As the gaming industry continues to evolve, one interesting sector that is always on my mind is browser-based gaming. When you consider how many people boot up, log on, and zone out pretty much every day, it’s amazing to think of the possibilities afforded to those making games that don’t require their users to be tied to a specific console or even platform. Obviously, a lot of the games in this genre are rather casual at the moment, but as new tech and new ideas begin to surface, companies are coming out of the woodwork to develop and support browser-based games that actually have, hold your breath, DEPTH! One such game to serve as an example is The Legend of Katha, a new browser-based multiplayer RPG that looks to blend tactical thinking with a unique art style and a compelling story inspired by Indian Mythology. We recently had the chance to catch up with Arjun Gupte, the Vice President over at Amar Chitra Katha Pvt Ltd, the company behind the game. Arjun runs the creative and leads the team in Bangalore working on the game, so who better to answer some questions about what The Legend Katha’s goals and the state of browser-based gaming.

EBA: OK, for starters, please give us a brief overview on The Legend of Katha. What’s it all about?

AG: Legend of Katha is an isometric 2D game where you can complete quests in a typical RPG setting, like older games such as Diablo. You have the opportunity to earn gold and upgrade items by killing NPCs, doing PvsP combat or by playing mini-games. Completing quests unlocks new levels and characters and we’re working hard to implement class specific attacks which will allow the game-play to become more co-operative. The game requires no downloads and runs directly off your browser. As far as the story goes; The Game is set in the lush world of Trikoot. The player enters the land in a time of strife. The evil Rambalas have spread chaos over the land and finding the four scrolls of Katha can relinquish the land from the scourge of these evil beings.

EBA: In terms of story and setting, what makes the game unique and interesting?

AG:Since this is India’s first ever MMORPG the story has elements of Indian mythologies. The design of the architecture and the characters and setting gives it a very Indian feel and we hope it sets it apart from other far eastern and western MMOs. The game’s story is based around a tree, called the Katha. This tree once stood strong uniting the land as one. The tree was destroyed by the evil Rambalas who wanted to take over the land. At present, everyone is on quest searching for the four scrolls that can bring that tree back to life and rid the land of the Rambalas.

EBA: Let’s talk gameplay, what types of things are there to do in The Legend of Katha?

AG: Players can combat with each other using long range and close range weapons. They can band together to fight the Rambalas, kill NPCs and go on Single player quests where they can use arcade like game-play to defeat their enemies. In addition, there are mini-games to play and exploring the large open ended world reveals many surprising events. The game has two single-player quests at the moment. Completion of each quest unlocks a new level and weapons in the game. We are adding about two quests a month and hope to have a fairly procedural multi-player questing system up and running soon as well.

EBA: What different types of characters will players have access to?

AG: We launched with four different character classes when we started. The players can choose to play as a monk, magician, merchant or warrior with class specific attacks such as invisibility for magicians. By the end of this month a new Thief class will be launched. We are also developing class specific weapons. This will help define each class further, for example a magician will have the ability to become invisible while the thief class will have the ability to steal gold from your inventory. We are busy in polishing and balancing the game-play so that people can have fun playing against different classes.

EBA: Please tell us how the multi-player component works in the game.

AG: Players can log-in to fight with each other in PvsP combat and band together to take on NPCs in the free roaming world. Each player can see other players in their part of the world and can seamlessly teleport across the world using the Navigator. We plan to add trade, buddy lists and vehicle combat in the multi-player world soon. In the meantime, players can log-in for instant action in the Tantali Coast area.

EBA:Game-play wise, which titles did you draw inspiration from?

AG: We’re big fans of old role-playing books that Ian Livingstone used about 20 years back and a lot of the dev. team still plays Diablo 2, Sudden Strike and AOE. We wanted to give a bit of the classic old school feel to our game where the graphics have a nice hand painted feel and to that end we actually model them in 3D but finally trace them in Flash.

EBA: Who have you designated as the target audience for this game?

AG: We are targeting a teen casual audience who want to play 30 minute pick up and play game sessions without too much time investment into a complex rules based game. Working people also can take a break with this game and enjoy short sessions of game-play. There is a clear path for levels and abilities getting unlocked as you play, so hands on management is minimal with the game automatically unlocking and popping up new milestones and goals as you play along. We still haven’t perfected the ease-of-use and balance but are confident that we will have a fun and playable casual MMORPG in the coming months.

EBA: The browser-based gaming market is pretty intriguing, but please tell us why you chose to develop content in this sector as opposed to retail or digitally distributed games.

AG: I think the Free to Play model allows developers the twin advantages of getting a large audience which is willing to give your game a shot and lets you iterate it quickly even after the launch. It goes live immediately and the low barrier for entry ensures that you reach a large audience pretty fast. The feedback you get from a large initial audience is critical for level designers to tune the game and thats another big advantage. Currently we have 7000+ beta players and we’re busy ripping up large chunks of code, UI to make it more fun and playable.

EBA: What do you think sets this title apart from other browser-based games?

AG: Arcade type game-play within an MMORPG setting. It requires some skill to accurately shoot fast moving aggressive targets and a certain amount of strategy to beat off waves of incoming enemies. We hope to employ more fun arcade type game-play mechanisms as we develop future quests and boss creatures.

EBA: How many people do you have working on the title?

AG: We have around 15 to 16 people working on the game.

EBA: Give us a little idea of what’s happening on the back end. What type of software are you utilizing on the project?

AG: We’re using a custom brew of Flash, our own game engine, Smartfox server to handle the socket server tasks and a lot of PHP/Java/AS3 code for server management tasks. We have a LAMP architecture for the back end and the entire server and back end runs on Amazon’s Cloud service so we can spawn multiple virtual servers to handle load. Interested readers can see the tech specs here- www.legendofkatha.com/kathaSaaS

EBA: What key elements in the game do you think will keep people coming back for more?

AG:Arcade type game-play with a clear path to more content each month. The fact that the game is constantly developing new quests/creatures and game-play modes should get us on the replay ability list.

EBA: What stage is the game in now and when are you targeting an official launch?

AG: We’re in open beta now and hope to do an official launch worldwide by end of September with proper press releases et all. India is our focus for the next month and we are doing a co-promotion with Tata, a large broadband provider to get the game out in India by month’s end.

EBA: Where can interested readers go to learn more?

AG: www.legendofkatha.com has a forum and they can sign up to play the open beta immediately. Registeration is 100% free so they can actually jump in and start playing the game right away. We also have a Facebook and Twitter page that is updated regularly.

EBA: Alright, sounds fun! Thanks for your time and your insight. Best of luck with the project!