The world’s first irregular conflict board game features the Vijayanagara Empire
Community & Culture
By PTI
Feb 20, 2024
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‘Vijayanagara: The Deccan Empires of Medieval India, 1290-1398,’ published by GMT Games, was designed by professor Saverio E Spagnolie, from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Spagnolie said Mathieu Johnson, Cory Graham and Aman Matthews and developer Joe Dewhurst and him participated in the Consim Game Jam, to produce a game in three days.
“I began to sift through periods with the potential. When I hit upon the political developments in the 14th Century, it stood out with its epic, sweeping scope,” he shared.
When they won the contest, they were approached by GMT to publish a refined version of the game, he said. “Little did we know that it would take about three years of hard work.”
GMT has published two games related to India. ‘Chandragupta,’ in 2008 designed by Stephen R Welch and ‘Gandhi: The Decolonization of British India,’ in 2017 by Bruce Mansfield.
Vijayanagara, states the publisher note, lets players take on the roles of Delhi Sultanate, the Bahmani Kingdom and the Vijayanagara Empire as they battle for the Deccan Plateau.
Spagnolie acknowledged that the research done by historians played an important role in the design of the game, considering he and his team had never been to India.