though. Our initial attempts to use massy Indian influencers was not received very well since younger FPS players were quick to discard the genre at face value — there's lots to unpack here on current gaming culture in India and how it needs to evolve beyond FPS. We turned our attention to performance marketing, however, and that has brought a lot more success. Laser beam vs. chandelier, as Chesky puts it. Though early retention is unimpressive, Kurukshetra brings great long-term retention. Players are sticking to the game even after a year, with average session times of more than an hour, and organic word-of-mouth contributes to 25%+ of our ~950K install base.
While the game is available globally on PC (Steam) and in India for Android and iOS, have you noticed any differences in user behaviour between users on different platforms? Do audiences have different priorities and feedback for the team or are they in the same ballpark?
To clarify, we launched Kurukshetra globally on Android and iOS as well this August. 95%+ of our installs are on mobile, and 80% of that are on Android. India is 90% of our mobile install base, with SEA, NA and West. EU being the major global regions. Largely, PC and foreign players have far better retention and ARPU [average revenue per user], and their feedback focuses a lot more on gameplay and systems. Mobile feedback is a lot more varied and given the high India representation, often also includes opinions on the world, story or characters.
Are there plans for cross-play, cross-save, and cross-progression?
These are all already in. Players can sign in through Google, Facebook, Apple or Steam, and can carry that account forward to any other device.
For the game's PvE mode that's currently in development: are there any specific story beats or mythological aspects that the studio plans to highlight? How much story can one expect — is this going to be more in line with say an Inscription or a Balatro?
We really need to update our Steam Early Access note. The PvE mode is out. The first chapter is free while the others can be purchased in game. The story takes you through four major realms - Narak (Hell), Pataal (Underworld), Prithvi (Earth), and Mount Meru (Heavens). The story is themed around Kalyug and a massive conflict between Sesha and Garuda. These are godly cosmic entities, devoted to Vishnu yet deeply hostile to one another. I was very interested in this duality and tried to represent this in the game. Sesha represents the spiritual tradition of India, concerned with the loss of the ego, while Garuda is an independent wilful warrior, who believes in getting what he wants. Throughout the campaign, players meet well-known characters like Dushasana in Hell or Mayasura in Pataal, and have to take crucial decisions in alignment with either Sesha or Garuda. It's definitely a lot more story than either Inscryption or Balatro, though you can choose to skip and just stick to gameplay as well.
The description for Kurukshetra on Steam states its world is inspired by the Ramayana and Mahabharata. How did you go about researching the topic and what was the reason for this choice of theme?
Mythology has always been fascinating to us. These are the stories that have truly stood the test of time. We fed ourselves a large dose of Amar Chitra Katha when we were young. Besides, mythology games like AoM [Age of Mythology], God of War and Hades are some of the absolute best we've played. Indian mythology is actually alive compared to any of the other atavistic ones like Greek or Egyptian. Research is honestly endless. I've pored over a detailed version of the Mahabharata during the career break before we started this, and read significant unabridged chunks of the Ramayana on a more selective basis. I deeply believe that gameplay must talk to lore for the magic to happen, and we've done our best to be honest to that.
With Indian mythology being an esoteric topic for those outside of India how did you go about bringing it to life in-game keeping in mind that there would be some interest from international audiences?
This has been a difficult balance to attain. We append easily-understood monikers like 'The Divine Archer' or 'The Monkey King' to help an international audience grasp the archetypes. The art also helps us push this. Bheem can be understood as a bloodthirsty tank warrior just by looking at the art. We've also kept English as the core language to help with international adoption. However, we have maintained the original names and this does pose pronounciation issues. We are in the process of offering a simplified form of the names for foreign audiences.
Moreover, Kurukshetra's art direction is striking. What was the thought process and inspiration behind it and opting for that over something a little more in-line with its mythological themes?
We discussed the art style with some leading art directors in the industry and surveyed players before settling on this. There is frankly no standard 'mythological theme' or art style which one can fall back on. Traditional Indian mythology art can range from cave paintings to Warli to Raja Ravi Verma, with almost nothing in common. We did explore some more esoteric styles and tested it with friends and early players. The chief concern is that traditional art forms, though unique and charming, were limited in their vibrancy and palette, primarily due to technological constraints. The Mahabharata has no limitations. It is vibrant in its descriptions, vivid with colour and magic and always larger than life. We felt this could only be served with a more contemporary colour palette. We also wanted our audience to dissociate from their prior bias of Indian mythology and view it in a new light. Colour serves a massive role in UX — in differentiating characters, factions, abilities and properties.
What challenges have you faced developing a game of this kind?
Finding good technical and VFX artists has been a nightmare. We also heavily underestimated the amount of UI work a CCG involves. The current build is already UI version 4.0 — like four complete rehauls.The other major challenges have been learning how to do live ops and catering to the million different Android devices with random quirky bugs which are difficult to reproduce and solve.
A topic that comes up often with game developers and publishers on Steam is how the current 'meta' to bring about sales success is that it's dictated by wish lists. As an indie developer how do you solve for this?
We haven't solved this yet. I don't think we managed to crack the wish list meta. Also, no one seems to have a good response to how to market a game on Steam, other than putting your game on sale.
Indian audiences usually expect a lower price tag on Steam. I'm curious to know, as a developer and a gamer, what are your thoughts on regional pricing? And does Kurukshetra feature regional pricing for its IAP or do you plan on having your own pricing strategy?
We have our own regional pricing strategy across mobile and Steam. I think it has to be done. CPIs are wildly different and pricing has to adjust to that.
Are there plans to bring Kurukshetra to other platforms? What about Steam Deck verification?
No, not at the moment.
Finally, what next for the studio after Kurukshetra?
We're working on a second game in the same universe. I won't tell much but it'll be 3D and real-time strategy. More on this when we have a Beta ready. :)
Studio Sirah’s sophomore effort will be interesting to watch, particularly with how deftly the company handled its mythology source material for Kurukshetra. Hopefully these low-key developers break cover on it sooner rather than later.
You can play Kurukshetra: Ascension on Steam, iOS, and Android.