Nagpur: Engineering was never 20-year-old Prajwal Ghagre’s dream. But a course he was pushed into led him to game development, writing and technology. The artificial intelligence engineering student from Nara village near Karanja Ghadge has developed and published eight games, written a book on game development and conducted workshops for students.Ghagre initially enrolled in electrical engineering but switched to artificial intelligence in his second year. His journey changed after he attended a game-development workshop in his fourth semester. Selected from around 180 students for an internship, he used the opportunity to learn and later began developing games independently.His first game was a racing title, followed by a puzzle game and other beginner projects. He has since developed and published around eight games.Ghagre also wrote Game On: Unity Edition. After 20-30 publishers rejected the book, he self-published it through Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing.His work has earned him the Magic Book of Record award in Delhi, Sahyadri Ratna award in Pune and an International Icon Award. He was also invited to Nepal for an event but could not attend due to the geopolitical situation.During his sixth semester, Ghagre conducted sessions at IIIT-Nagpur. “Although I could not continue as a visiting faculty member because I haven’t graduated yet, it was an innovative experience,” he said.The firm where he interned has offered him a pre-placement opportunity. Ghagre also said HR at Rockstar Games expressed interest in his profile but required candidates to have a degree.For Ghagre, the journey shows that an unconventional path can open new career possibilities.
