Hammerplay Studios
Pushing (almost) the boundaries of Instant Games

H5 games (HTML5) as we fondly call them has steadily grown on us ever since 2016 where we began to building byte sized games for the Jio Phone (feature phone). That platform meant that we had to reimagine and go old school as we were too used to building games in more modern tool sets like Unity or Unreal where we could splurge even for Mobile standards.

Pushing (almost) the boundaries of Instant Games
Hammerplay Studios
Building a Slick and Instant Carrom Experience

Carrom Play was one of those casual silent hits for us especially on the MX Player platform and ever since the recent pandemic we wanted to scale the game and make it feature rich. Its a game where we have been relentlessly working on adding continuous updates. The idea was to keep the game super light which meant we built it from the ground up as a HTML5 game and not look at the typical Unity engine that most other studios would pick.

Building a Slick and Instant Carrom Experience
Game Development, Goodies, HTML5, HTML5 games, Multiplayer
Hammerplay Studios
Building Battle Legends

We always wanted to build a multiplayer shooter. The moment any studio thinks of a shooter, only fancy modern shooter pop into mind, we are so influenced by shooters like Counter Strike, Call of Duty, Battle Field, Team Fortress 2, Overwatch to name a few. With the mobile landscape its always a challenge to build such degrees of games especially for smaller studios like us. The idea of building a top down shooter has always lingered in our minds

Building Battle Legends
Hammerplay Studios
How are we doing at this hour ?

Well, like many other companies and studios in India and worldwide, we too had transitioned to a complete remote working setup and have been managing to build a lot more cooler games during the lock-down period. While most of us at the studio aren't a big fan of the work from home format, the challenging times meant we had to cope up and adapt and we are after all good at that. The biggest challenge with this format is coordination and correspondence. What would typically be a few minutes of conversation in person could end up taking multiple hours to make sure the message is sent across.

How are we doing at this hour ?
Game Development, Goodies, HTML5 games
Hammerplay Studios
Building Fun and Lightweight Games

In recent times, we are growing more confident about HTML5 games (nick named H5 games), a medium that has been growing despite the popularity of large games. The issue with large games is , well, they are super large and that can be a huge factor with users who just want to have some fun time for a few mins. Instant games are a great fit here as they can provide that snackable (not really a word) experience. We have been designing several concepts around H5 games part of our IP strategy.

Building Fun and Lightweight Games

Looking back at 2025 !

As 2025 draws to a closure, looking back we have done quite some work across various genres this year. We continue to push the boundaries in H5/ Web games and remain bullish on the domain. With so many more platforms and venues opening up we believe this industry is getting even better. We could already see many leading mobile games coming to web and dedicated browser gaming platforms like Ray doubling down. While this year was no different with the commitment, we managed to develop and publish a whole variety of games and had maximum number of releases on various platforms across puzzle, sport, card, action, shooter,etc - so yes one of the best years in recent times! 

That Zombie’s too close - pull that damn trigger !

Call it the most demanding game of the year we have been building that we are close to launching on major platforms. Zombie Sniper Hero is one of those higher end of the Browser games we have been rebuilding. We took nearly a 10 year old game and decided to remaster it and add more engaging layers to it. Not that older game was looking bad. It still looks good to this date given it was still made for Mobile back then. But it lacked the optimization needed for browsers and the levels felt a bit too small and artificial. Given the advancements in Browsers, webgl and now webgpu, it made sense for us to give it additional love!

The legacy game from years back. Notice no hands on the Sniper

New version with first person hands.

This meant we pretty much had to scrap most of the legacy code and rewrite sniper mechanics. The OG version did not have the first person hands and only the Sniper sticking out in the view. This lacked realism and we decided to add first person hands with animations for aim, shoot and reload. We then decided to remaster the original parking lot map. While it still looked good for its age, we decided to make the map larger to accommodate long range sniping and changed the level design where areas like the downed chopper were replaced with a broken bus that caved in at the center of the map. We have added new Snipers that players can unlock and they make a huge difference when dealing complex waves. The other major addition to the game is Turrets which lets you switch to them once the kill meter is full. This lets you deal with hoards and dispose of them quickly and switch back to the Sniper offering more strategic ways to play the game.

Mow them down with the Gatling Gun!

