How an American sitcom inspired a gaming startup in India

Arpan, center-front, with the team

Arpan Bose was always fascinated by warfare games. Three years ago, while watching his favorite show, How I Met Your Mother, a little idea made its way into his head.

“The character Barney was playing Laser Tag,” says the final year student at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur. Arpan had been programing since school and was a gaming addict himself. So it made him wonder about the game’s potential in India.

After researching the market, he and his friends B. Nagendra Babu Naik and Priti Pallavi found an untapped market. Laser Tag had few manufacturers in India, the equipment was expensive, and the physical arenas available for simulation gaming were poor quality. “As we kept patching the holes in our idea, the concept evolved.”

It eventually exploded as their startup Gunpoint Technologies, which calls itself ‘the future home of the coolest battlefield simulation technology.’

The product was launched at the Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2016 in IIT Kharagpur last month. It could hit the bull’s eye in India where a huge demand for video games and simulation gaming is building up among youth.

Some of that was evident at the Battlefield Simulation Gaming event held at Spring Fest 2016 on campus. “Almost 400 people participated. Most teams played twice or even thrice. It was difficult to manage the crowds!” says a thrilled Arpan.

Incidentally, he suffers from muscular dystrophy but has never let it get in his way. He didn’t even mention it until I asked why he was wheelchair bound.

What are simulation games?

A simulation gaming enthusiast. Photo credit: Michael Saechang

For the uninitiated, simulation games are realistic or virtual games created to give a lifelike feel to an idea embedded in a player’s mind. Some examples are Laser Tag, paintball, and augmented reality gaming.

Remember how Star Trek and Star Wars showed people fighting each other with laser guns?

They inspired the Star Trek Electronic Phasers – a fancy name for toy laser guns that allowed players to simulate the laser battles they saw in movies – in an actual physical arena. That’s how Laser Tag was born.

“What we have basically done is to take the Laser Tag technology and improve the entire gaming experience,” explains Arpan. Everything in the game, from the look and functionality to the devices and even the missions, is inspired by real life combat scenarios and military weapons.

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