An Interview with the Founder of Empower labs and the game Delta T

Early we featured a brilliant game based on AR just like the pokemon go called Delta T. We got a chance to interact with the CEO and founder, Mr Krishna Milan Rao. It was totally about this company and overall struggle. Delta T is available for Google PlayStore currently. Here is his overall Interaction.

1. How educated is the existing market, especially in a developing country like India?

The market for Augmented Reality games is huge worldwide. Especially, after the launch of hits such as Pokemon GO we’ve seen a lot of interest in AR gaming from Indian audiences. There are challenges in India such as lack of strong internet connectivity but with carriers aggressively improving their services at competitive pricing the market is bound to grow.

 

 

2. How did the idea of Delta T come to you? Why the name Delta T ?

I incubated the idea of launching an Augmented Reality mobile game while at Purdue after seeing the massive following of a similar location based AR MMO, Ingress (Launched by Niantic labs, Google). The massive market potential of the idea along with the fact that the technology is still in a nascent stage led me to believe that the market is ripe for such an offering. The name ‘Delta T’ stems from the game’s time travel based theme, it stands for ‘difference in time’, it’s a play on the game’s futuristic storyline where a time machine has been invented by the same name.

 

 

3. Since I have not played your game but Is it still comparable to Niantic labs Ingress ? Is that your competitor company or Role model ?

Niantic was the first mover in the AR genre with Ingress. They are both a role model to AR games as it was the game to first create the genre and a competitor due to its continued strong presence.

 

We hope to appeal to same audience of AR gamers with our high level of strategic gameplay elements and mechanics. We have in-depth systems and progression mechanics that make metagame of Delta T strong from the roots. The core gameplay mechanics of Delta T allows players to enjoy a single-player experience as well encourages collaborative play with other players on a local and global scale which drives the community towards a social MMO experience.

 

4. Suppose I being a developer want to develop something around the AR. What is it I should know any framework or something which you recommend to developers?

ARKit by Apple and ARCore by Google are the latest developer tool kits launched for Augmented Reality. These developer kits provide the latest in Motion Tracking, Environmental understanding and Light estimation technology helping create realistic experiences in AR. A sound understanding of these technologies is a must for anyone looking to enter the space.

 

 

 

5. What will be revenue model for the game?

Delta T follows a Free to Play business model where monetization would be through In App Purchases. In the long run, we also plan to capitalize on our location based mechanics and monetize through tie ups with brands to drive footfall at retail locations through in game promotions .

 

 

6. What are your expectations from the game?

Given the positive response and the booming market, our prediction is that by 2018 end we would be able to drive about 2.5 million downloads globally.

 

7. Android or iOS which side you prefer the most?

As developers we are platform agnostic, we are looking to cater to both markets equally and our development process reflects the same. Delta T will be launching for both Android and iOS in April and we’re expecting a positive response from both audiences.

 

7. You are also a well settled startup, So did you get any funding for this game or its self or seed funded?

We did raise a seed fund of close to $1 Million to fund the development and marketing of Delta T. The performance and virality we saw in the Alpha version and the closed Beta went a long way in helping us raise funds from private investors from India and the United States.

 

 

8. There are lots of startups right out there Do you want to any share any inspirational message with them.

We faced a lot of challenges early on while building our product as there was very little awareness about the sector. We ran a bootstrapped company as the development cycle for the product was quite long and could not be rushed. We got our big break when Pokémon GO released and awareness went through the roof. We were suddenly in the right space at the right time two years into the development cycle of the product.

Regarding entrepreneurship, I always talk about two things a. it is important to keep the bigger picture in mind. Inevitably you will face numerous challenges on a daily basis, but always keep your eyes on the end goal and not get bogged down by these challenges. And b. Go out and start doing something rather than automatically expecting to find your calling. This will at least help you eliminate things that you don’t want to do, which will get you a step closer to what you want to do. Entrepreneurship is not just about celebrating the successes but its about having the perseverance to go the distance.

 

Endline

Do Download the game Delta T and let us know what do you think overall about the game. We do wish and indeed it’s a brilliant interactive game idea push forward in the growing market of AR and VR.