3D, open world, single player, RPG

This project is less of a game and more of an immersive experience. It targets age groups 11+ and specifically people who take/would take interest in the colonial history of India.

World exploration, decision dependant multiple timelines, investigatory story, mission accomplishment, minimalistic combat.

The name Bhagat Singh is not unheard of when it comes to the Indian Independence movement of the early 20th century. While most Indians understand and respect the sacrifices the young man made in his lifetime, there are quite a few people who would truly know his story and understand what it was like to face all that this young lad had faced before eventually being hanged for controversial crimes. Although the documented history says that young Bhagat, along with accompanists Rajguru and Sukhdev, was hanged on (date) for being proven guilty of murdering the then Superintendent of Police Saunders, there are quite a few interesting theories that either suggest against his direct involvement or state that the sentence was passed out of political pressure when there had been lack of direct evidence. 

Would his popularity have surpassed that of political giants such as Jawaharlal Nehru and Vallab Bhai Patel? Would he have taken an active role in framing the country post-Independence? Would ‘Purna Swaraj’ or ‘Total Independence’ have come much earlier than the 15th of August 1947? Or would the celebrated freedom fighter have faced criticism and downfall? All these questions could have been answered had Bhagat changed the decisions he made at crucial points in his life. And that is what ‘Zinda Bhagat’ is all about.

Roam the streets of colonial India is the 1920s as the famed freedom fighting legend, Bhagat Singh, as you fight your way against the oppressive British colonial rule in the quest for a free nation. As you progress in accordance with the real life of the celebrated hero, you will encounter multiple decision junctures where making a different choice as compared to the true incidents in the past will alter your timeline. Each of the decision junctures will be accessible to be played again anytime in the game for the player to explore multiple timelines. In accordance with Murphey’s law, one way or the other, the game will lead to a situation where Bhagat eventually gets killed in all the new timelines; all except one. There shall be just one unique combination of decisions that will cumulatively save Bhagat’s life and by achieving this, you will end up rewriting Indian history, the way it was never meant to be.

The following is the first look or the game or the 'Game Poster-1'

Credits: Art inspired from the Bollywood movie, 'The Legend of Bhagat Singh' starring Ajay Devgan.

Once the game has loaded, the landing screen is supposed to look something like the one one given below. Essentially, the idea is to replicate the interiors of the Mozang House, believed to be the headquarters of the revolutionaries Chandrashekhar Azad, RajGuru, Sukhdev and others apart from Bhagat Singh himself.

So visually, the player is taken into the Mozang house and lead to a table top where this screen appears. Here the main game options will be displayed.

Eg1: Suppose you chose 'Load Game'

The view lifts off the table and goes onto the adjacent wall where you will find a           blackboard lit up by two lamps. 

Now the blackboard depicts milestones of the game previously achieved by you; probably scribbled by Bhagat when he was last here. Now you select where you want to start off again!

By the way, the percentage figure above the blackboard was obviously no scribble left by the members of HSRA. That's for your reference as to how much of the game you have managed to complete.

Eg 2: Now say you have chosen to start the game. Before you begin, you will be asked to equip yourselves with your dressing and utility required.

This the camera moves away from the wall and takes your vision across the hall to the wardrobe at the far end. Here you select your costumes and materials. An illustration is given below:

The end of the previous illustration shows a feature of the game that I have come to define as 'Instant Switch'

This allows you to select any other character from your team and play through his perspective. 

For eg: 

You proceed to the location of assassination with three characters. Say, Bhagat, Rajguru and Chandrashekhar Azad. You begin the mission playing as Bhagat and hide behind a tree. You then send Rajguru near a tea stall and Azad near to a group of civilians.

You decide that the assassination needs to be carried out by Rajguru as he has the lowest notoriety count (we shall get to this later) when compared to Bhagat and Azad. But from his position, Rajguru cannot exactly see the whereabouts of Scott and leaving that position will mean risking the loss of anonymity.

You thus instantly switch character and play as Azad until you locate Scott's position. 

You then realize that Rajguru's position is going to be scrutinized by a few police guards.

Now you switch character to play as Bhagat and distract the police guards away from Rajguru's position. 

Bhagat will have to be out of danger before you switch back to Rajguru and carry out the assassination.

Now coming to the notoriety factor. 

The following illustration shows a part of the HUD from the gameplay screen. Ideally, this will appear at the bottom left of the play screen.

Now the most interesting aspect of the game: Alternate Timelines.

The original life story of Bhagat Singh will be outlined on the blackboard sequentially as go on completing your missions.

But at certain junctures, you get the freedom to deviate from the original story in your attempt to finally save Bhagat from dying. 

The 'load game' will also include each of your timeline details as to what happened after what. If one link leads to a dead end, then this shall be depicted with stains of blood on the blackboard as shown below.

You can then follow the link backward to any of the previous decision junctures to change your timeline.

Now let me show you some of the rough screen sketches that I've been working on. I shall keep updating the storyboard as and when the levels get finalized.