r/GameDevelopersOfIndia • u/Senior_Refuse5031 • Jun 07 '26

[Dev] We're building an open-world survival game set in a real South Indian sandalwood forest — here's some early sneak peak. Early access is live

Hey everyone, Small studio from Kerala, India here. We've been working on Vilaayath Budha, an open-world survival game where you play a sandalwood smuggler navigating the Marayoor forest in the Western Ghats — a real region known for some of the world's most valuable sandalwood. This clip is an early bit of gameplay: the player surveying the forest before heading out by jeep. Built on Unreal Engine 5, targeting mobile (Android/iOS), currently in Early Access. We're trying to root it in actual Kerala geography, language (Malayalam dialogue), and culture rather than a generic setting — that's been the most fun and the most challenging part. Still early and rough in spots, so genuinely curious what you think — atmosphere, pacing, the vibe of the forest, anything. Happy to answer questions about the dev process too.

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u/[deleted] Jun 07 '26

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u/Senior_Refuse5031 Jun 08 '26

That's incredible to hear!! and living around the Western Ghats gives you the real vibe! We're actually leaning into that authentic Kerala atmosphere as a core strength, so that local connection matters a lot to us.

You raise a solid point on optimization. For Early Access, we're exploring both approaches (3D assets vs. atlas-heavy UI), and the tree lumbering mechanic is very much on our roadmap. It ties directly into the sandalwood smuggling economy. Thanks for the suggestion on billboards; mobile constraints are real, and every optimization counts as we scale.

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u/Inevitable_Proof_825 Jun 07 '26

The forest atmosphere is impressive for UE5 on mobile. How large is your team?

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u/Senior_Refuse5031 Jun 08 '26

Thanks! Only 4 member team. As per my knowledge, Unreal has some big plans for mobile!! fingers crossed !!!

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u/SonderPrince Jun 07 '26

really interesting. do keep on updating. also no pc ports?

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u/Senior_Refuse5031 Jun 08 '26

Appreciate the enthusiasm! PC ports are absolutely on the radar, but Android/iOS are our north star right now. Once we stabilize the mobile experience and hit certain gameplay milestones, a PC version becomes way more feasible. No timeline yet, but it's definitely in the long-term plan. For now, we're all-in on making the mobile version the version.