just like that

If the success of IRIS was important to us as an institute, the success of one of the games in it, Marksman, was important to me as an individual. To understand why, lets just go back an year in time to IRIS 2005. I was one among the four member PGP-1 team handling Marksman – an online marketing strategy game. We (Sandhya and Cijin in particular) had worked hard under the able guidance of the PGP2 team but unfortunately we didn’t have enough time to test the game properly. The result – the game crashed mid-way and we had to make a manual entry later to decide the winner. I felt bad in being one of the very few games that let down the entire show. And at that time I told myself, whatever happens, next year I shall ensure this game becomes a success. It was one of the very few promises I definitely hoped to keep.

Cut to July 2006. The Marksman team now consisted of Sandhya, Mrunalini and myself(Arun and Cijin had moved onto bigger things). And the pitching of various events to the PGP 1 began. I knew this was it. If we were to succeed, the PGP1 team coming in had to be good. They were going to make it or break it. And thankfully the enthusiasts list got self-pruned to a sincere bunch of five guys – Anubhav, Nitin, Vignesh, Vijay and Easwaran. Of course, Srinivasan and Kaustubh helped us out in various stages of the game but the above five were the ones who were in it right through.

These guys were about as good as you can get – sincere, enthusiastic and knowledgeable. After the first few meetings, I began to breathe easy as I realized these guys could handle it. And of course, the dependable sandhya was there to lead and guide them. Easwaran was into the concept design part while the other four took up the core part of coding. My role was limited to allowing my room to be used for the meetings and giving globe now and then. Mrunalini, of course, was providing the technical inputs and also backing me up in the free-riding :)

After the first few meetings, the guys came on to their own and the team began to have a good working chemistry. This, I thought, was very important as these guys had to motivate themselves through assignments, summer placements and end-terms. We had initially planned to finish all coding about ten days before IRIS but when we approached the home stretch with still a lot to cover, I was slightly worried. Thankfully, the guys gave no more anxiety and finished it with about three days to go for IRIS – enough time to test it out thoroughly and find the chinks.

IRIS came and the prelims of our event happened on the first day. Eight finalists were chosen from the fifty-eight teams that took part. Day 2 of IRIS, 4.30 PM – This was it. The D-day was finally here. It was now or never. I was a little nervous within about whether things will go on smoothly. Can we do it?

Thankfully, except for a minor technical snag (which was fixed on the spot), the game went amazingly well. The greatest joy comes when even the losing participants come up to you and tell what a ‘fundoo’ game it was. It was personally a very significant thing for me. It was not as much about those smirks that I had received but more about the need to prove it to myself that our team could do it.

Great job guys! I know now that ‘Marksman’ is in safe hands. It will be taken care of and some good improvements made in the coming years. Thanks to the entire team – It was indeed great fun working with you and I really mean it.

P.S – If you are wondering why Iam making a big fuss about a game going off as expected, I guess I can’t explain much. Sometimes you need to be there to know it :)