UDUPI: Shilpa Bhat, Vice President - Games, 99Games is the only woman gaming expert from India chosen by Google to mentor Indies across APAC region at Google’s Indie Games Accelerator programme to be held at Singapore on September 24. The term ‘Indie’ is used to refer to promising and upcoming gaming companies across the world.
Indie Games Accelerator is a four month programme for top indie game start ups from India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam who are looking to supercharge their growth on Android.
Mentorship sessions will cover a broad variety of game topics including technical development, design, gameplay, user retention, user acquisition, monetization and team leadership.
There will be personalised mentorship from top experts from Google and the gaming industry during this programme. Shilpa will be leading five mentorship sessions around a comprehensive gaming curriculum across Game Development including design best practices, Google Platforms (Android Studio, AR Core, Firebase, Google Cloud, Instant Games), Unity.
Shilpa who hails from Ajjarakad in Udupi is a Computer Engineering (BTech) from MIT, Manipal. Participants of the programme will have access to leading game experts from Google as well as from leading game studios and institutions around the world.
Shilpa told TNIE: “Having started as an indie studio ourselves, it is my privilege to be considered as a mentor for other Indies by Google. The Indie Accelerator programme is an excellent initiative and I look forward to participating in it, interacting with upcoming indies, sharing my knowledge and learning from their experienc.” Shilpa also said her most fierce critic is her 11-year-old daughter Tanya who does not hesitate in giving her unbiased opinion on games under development.
Shilpa oversees production of game titles at 99Games including Game Design, Development and Analytics. She started her career as OpenGL developer and has 16 years of industry experience. She has led the production of stand out hits like Dhoom:3 The Game, Sultan: The Game and Star Chef. Star Chef, is the best monetised global game from an Indian developer.
Rohith Bhat, CEO of 99Games told TNIE: “9Games has created a name for itself by creating successful mobile games for female gamers across the globe. Now that mobile games are becoming popular in India as well, we are thrilled that Shilpa has been chosen by Google as the only female mentor from India to groom indie studios from across Asia.”
99Games is India’s leading developer and publisher of games of international standards for Global and Indian consumers. It takes pride in creating India’s most successfully monetised game ‘Star Chef’ and one of India’s most downloaded game ‘Dhoom:3 The Game’. 99Games has published over 22 game titles and has clocked in more than million downloads globally till date. It has a unique growth strategy of addressing the global and Indian market.
With a highly experienced and stable management team working collaboratively for over five years and a team of 85, 99Games is considered as thought leaders in the Indian gaming industry. 99Games has raised multiple rounds of investments from quality institutional investors - Dream Incubator, Kalaari Capital and Ascent Capital.