When Krafton India dropped the teaser for its latest point of interest in Erangel, the Stepwell, millions of mobile gamers in India got pretty excited. After all, it is always nice to have something inspired from our own architecture in a game played by over 200 million users. The stepwell, or a baori is a traditional Indian structure featuring a descending series of steps that lead down to the water. While it was earlier used to store groundwater, it also makes a great place for a gunfight in a battle royale game like BGMI.
According to Karan Gaikwad, Lead of Product at Krafton India, the objective with The Stepwell was to give players “a truly Indian experience.” In an exclusive conversation with Digit, Gaikwad talked about the latest BGMI 4.0 update, India’s mobile gaming landscape, and a few other things that gamers should care about.
When asked what was the largest debate in the room before and while designing the Stepwell for BGMI players, Gaikwad said, “The debate was largely around what and which location do we select. A lot of time went into arriving at the idea of a stepwell.”
He added, “The other thing in our mind was to ensure that whatever we select is also fun to play in – are there enough places to cover from? Enough places to hide rewards in? Does it look grand? Does it look different but familiar enough so that people can recognise it as something which is truly Indian.”
But the larger debate, he explained, was around the technical implementations once the idea of a stepwell was zeroed in. Gaikwad said, “There is always some back and forth between the creative and technical guys. Creative wants everything, texture and all. But then technical guys are like ‘guys not everyone owns an iPhone and we need to make the game work on all devices’. So, the debate was around how do we bring this idea to life in a game that is played by millions of Indians. And the discussions were more on a technical level.”
Stepwell also introduces layered vertical gameplay, which can be tough to balance in battle royale titles. “We tackle this through randomness,” Karan explained.
“It’s the core of this game… there is a level of randomness which ensures that the game is fun every time somebody plays it. There could be some open spaces, some closed spaces. This is the way to keep the game fresh.”
He further said that he is excited about how esports pros will handle the new dynamic. “This shift in strategy is something that the players look forward to. I am extremely excited to see what competitive players think of the Stepwell and how they react to it.”
When asked about a move he’d pull off in Stepwell to beat his enemies, Gaikwad answered, “There is a spot (I won’t tell where) which requires a bit of jumping around that will immensely help you… The other thing I try to do is get into the water, come up, look around, and then dive back in. So find that spot, and stay close to the water”
Of course, it wouldn’t be October without an expected spooky twist in all our beloved games – and BGMI 4.0 is no different. The Spooky Soiree theme in the BGMI 4.0 update features a haunted mansion, labyrinths, and a friendly ghost that lends a helping hand. But for Krafton, the challenge wasn’t designing the atmosphere, it was living up to expectations.
“Doing a horror or a spooky theme is a yearly trend for us and it is actually a little toned down this year,” Karan said. “The challenge isn’t about how we design it, but how to manage players’ expectations.
And player expectations, he admitted, are very specific. “For example, players really want help while playing. They’d want a teammate. And that is the core of this theme as there’s a ghost who can help you, heal you, shield you etc. So our game design process is steeped in player feedback and expectations, and the team has done a great job of marrying both.”
When asked whether the team drew from horror games or scary stories, Karan said: “It’s a mix of everything. When you take inspiration from different sources, you marry it with player expectation within the context of your game. That’s what creates our unique experience in BGMI.”
With the festive season approaching, the BGMI 4.0 update also included features like Diwali fireworks and a Diwali exchange center in the game. Talking about the same, Gaikwad said, “There are certain awards associated with it, but the primary intention with the fireworks is a fun little Easter egg.”
Now it isn’t uncommon for out of the box ideas to be discussed during brainstorming sessions and never make it to the actual game. However, at Krafton, the story is different.
Gaikwad dropped a tantalising hint about the same and chose his next words very carefully with a pause. He said, “Speaking of Diwali, we have a big collaboration in store. So keep your eyes and ears open. One of our weirdest ideas actually got accepted.”
With 200M+ downloads in India, BGMI has one of the largest and most passionate player communities anywhere. “Our players are an extremely passionate bunch and they’re not shy in speaking their mind,” Karan said. “We look for feedback which is repeated across platforms, channels and time. Anything which is consistent in its nature and loud in its nature is something that we try to prioritise.”
So, how does Krafton ensure such a large playerbase in times when there are plenty of other battle royale games in the market? The answer, as per Gaikwad, lies in constantly trying to surprise their players.
“Our development history is built on certain principles that are unique to BGMI. Just following those principles keeps our game fresh and unique. The second thing is that we actively listen to what our players want. And that also sometimes changes the trajectory of how we look at our road map.
“Finally, we are always constantly trying to break our own rules in order to surprise players. It is a mixture of these three factors which ensures that our game is fun and fresh with every build.”
The mobile gaming scene also continues to change rapidly. Expressing his thoughts on the same, Gaikwad said that they don’t look at it as a problem but as “status quo”.
“This industry keeps changing along multiple factors- technology, distribution, platforms, tastes, and so on. This is the nature of the beast and the job is to figure out how to navigate this change. When there is a change, you just ask your players what they want. Obviously it’s not possible to take every suggestion into consideration, but we try our best.”
To close out the conversation, we shifted gears with a rapid-fire segment. The short questions brought out Karan’s quick instincts as both a gamer and a product lead, offering a lighter finish to an in-depth discussion. Here is how it all went down:
Current theme mode POI
Machete
My finger slipped off the shoot button and I just stood there with the gun
I don’t want to say it because that will make them abuse it even more
AKM
Loot
Dying from fall damage, always
A couple of builds back we had the Godzilla collab. That is a pretty cool skin.
Warewolf
A rusher
Also read: BGMI 4.0 update is now live: How to download, new features and all details