Whispers of the Konkan Guardian
Duration
6 months, Mdes thesis 2023
Skills
Research
Narrative and game design
Unity development
Collaborator
Dr. Jayesh Pillai,
IDC School of Design, IIT Bombay
Outcome
Exploration based Game Published Paper in India HCI 2024
Second Prize, Games Track, India HCI 2023 · Best Thesis Project, Communication Design · Paper in the India HCI 2023 proceedings (Springer)
The folklore contradicted itself, and that was the point
Rakhandar is feared and revered at once: a guardian of the village boundary, a spirit the church equated with the devil, and the subject of stories that are eerie one moment and funny the next.
Almost none of it was written down. What existed was scattered across blogs, books, videos and the memories of people who grew up with it. Turning that into a single, tidy story would have erased what makes it matter. The challenge was to let players experience the contradictions without resolving them for them.
“As I was standing there, feeling a bit spooked, an old man appeared out of nowhere. He seemed insistent on sitting on my bike. At first, I politely refused, thinking it was a strange request. But before I knew it, he had hopped onto the bike without any warning, and then just as quickly, he jumped off”
43yo M, research interview
FearedRevered
- DevilThe church translated “Diablo” as Devchar, so the spirit was equated with Satan.Historical account
- ForbiddenA shrine sign reads “No women allowed”, explained by stories of pain inside.Shrine visit, blog
- PranksterAn old man appears near the shrine, hops onto a stranger’s bike, then hops off.Contemporary account
- King of spiritsLike the Vetaal, other spirits obey him; priests call on him to drive them out.Similar entities
- Kept aliveNo idol, just a hollow banyan whose roots are black with lamp soot.Memoir
- ProtectorHe guards the four corners of the village boundary.Syncretic belief
Six sources, six different spirits. Research fragments placed between fear and reverence, the duality the game had to keep intact.
I took it from fieldwork to a playable build
This was my M.Des thesis, guided by Dr. Jayesh Pillai. I did the research, wrote the narrative, designed the gameplay, built the village and its characters, programmed it in Unity and ran the playtests.
Research combined literature with informal, unstructured conversations with people who had their own Rakhandar stories, and a visit to a nearby shrine to observe the space and its rituals.
Respect the duality
Rakhandar could not be a horror entity
For many people he is a protector they still make offerings to. A horror treatment would have misrepresented a living belief. So the duality became structure: day and night show his two natures, players arrive as an outsider who learns rather than judges, and rituals are things players take part in, not threats to survive.
One designer, one village, six months
I was also the 3D artist and the programmer. So the scope became a single village in two acts, built on a modular pipeline that let me iterate quickly: assets from Blender, characters from Character Creator and Mixamo, everything brought together in Unity with C# for interactions, cutscenes and shaders.
- Research to narrative
Stories, personas and empathy maps shape a two-act structure.
FieldworkLiterature - World
Konkan houses, laterite paths, palms and the banyan shrine.
Blender - Characters
Villagers, Sarvesh and Pranav, rigged and animated.
Character CreatorMixamo - Build and test
Interactions, cutscenes, shaders, LODs, then two rounds of playtests.
UnityC#
Rakhandar shrine and the offerings at Margao
Curiosity over fear, and a companion over prompts
Not a horror story, a story of exploration instead
Research showed that offerings such as fish, alcohol and bread are how communities include Rakhandar in everyday life. So the quest is gathering them for a ceremony. Each villager who hands one over adds a perspective, and players piece the spirit together through conversation instead of exposition. What I gave up: the tension and familiar pull of a horror game.
A village boy instead of objective markers
In two rounds of moderated playtests, players with less gaming experience struggled with where to go and what to do next. Instead of adding interface prompts and tutorials, I introduced Pranav, a spirited village boy who walks with the player, explains local customs and leads them to the next objective, using Unity’s NavMesh to move naturally through the terrain. I also redesigned the onboarding to introduce mechanics gradually. What I gave up: the precision of an on-screen marker.
Prototypes
Rapid prototyping played a crucial role in validating both the gameplay mechanics and the narrative experience. Rather than waiting for a polished build, I developed a series of functional prototypes to test player movement, environmental exploration, and the integration of narrative within the game world. These iterative builds helped refine the pacing, spatial layout, and overall player experience while demonstrating the transition from concept to a playable game.
Character Movement
Early prototype focused on third-person movement, camera behavior, and navigation to establish the core gameplay feel. I blocked out a rough game map, specified walkable terrain and refined the character control.
World Exploration
Integrated prototype showcasing the complete environment, custom assets, and exploration through the Konkan village, validating the spatial layout and environmental storytelling.
I tested out the LODs, to optimize the game performance ensuring buttery smooth operation.
Outcome
The direction brings together the research, narrative, and gameplay into a cohesive representation of the world of Rakhandar. Inspired by the landscapes of the Konkan region and its rich cultural traditions, the experience combines realistic environments, localized architecture, handcrafted assets, and atmospheric lighting to create a world that feels both familiar and mysterious.
What I’d do differently
While this project successfully demonstrated the potential of interactive storytelling as a medium for preserving folklore, it represents only the first chapter of a much larger vision. I envision expanding Rakhandar into a fully realized folklore exploration experience, where players can discover regional myths, cultural practices, and oral traditions through immersive gameplay. By publishing the game across accessible platforms, the project could reach a broader audience while contributing to the documentation and preservation of indigenous narratives through interactive media.
Future iterations would significantly expand the gameplay by introducing additional quests, dynamic village events, branching narratives, and collectible folklore, encouraging exploration and improving replayability. Character customization and player choice would allow a wider range of players to see themselves represented within the experience. Incorporating feedback received during India HCI 2023, future versions would also introduce greater gender representation through multiple playable protagonists while continuing to evolve the game’s narrative systems, environmental storytelling, and cultural authenticity.