Interview with One of The Leading Female Game Developer In India

Today, GamersIndia.com has a rendezvous with Mrs. Ruchi Rahul Vijayvargiya, the very first lady to carve a niche in the technological department of the famous game developing company Paradox Studios. Let us now know something more about Ruchi’s journey to Paradox and beyond.

GI : Could you please tell us something about yourself?

Ruchi : My academic grooming has been mostly in Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh. I did my schooling there & graduated with specialisation in Maths & Statistics. Post graduation, I did my masters in MCA from Rajiv Gandhi Technical University in 2003-2004 and scored 74%. Apart from my academic interests, my hobbies include singing. Having being trained for over 10 years in classical music, I have won National awards & have been a singer on All India Radio for over 4 years. My other hobbies include sports & dancing, for which I won many awards at the school & college level. I was also an active participant in dramas, debates & competition throughout my academic years.

GI : How long have you been with Paradox Studios?

Ruchi : I shifted to Mumbai around a year back & joined Paradox Studios.

GI : What was the first game that you played as a child or a teenager?

Ruchi : Like everyone during their growing years, I was also exposed to card games. But beyond that there was no special love for gaming.

GI : What brought you into the gaming field?

Ruchi : Well after shifting to Mumbai, I was clear that I wanted to work on an emerging growing industry. I did a little research on my own & chanced upon Paradox Studios on the Internet. I read about the company & that really hooked me on. When I finally was called for an interview, I was surprised to know that I was the very first woman to be joining them! I took that up as a challenge & am very happy about my decision, as it has indeed been an interesting & challenging experience working here.

GI : Yes it is indeed a challenging line to be in, infact gaming itself is a highly male dominated area. What according to you would be the reason why women are not venturing as much into the field?

Ruchi : Well gaming in itself is a very nascent industry. Paradox Studios, one of the early players in this industry started in 2001. Hence there is isn’t enough awareness about this industry among the target audience. So it might take a while for women to get into this field. Also women per se are not gaming freaks or might also not have been exposed to playing games. When I joined the company and started playing games, I really loved it & realised what I had been missing out on. So true it still is a male dominated field, but the figures are surely changing!

GI : Were there any hurdles lined up from your end, when you went ahead and expressed your choice of getting into this field?

Ruchi : Everybody was extremely supportive, but it was me who was initially quite apprehensive since I was not exposed to gaming before. I didn’t enjoy it much and was also quite unaware of the technicalities that went into it. However once I joined Paradox things did change. My training got me involved in the intricacies of game development & I slowly started realising how wrong I was. It is an extremely challenging & a satisfying experience.

GI : As of now the ratio of men and women in the gaming field is 9:1.Do you think there is ever going to be a day when there is an equal ratio of men and women in the sphere?

Ruchi : Definitely, I think I’ve already started the trend. Infact in the past one year a lot of newcomers have been women.

GI : What according to you would be the factor that would interest and entice women to get into the field of game development?

Ruchi : After working here I realized that a lot of creativity & out-of-the-box ideas were required in this field. Gaming being an extremely volatile industry, one has to be extremely quick & innovative. Also what excited me personally was the innovative use of software & technology in gaming; this basically lends a whole new dimension to the software industry.
I think every new age woman today looks out for a job which is challenging and adds knowledge to her already existing portfolio & this industry definitely gives you all this & more.

GI : What made you choose the sphere of mobile games as against PC or any other type of games?

Ruchi : A PC & a mobile game essentially requires a person to have different skill-sets & technological know-how. I was trained in Java, which basically caters to developing mobile games. Also in India mobile games is the fastest growing sector as opposed to PC games as the penetration of mobiles has far exceeded the PC penetration. It has a larger audience from diverse cultures, hence caters to mass consumption. Hence it was a natural progression for me in this sector.

GI : Where do you see mobile gaming five years down the line?

Ruchi : It is a blossoming industry & internationally is already bigger than what Hollywood is. So it definitely will be one of the booming industries five years down the line.

GI : Where do you see Paradox and probably yourself with Paradox in the future?

Ruchi : Paradox has an extremely strong base as it was one of the early players in this industry. We have games across platforms & have huge international partners & licenses to our credit. We also have won awards at many forums for our games. We definitely look at being a market leader in this space. As for me, I hope seeing my name being on most of the credits of the award-winning games that we develop!

GI : Is there any message or advice you would like to give to all our readers who want to get involved with this industry and make a career out if the same?

Ruchi : I would like to definitely take this opportunity to say that game development is not that easy an occupation to be in. Playing games may seem like an easy task; however making games is equally difficult wherein there is a lot of detailing and logic required. To summarise it all, it is only perseverance that can make you successful in any and every field in life.

GI : Thanks for speaking to GamersIndia and educating us on gaming and its intricacies.

Ruchi : You are most welcome…its been a pleasure indeed.