We have also added drone support and air strike that the player can summon once. This again makes a huge difference when tackling difficult waves. As far as the modes go we now have missions where you can keep finishing different sets of objectives and progress through. The endless wave mode has been completely revamped from scratch.. One of the most interesting aspects of the new version is the addition of the Caller Zombie system which triggers new zombie waves and in order to stop the waves you need to spot the Caller Zombie and kill it! And that bugger keeps hiding and you only get a narrow window to spot him and kill him. 

Its a bit of blood bath with these Zombies unfortunately

The result is a higher fidelity game which looks and plays well.  This wasn't easy as we had to optimize every nook and cranny of the game in order to bring it under an acceptable limit which loads in under 10 seconds. This is the best and worst part of building for the Web. Otherwise we have been testing the game on some key portals gathering stats on play time, retention etc. We are gearing up for a soft launch this holiday season on major browser platforms. 

Yeah that right there is a Caller Zombie!

Steady…..

We are still big fans of casual sports games at Hammerplay and the reason why you find different sports games like Cricket, Football, Bowling, Pool, Tennis in our catalogue. Done right some of these games are timeless and dont quite get caught in the trend hype. 

Since good old habits don't die, we built and launched Penalty Shooter that has been genre leading on MSN. A simpler penalty kick game with a swipe to shoot the ball into the goal post mechanic. Again it's one of those good looking, well polished games we are happy about. We started out with just the core mechanics of striker and goal keeper but have added new modes like target mode, unlockable balls, golden shot and such since the recent live -ops.

Kick it away!

And its a Goallll !

In the Puzzle genre we did Coffee sort and Block Frenzy 

Coffee sort - a proven sorting mechanic which is addictive as you play. Sort the incoming Coffees per their color into the packaging boxes. This was almost borderline hyper casual. We just launched it on MSN/ Gamesnacks and are studying the initial reception to see if we can further improve or scale the game.

Well the game is portrait aspect and we prefer adding thematic wallpapers for the Desktop users!

Our next puzzle game for the year, Block Frenzy is yet another familiar mechanic that most casual audiences like playing. Place and match colored cube blocks on the board to create and trigger satisfying chain reactions. Progress through a series of levels, each featuring unique designs. Engage with special, brain-teasing puzzles that refresh daily, offering consistent rewards and motivation. With a charming tropical theme the game is relaxing to play!  

We think we like the Tropical theme with this vibrant art style -what do ya think?

We have been meaning to get an idle game out there and thought we could perhaps go with a popular proven game idea. Pizza inc lets you build and run a pizza store and scale it into an empire. The game has been perfectly optimized for desktop and mobile with WASD controls for desktop users and a one thumb virtual stick movement for Mobile users. 

Its Holidays already!

We have been testing the game in its early stages and are finding that the audiences are spending pretty good time in a given session. This is slated for launch in the new year as we continue to finish the game. 

Publishing with FRVR

FRVR is one of those web gaming companies we really admire and they have been the forerunners in this space for a very long time now. After our Gamescom meeting this year we concluded bringing some of our games through a partnership with them. FRVR is now publishing/ distributing some of our leading games on their platform/ network and we really believe this is a testament to our work in recent times . We look forward to scaling this partnership. 

Our incredible young team continues to crank out the best possible games in the best possible time frames. We are hoping to build on this momentum as we move in to 2026!








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The Good(Bad)minton

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The Good(Bad)minton

One of those recent infectious things aside Covid that most of the studio members caught is Badminton. Thanks to our Games Producer Darshan who helped inspire, it latched on with everyone at the studio so much so that most of the team plays at a nearby badminton court 3-4 times a week and lash out each other with the Shuttle.

Building a Slick and Instant Carrom Experience

Building a Slick and Instant Carrom Experience

Carrom Play was one of those casual silent hits for us especially on the MX Player platform and ever since the recent pandemic we wanted to scale the game and make it feature rich. Its a game where we have been relentlessly working on adding continuous updates. The idea was to keep the game super light which meant we built it from the ground up as a HTML5 game and not look at the typical Unity engine that most other studios would pick.

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Why do we seem Expensive?

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Why do we seem Expensive?

Quite often when we deal with potential business proposals to build games or license our IP, we hear the statement “You guys are expensive”, “The cost is too high”, “It doesn’t fit into our budget”. We cant really complain there since as a customer they have the right to determine what they should or can pay. The idea behind this post is to throw some light on some of the misinterpretation or difference in understanding with the costs of building games.

