Kargil Fighter Pilot Fuels IAF's Thrilling Mobile Game Combat

Neil

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When Sameer Joshi, a former Indian Air Force (IAF) officer, hung his boots a few years after seeing action in the Kargil War, he hadn't imagined that he would be aiding the IAF in devising new strategies to attract talent to the force sometime into the future. That future is now.

The fighter pilot, with multinational experience flying multiple combat planes, had fought the Pakistanis in 1999 over the icy heights of Kargil. It was a war India won convincingly due to the fire power of the IAF combat planes and helicopters.

An alumnus of the National Defence Academy (NDA), Joshi continues to fly a bush-plane to connect the far-flung areas in the North East even after retiring from the IAF. But what is most satisfying for him is his present assignment as the creative director at Threye, described on its website as "a young playful company, which takes the business of fun seriously".

Threye—a word coined by the confluence of Three and Eye—deals with three-dimensional graphics and Joshi will put to use his knowledge in military history to geo-politics of the region, military aviation and aerospace technology, to develop mobile games for the IAF. Threye recently won the tender to develop the adrenaline-raising 'Guardians of the Sky' mobile game for adventure-seeking Indian teens in the 14 to 18 age bracket.

The 'Guardians of the Sky' would have an arcade-cum-simulator-style of role play in which players would be put through a three-dimensional experience in the form of both training and air combat missions featuring a variety of planes from the IAF's modern aircraft fleet. The game, according to the IAF, would have a "high-voltage" storyline incorporating engaging game play missions featuring IAF planes, helicopters and transport aircraft inventory.

"The new mobile video game will be available on Android, IOS and Windows platforms," IAF spokesperson Group Captain Gerard Galway said. "The idea is to attract new talent to the IAF using the virtual reality realm and to generate interest in the IAF among the youth. We want to catch them young and encourage them to join the IAF at a later stage," Galway told The Sunday Standard. The mobile game would be out in two phases with the first phase to be launched sometime in July this year and the second by end of the year.

IAF faces a shortage of nearly 660 officers and another 3,600 men in its sanctioned strength of 12,605 officers and 1,34,338 men. It regularly conducts recruitment rallies, road shows and campus events to generate interest among the youth in taking up IAF as a career option. The government, on its part, has made bids to make the IAF attractive to the youth by hiking salaries under the sixth pay commission implemented in 2008.

"IAF has decided to leverage the growing popularity of smart phones to connect with youth and give a glimpse into the life of an IAF pilot using mobile games as the medium," Galway said.

The game is currently being developed at Threye. Anurag Rana, a gold medal holder from IIT-Kharagpur's 2005 batch, and Sidhant Rahi, who holds a masters degree in business administration from IIM Ahmedabad, are working with Joshi to producing a world-class mobile game for the IAF.

With key inputs from IAF's serving officers, the trio will bring out the 'Guardians of the Skies', pooling in their own skills to deliver a high-quality gaming experience, the IAF spokesperson said. The 'Guardians of the Skies' game play would be event-based, on an engaging storyline, with either a single or mulitple players mode to complete air combat missions.

"The idea is to showcase the might of the IAF and its capabilities. The USP of the game would be air-combat scenarios, similar to what the IAF pilots experience, to provide a 'have been there' sensation to the player. This, we hope, would motivate the youth and making them decide on IAF as a challenging and an exhilarating career option," Galway said.


Kargil Fighter Pilot Fuels IAF's Thrilling Mobile Game Combat - The New Indian Express
 

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