Will the next Angry Birds come out of India?

A new generation of talented game makers is looking to put Indian development on the map - just as giants like Disney and Rovio are moving in to exploit the vast local market

Every month, blogger Mithun Balraj organises a get-together for gamers and developers in a bar in Koramangala, Bangalore. When these informal gatherings began a year ago, five or six people came along - now there are over 30 and interest is growing. Some pop in just to chat about the games they're playing, others show off prototypes of their own projects; they all want to discover new titles. "I brought in the sword-fighting game Nidhogg last week," says Balraj. "It was great, but we got a little bit carried away. The bar owner told us to be quiet because the other customers were trying to watch the cricket."

This cultural clash between old and new India is an effective symbol of where the country's video game industry is right now. For years, giant Western publishers exploited it for its intelligent and cost-effective workforce, outsourcing specific graphics tasks - like modelling realistic racing cars - to local studios that basically worked like factory production lines. But over the last two years things have started to change. A new generation of talented and creative Indian developers has grown up, inspired by the thriving independent development scenes in the US and Europe. Spurred on by the success of hits like Doodle Jump, Angry Birds and Cut the Rope, they don't want to craft digital assets for other people; they want to create their own games.