This mobile game marries snakes and ladders' simplicity with strategising of chess

Gamers and game developers Nairath Roy and Aarti Gaur wanted to create a unique experience with their mobile game Monarchy They wanted it to be as simple and addictive as say Snakes and Ladders or Ludo but one that challenges the playerrsquos brain in the way chess does ldquoMost board or online games are hard to understand Monarchy combines the best of everything Itrsquos your introduction to the world of gaming and once you are hooked you will move on to the really tough onesrdquo says Roy 30Gamers and game developers Nairath Roy and Aarti GaurItrsquos this idea that impressed the judges at the Pocket Gamer Connects 2016 by Game Hack Reliance Gamesrsquo initiative to identify and create scaleable propositions for the best gaming startups in India Twenty gaming startups were given the opportunity to pitch their ideas at The Very Big Indie Pitch held at Bengaluru last month and Roy and Gaurrsquos Big Boot Games emerged winner While Roy who has pursued a game designing course looks into design and development Gaur a literature graduate is responsible for art and designMonarchy is about four knights who are in a battle for the throneMonarchy comes with twoplayer and fourplayer options There are four corners where four knights are stationed The game is about who gets to the centre mdash where the throne is stationed mdash first There are a set of tools to make your advent easier For instance you can build bridges You also have tools to make your opponentrsquos advent harder by blocking his way with blockades so that he has to go back to the beginning and find another solution mdash much like Snakes and Ladders where a bite at no 99 brings you back to no 30 In the end itrsquos about doing whatever it takes to reach the throne first Thatrsquos what makes you a monarchldquoThere is no straight way to get to the centre You can go all around the board and take a longer route There are cards as well and a lucky draw can change the whole gamerdquo says Roy Whatrsquos surprising is that the first step towards making the game was not writing the plot it was designing the board ldquoOnce you decide how many blocks you want and what will be placed where the story starts flowingrdquo says Gaur They took six months to come up with the first version of the game and have modified it couple of times sinceRoyrsquos first inspiration were the Mario games ldquoThey were my daily fix while growing up Now I really think big games have become a little bit of a clicheacute and smaller indie games are the way to gordquo he saysGaur 30 got introduced to games only in 2007 when she started collaborating with Roy ldquoThese days I am hooked on a game called Alicerdquo she says about the psychological horror game thatrsquos a macabre rendition of Wonderland from Alicersquos eyes Alicersquos objective is to save Wonderland and herselfThe two see Monarchy as an attempt to take gaming back to its social roots ldquoEarlier games were a way of bringing people together These days when we play games we usually play them singularly We wanted to go back to the days where people sat around a board but this time you would be doing that on a phonerdquo says Gaur Though the first mobile version for Monarchy comes out by the end of the year they may have another ace up their sleeve ldquoEveryone who plays Monarchy ends up asking if we have a physical version So yes that will happenrdquo