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Building Battle Legends

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Building Battle Legends

We always wanted to build a multiplayer shooter. The moment any studio thinks of a shooter, only fancy modern shooter pop into mind, we are so influenced by shooters like Counter Strike, Call of Duty, Battle Field, Team Fortress 2, Overwatch to name a few. With the mobile landscape its always a challenge to build such degrees of games especially for smaller studios like us. The idea of building a top down shooter has always lingered in our minds

How are we doing at this hour ?

How are we doing at this hour ?

Well, like many other companies and studios in India and worldwide, we too had transitioned to a complete remote working setup and have been managing to build a lot more cooler games during the lock-down period. While most of us at the studio aren't a big fan of the work from home format, the challenging times meant we had to cope up and adapt and we are after all good at that. The biggest challenge with this format is coordination and correspondence. What would typically be a few minutes of conversation in person could end up taking multiple hours to make sure the message is sent across.

Dare to be Different

As a studio ever since we were founded and setup, we dared to be different. We told ourselves that we need not be yet another developer. We wanted to be naturally radical with our approach and way of working. One of those tricky parts of running a creative business like Games is that it is very hard to create a corporate structure especially when you are starting up. This should not be confused with defining roles and responsibilities though, which is extremely crucial for a small team.

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Building Fun and Lightweight Games

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Building Fun and Lightweight Games

In recent times, we are growing more confident about HTML5 games (nick named H5 games), a medium that has been growing despite the popularity of large games. The issue with large games is , well, they are super large and that can be a huge factor with users who just want to have some fun time for a few mins. Instant games are a great fit here as they can provide that snackable (not really a word) experience. We have been designing several concepts around H5 games part of our IP strategy.

The next gen talents!

The next gen talents!

I was recently called in to judge a Design championship event at SBOA school. The event hosted different competitions across Industrial design, Game design, App design and Film making and I was judging for Game Design which was essentially games that the school children put together- class 5 to class 10. Like always I was skeptical when I went in (You see,your Producer/ Game Dev ego wont go easy on you) and waited for the first set of team to hit me up with their submissions and boy was I in for a surprise! I

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Women in Games at Hammerplay

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Women in Games at Hammerplay

We had a quick roundup with our Senior 2D Artist Poovizhi Gnanasekaran, Game Programmers Anandhi Manivannan, Meenakshi Kathiresan and presented them with some interesting questions around Women in game development to see what they had to say.

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Desert Combat

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Desert Combat

Lets cut to the chase. To me this is hand down one of the best MODs created for a Multiplayer. Of course many would argue Counter Strike would still take that spot. In a way yes, but for a grand scale of Multiplayer action, I always lean on to Desert Combat, the MOD created out of Battlefield 1942. So what makes it special ? Well, for starters the MOD re-imagined the original game completely from the ground up and made it look like an all new game with no traces of BF1942 seen. Imagine taking a World War based shooter and doing a complete overhaul by incorporating modern weapons, modern vehicles/Aircraft and to top it all, a super slick Helicopter whose mechanics never existed in the original version. This was never achieved by simply switching out the original weapons with modern ones, but by painstakingly creating them and balancing them, every single aspect of it.

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Super Rapid Prototypes

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Super Rapid Prototypes

So, of late we have been upping our game with inhouse games and part of that we have been experimenting and building various game ideas as rapid prototypes. So we gather around and discuss potential game ideas that are simple enough yet engaging and the ones that appeal are taken into prototyping.

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Remembering great Levels!

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Remembering great Levels!

There is something about these great games - especially the ones that leave a strong memory foot print and keep resonating in your head after you complete them. Their world is so compelling that they easily swallow you in and make you part of that world. Well, in simple terms they are so immersive! I believe it has to do with the compelling atmosphere the developers create, specially the level designers,an area that is extremely critical to success of any game - be it Single player or Multiplayer. I wanted to capture a few of those memorable levels that I can still imagine or think off till date and they are my obvious favorites. While there are a handful, I wanted to write about a few specific ones in this post.

How I am almost stopping to play Modern Shooters!

How I am almost stopping to play Modern Shooters!

I have been playing shooters for a while now - around 12+ years or so I guess. Not that I would claim myself a pro here but when tasked I can deal a decent load of kills. I have also been giving a shot at the recent ones like Overwatch, Battlefield and such and for some reasons, never grew a fan of them like I did with the ones from good old days. I also started to wonder whether it was me who suddenly became a tad older and couldn't catch up with the new gen stuff.

Why we dont publish roles we hire!

Why we dont publish roles we hire!

When you visit our website you will most certainly notice that we dont have a section called Careers in the menu and you might really wonder why. While we do hire talents like other studios, we dont quite publish roles in the site.