Suri: The Seventh Note will be released tomorrow, October 30. Developed by Tathvamasi Studios, the game is part of the PlayStation India Hero Project and aims to bring India’s rich yet relatively unexplored culture to a global audience.
We had the opportunity to interview Glen Martin, the studio’s CEO and the game’s director. During our conversation, we discussed the development process, the inspirations behind Suri, how the idea for the game originated, the current state of India’s gaming industry, and much more. Check it out:
Insider Gaming’s Suri: The Seventh Note Interview With Tathmavasi Studios CEO & Game Director Glen Martin
1) Suri: The Seventh Note blends 2D Metroidvania mechanics with a unique rhythm-based world. You’ve mentioned inspirations like Hollow Knight and Ori, as well as rhythm elements from Rayman Legends. How did you balance the tight, precise platforming of a Metroidvania with the constant forward momentum usually found in rhythm games?
When we started out, the project was planned to be a 2D rhythm Metroidvania, largely because all of us were going through a Metroidvania kick at the time as we were playing several games in the genre such as Ori, Prince of Persia Lost Crown, and Nine Sols to name a few.
As many first-time developers do, we tried to cram a lot of stuff into it, but it came out as a weird mishmash of different ideas that didn’t fit well together. With mentorship from Sony, we took a step back to cut out the noise, find the core of what made the experience fun, and build on those strengths rather than trying to do 20 different things.
Transitioning away from a Metroidvania into a rhythm platformer was the hardest decision we had to make, especially since we had already built out entire biomes and mechanics by that point. Thankfully, it happened early enough in development that we were able to salvage what worked and focus on creating a much better, more sensibly scoped experience.
2) The game draws heavily from Indian mythology and diverse landscapes, from the deserts of Rajasthan to the Western Ghats. How did you decide which specific biomes and folk music traditions to feature, and what was the research process like to ensure authenticity while keeping it a fantasy setting?
We’ve taken inspiration from the Indian landscapes and culture. While the stories and things like creatures, etc are taken as inspiration from a starting point. The final outcome deviates considerably from the source material. It was our intent to create a world of SURI unique to itself.
The selection of biomes was dependent on variety and novelty. Some cultural aspects, like the Rajputana forts, are generally a bit more familiar, however, cultures like Theyyam are not as well known. We wanted to make sure the world is diverse. We tried to marry culture with environments that naturally would go well together however added a distinct fantasy element to them that helped them have their own identity.
3) The visual identity of Suri is very striking, mixing bold pen-and-ink styles with colorful, dramatic environments. How did the team land on this specific aesthetic to represent a “Mythical India”?
We wanted to build a world deeply inspired by our culture, but create a completely new fantastical world away from the idea of mythology. The focus was to get to the core of what it meant to us. India is a mix of diverse, vibrant, exuberant cultures, and we wanted to represent it with a splash of vibrant colours and details. This idea has vastly led us to develop the art style as we see today.
4) As a Bengaluru-based studio, this is your debut title. Can you tell us a bit about the origins of Tathvamasi Studios? How did the core team come together to build a rhythm-action platformer?
It all started with a couple of friends in a Discord VC wanting to make a game during Covid. We started making a 2D action-adventure game but felt that there was something lacking. During that time, I was playing and watching a lot of Sekiro, and there was something very musical about its combat.
It tried to bring that idea into 2D, but the result was poor. Around this time, a friend of mine introduced me to this game called 140. That gave me the idea to take the system we made for rhythm 2d combat and make a rhythm platformer instead. We tried out a couple of prototypes, and this felt better than the earlier ideas, and we decided to stick with it.
In the early days of the project, most of us were working part time and pooling our salaries to hire a couple of folks to make progress on the game. The biggest evolution happened after we hired Chitrak [Srivastava] as our Art Director. I had been scouring ArtStation and sending out cold emails to folks I found interesting. The rejections were brutal and cold, until we found Chitrak. He came aboard and brought his magic along for the ride
5) Creating a game where the world itself—flames, waterwheels, enemy patterns—reacts to the musical beat must be a massive technical and creative challenge. What was the most difficult aspect for your development team to nail down during production?
This was the most technically difficult aspect of our development. It initially started out as a clicker which runs at a fixed BPM. We then brought FMOD into the mix, and that really unlocked our design potential. Initially, we had a system where all the traps and things in the environment had their animation timed to the duration of a loop in our music, but we later found that this would inevitably drift and things would go out of sync, especially when we had frame drops.
This led us to make a Universal Groove System where it became the timekeeper in the game. Every mechanic, every animation makes progress or has its progress timed and adjusted based on the information it gets from this system and the clock inside this system is directly tied to the music that is playing. This ensures that even if frames drop, everything is orchestrated and conducted by the song from one common point.
6) As indie developers, you wear many hats. What is the team dynamic like at Tathvamasi, and how do the music composers and level designers collaborate to make sure the rhythm and the gameplay are perfectly synchronized?
Being a small independent studio, we pride ourselves on wearing multiple hats. We have tried to develop a culture and generalist mindset where everyone helps each other by going the extra mile. This is useful when we need to align on common goals, as the team works best when folks know what is needed and get it done.
