Multipolis Mumbai: Gaming and the City

Rishi Alwani is the Games Editor at Gadgets 360, India's largest tech website and the only one with a focus on gaming.

Dhruv Jani is an author at, and the Co-founder of, Studio Oleomingus, a two-person game design studio. He practices at the intersection of Post Colonial Literature, Speculative Architecture and Games. Creating software that seek to understand how spaces, histories and languages respond when expressed within interactive mediums. He is best known for creating a sprawling narrative experiment called ‘Somewhere’, an anthology of stories about the search for a mythical city called Kayamgadh. Dhruv's work is currently being supported by The Irregular Corporation and he is the recipient of an Arts Practice Grant from the India Foundation for the Arts. He has also been an Artist-in-Residence at Khoj International Arts association in Delhi. He has created, taught and exhibited games at G|39 Gallery in Cardiff, GDC at San Fransisco, at IFA in Bangalore, at CONA and S.E.A in Mumbai, Khoj in Delhi, Jawahar Kala Kendra and SIDE in Jaipur and at Sketchup in Denver.

Hrishi Oberoi is the Founder and CEO of Photon Tadpole Studios. A veteran of the games industry in India, Hrishi has been developing games since 2002. Previously, he was the Director of Games at Disney India’s Interactive division and held various roles including "Studio Head", "Business Head: International Publishing" and "Director - Games & Studios" at one of India’s pioneering gaming companies, Indiagames. He is dedicated to growing the Indian Gaming Industry by working with Gaming Publishers, Indie Studios and organizations like NASSCOM and other international games associations. Fun Fact: Hrishi probably built the world’s first ever mobile cricket game in 2002.

Sahej Rahal was born in Mumbai. He graduated from Rachana Sansad Academy of Fine Art, Mumbai. His installations, film, performances and video games, are part of a constructed mythology that he creates drawing upon sources ranging from local legends to science fiction. By bringing these into dialogue with each other, he creates scenarios where indeterminate beings emerge into the everyday as if from the cracks in our civilization. Rahal’s participation in institutional and major solo & group exhibitions internationally have included the Bhau Daji Lad Museum, Mumbai, 2018, Midlands Art Centre, Birmingham UK, 2018; Centre for Contemporary Arts Glasgow, 2017; PRIMARY Nottingham, UK 2017; the Liverpool Biennial, 2016; Setouchi Triennial, 2016; Jewish Museum, New York, 2015; Kochi Muziris Biennale, 2014; Vancouver Biennale, 2014; MACRO Museum, Rome, 2014. His work has been exhibited at Galleria Continua, Les Moulins, France, 2014 and Art Stage Singapore, 2014. He has had two major solo exhibitions at Chatterjee & Lal, Mumbai. He is a recipient of the INLAKS emerging artist award 2012; the IFA Critical Arts Practice grant 2014; the Forbes India Art Award, 2014, for best debut show for his solo exhibition ‘Forerunner’ at Chatterjee & Lal, Mumbai; and most recently the Cove Park/Henry Moore Fellowship, 2017.

Sameer Desai is the founder of IGX, India’s largest consumer gaming expo, which takes place in Mumbai annually. A journalist by profession, he is also the science and technology editor at Mumbai Mirror, having previously helmed the Indian edition of MCV, a UK-based trade publication focussing on the gaming industry. In 2006, Sameer founded IndianVideoGamer, which is today India’s longest-running gaming community.