Detective Dotson: Masala Games Founder Shalin Shodhan On His Unusual Quest

ON Saturday night IST, the game Detective Dotson (by Ahmedabad-based Masala Games) was showcased at the Future Games Show. This upcoming game is a cosy, story-driven jaunt through modern-day India — a very rare setting in video games. Rarer still is a show from the same IP that launches before a game. That’s where the Detective Dotson show comes in. But first, do check out the game trailer that dropped at the Future Games Show.

“We did this crazy thing where we planned this as a game and a show from Day 1,” Masala Games founder Shalin Shodhan tells OTTplay, adding, “While this is a little bit of a larger investment [than the game], we identified that around two years ago that Unreal Engine got to this level where it unlocked this ability to take game assets and provide a cinematic output — and we really wanted to take advantage of that.”

Shalin is a 20-year veteran of film and gaming, whose CV includes a four-year stint at Pixar Animation Studios, serving as technical director on a bunch of films including Toy Story 3, Brave and Finding Dory. Oh, and he picked up a few BAFTA and Academy Awards during that time, no big deal(!) It was a couple of years ago that his studio, Masala Games, set about crafting the tale of a detective trying to hunt down his father’s killer, in interactive and cinematic forms.

“One of my pet peeves in adventure games is that they make you read a lot of story or a lot of dialogue. I didn’t want to do that, but I didn’t want to skimp on the story (either),” he says, elaborating on the raison d’etre for the show, “So to me the best solution was to just take a large chunk of the story and make a narrative element — just make a show out of it.”

Being different media, it stands to reason that television and games require distinct approaches when crafting the narrative. But how does Masala Games go about it? “With the show, the way I like to approach it is that it’s important to really write the characters in as much detail as you can, and then let the story write itself on the basis of what this character would do in a given situation,” says Shalin, “For instance, if this kind of stuff was going to happen, then what would Dotson do? Well, he’s kind of like this, so this is what he’d do and just naturally let the rest flow. And so it was important to create the cast of characters first.”

While the show, by Shalin’s admission, is more on the ‘thrills and danger’ side of things, the game is wired very differently. He explains, “The game is a little more on the ‘exploring at your own pace’ and cosy side; there are some shocking moments, but it’s much more relaxed.” The Masala Games founder elaborates that while there is a tonal difference between the two stories, the approach with both was to start with characters, establish their motivations and characteristics, and let that guide the narrative.

Usually, show tie-ins to video games tend to be released after the games, and are either live-action versions or spinoffs. As mentioned above the Detective Dotson show is set to launch before the game, but what’s the story? “The story of the show takes place right before the events of the game,” Shalin replies, “It’s a sort of prologue or prequel to the game, and we’re able to offload a lot of the setup and heavy story that players would otherwise have to wait and see and read while playing the game. Instead of that, they can just watch the show and get the whole immersion, and then jump into the game.”

Of course, if players don’t want to watch the show, it’s not a prerequisite, he’s quick to add, because they will still understand the game and what’s going on. But is the reverse also true? “Absolutely, people can just watch the show; its arc is self-contained and it has a satisfying ending of its own,” Shalin offers, adding, “But at the same time we’ve tried our best to convince people to dive deeper into the world of Detective Dotson through the interactive offering. We would want for somebody who watches the show to be hungry at the end and as soon as they realise there’s a whole game to be played, that excites them and gets them to go and play the game.”

What’s most interesting here is that these aren’t two (or more) separate teams working on the game and show. It’s largely the same core group working with a pipeline they’ve figured out. “The marketplace is pretty crowded, so you have to do something different to stand out and be innovative,” he says, adding that in the worst case scenario, the show becomes the best possible marketing piece for the game. “We’re using almost all the same assets like all the same character frames and models; we’re just sending them to Unreal Engine for the show and the Unity engine for the game,” Shalin says.

As it stands, the show is three-episodes-long with each lasting roughly 20 minutes, making for an hour of watch-time. “The current plan is that we’re happy to look at partners, and at the bare minimum we’ll put it on YouTube, since it’s meant to seed interest in the IP,” Shalin reveals, “I would love to do more episodes or seasons, but it’s a substantial investment to make a show.”

Based on the reactions to the game thus far, it seems like Detective Dotson is set to take off and that there will be genuine interest in the IP. Now, were there to be a full-fledged followup season, what would be the plan? “The second time around, I would love to have a carrier — a partner basically, who is both advising us and funding the season, so to speak,” says Shalin, elaborating, “What we have so far is like a prologue and not an entire season and I would love to write an entire season of this.”

And if a partner isn’t forthcoming? Well, he’s got a plan for that too. “In that case, I would like to do the opposite, which is a lot of short form content surrounding the characters and storylines we’ve established. More palatable for us to produce and it keeps interest in the IP going. So both ways are fine,” Shalin says candidly as our conversation comes to a close.

If you’d like to check out the game for yourself, there’s a demo available here. Both the Detective Dotson game and the show are set for a launch later this year.