Music composition and level design work in lockstep with each other right from the beginning of the process. The audio team comes up with a set of constraints first. That would be BPM, time signatures, phrase length, etc. Then they create a couple of musical patterns which might work together with each other. The designers then take those patterns and see if they can come up with traps or environmental obstacles which can be animated to this musical pattern.
We start with paper prototypes and rough mockups. We try to see if the way the player interacts with these traps or obstacles results in interesting movement that aligns with the musical phrase being created. We shortlist them and move to engine prototyping. If it feels good to play, then we move on to actually making both the musical phrase and the trap/obstacle look, sound, and feel like it belongs in the game.
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7) Suri: The Seventh Note was selected for PlayStation’s India Hero Project. How has Sony’s backing impacted the development of the game, both in terms of resources and global exposure?
This game would not exist without the support provided by the PlayStation India Hero Project. They really provided all the resources necessary to get our creative vision into reality. Their support was not limited to just providing funding. They had set up a dedicated team of developers, designers, and producers to support us along the way.
The mentorship was well-rounded and helped us go from being a couple of guys making something in Unity to a proper studio. They helped us with feedback and support not only for PlayStation 5 builds, game design, and development, but even for things like marketing, managing company financials, and developing the team. They really helped us mature into an organization in every aspect.
8) Working closely with a major publisher like PlayStation must bring a lot of valuable feedback. Has the game evolved or changed in any significant way since joining the Hero Project?
The feedback from the team was really valuable, as they have many decades of experience behind them collectively. When we started out, we wanted to put anything and everything in the game, and our scope had exploded massively.
Sony helped us to analyse the game differently, cut through all the noise, and find the core of the game that worked the best. They helped us to figure out for ourselves what worked the best and how to build things around it that synergise well instead of having bloated features that would pull the game in different directions.
9) What does it mean for you as a studio to have PlayStation actively looking at the Indian development scene and bringing games like Suri to a global audience on the PS5?
My love story with gaming started with God of War for the PS2, when I was a kid. Going from a kid who used to spend hours on the PS2 to making a game coming out on the PS5 is a surreal experience for me. It genuinely means a lot to us that we are able to take a title like SURI and bring it out on the global stage with PlayStation in our corner.
I think that the India Hero Project initiative will definitely inspire a lot of developers in India to attempt to make ambitious single-player narrative-driven games, and we will see a renewed interest in these kinds of games being made from India
To learn more about Suri: The Seventh Note, check the game’s various profiles and storefronts:
10) India has always had a massive mobile gaming market, but we are increasingly seeing high-quality premium PC and console titles coming from Indian studios. How do you view the current state of the game development scene in India?
We are at an amazing juncture right now. We have always been a mobile-first gaming market, but we have always had a lot of production houses in the country who cater to a lot of Western studios. The talent and skill set is there, but we need founders/operators to create a team and publishers/investors to provide the backing to get these games made.
We are seeing shifts in this trend where teams are getting more ambitious and confident in their ability to create polished premium PC and console titles, and we are seeing some interest from publishers as well. There is still a long way to go to have a thriving PC/Console title development culture, but it’s well on its way to get there.
11) Do you feel there is a growing appetite, both locally and internationally, for games that showcase authentic Indian culture and mythology rather than just Western or Japanese settings?
I believe that there is a great appetite for fresh experiences in gaming, around the world right now. I don’t think it is just limited to showcasing authentic Indian culture and mythology; however, that is still a great starting point. We see the same across movies and music as well.
I think the best situation is where developers take the culture around us and stories from our myths and create fresh new worlds and experiences that are still accessible globally. I think there are many, many interesting stories to tell and interesting worlds to explore which are derived from Indian culture, and I am excited to see where it takes us.
12) For aspiring developers in India who want to make premium indie games for consoles, what is the biggest hurdle they face right now, and what advice would you give them based on your journey with Suri?
The biggest hurdle remains securing early-stage funding and figuring out the technical and certification requirements of console development. Building a premium title requires money upfront and specific know-how that isn’t always readily accessible in a traditionally mobile-focused ecosystem.
Programs like the PlayStation India Hero Project massively bridges this gap, offering both critical financial support and direct technical mentorship to help studios get games out on a console like PlayStation
My advice to focus relentlessly on building a tight, compelling vertical prototype lets your core mechanics shine. Don’t be afraid to reach out, pitch your vision, and seek out platform partners or mentors early on.
Collaboration and Knowledge sharing is extremely important in this stage of the development scene so that we all collectively rise up to the standards set by the wider gaming audience.
13) With the release right around the corner on October 30th, what is the one specific level, biome, or musical track in the game that you are most excited for players to experience?
I am most excited for players to meet Rulpui and escape from its clutches. You will meet it at the upper levels of a treetop village and it will chase you through burning trees and buildings 20 meters up in the air. It also features one of my favorite songs in the game.
Editor’s Note: The interview has been cleaned up for clarity. Do you plan to give SURI a chance? Let us know your thoughts on the Insider Gaming Discord server.
Ruan está cobrindo a indústria dos games desde 2017, trazendo várias informações sob a ótica do mercado e reviews após o 100%. Quando ele não está escrevendo, está jogando algum…
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