In July this year, when Xbox launched Space Jam: A New Legacy – The Game, fans of the movie franchise and gaming aficionados around the world were ecstatic. But for 15-year-old Narayan Karthikeyan, it was a dream come true. His name was in the official game credits. “I showed it to my friends. They couldn’t believe it!” he exclaims.
Narayan is one of the two winners of an international competition that sought ideas for a new video game inspired by the movie Space Jam: New Legacy, a follow-up to the iconic movie of 1996.
Xbox and Warner Bros Pictures blended the game mechanics suggested by youth-competition winner Narayan, with the classic ‘beat ’em up’ idea submitted by the adult-competition winner Ricky from the US, to create an arcade-style game featuring the beloved Looney Tunes characters Bugs Bunny and Lola Bunny along with basketball legend LeBron James.
When Narayan came across the competition announcement in December, he was busy preparing for exams. He decided to give it a shot anyway. The 11th grader from Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala, entered his idea for the game: the players would be able to progress from one level to the next using various power-ups while achieving different objectives and winning bonus abilities along the way.
A huge fan of the original Space Jam movie, his idea was inspired by the arcade games of the 80s and 90s. It took him about half an hour to type the idea directly on the website. “I submitted it so casually, I didn’t even save a copy of my entry,” says Narayan. So when he received an email in June with the results, he was overjoyed. “My parents too were very happy. They’ve always been supportive,” he says.
Narayan started playing video games at a young age. “One of my earliest memories of gaming is playing Angry Birds on PC in 2009,” he says. He rediscovered classic games from the 90s and early 2000s during the pandemic. A storyteller at heart, Narayan spends his free time reading science fiction. He has also written a few short stories. “Gaming industry in India has huge potential. It’s becoming an increasingly sophisticated vehicle for storytelling, and I’d love to be a part of it,” he says.
His prizes include an Xbox One S console with his name on it and an annual subscription to Xbox Game Pass Ultimate. He received a movie merchandise pack, and signed memorabilia from LeBron James. He will also get a hometown screening of the film, and a virtual coding workshop.
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