It was the highest of highs followed by the lowest of lows on April 25 for Sajjan Karki.
After four years of intense studies, he graduated from Quest University on that day, but it was also the same day that disaster struck his home country of Nepal.
An earthquake of 7.8 magnitude rocked his home country, killing more than 8,000 people and injuring tens of thousands. Karki watched the news in horror from Squamish.
“The same day I graduated was the day the big earthquake hit my country,” he said. “My family and my community lost their lives and houses.”
But Karki wasn’t content to just sit and watch. A self-described entrepreneur, he went to work. Karki sought to create a video game to help fund relief efforts in Nepal. He was already a whiz with mobile app development.
“I took this chance to convert my skills and resources into something to help my country,” he said. “I created a team with developers from all over the world, and we came together to build this game.”
He worked with contacts he met through Launch Academy, a business incubator based in Vancouver that he was selected to join following his time at Quest. The game, called Spirit, was pre-launched last Friday.
The concept of the game sees users have the fate of the Nepali people in their hands. The player takes on the character of a yeti, who comes out of his meditative state from Mount Everest to save Nepali lives following an earthquake. The goal of the game is to save as many people and animals as possible.
The never-ending 3D game sees players receive points for saving animals and to gain higher powers and tools, players can buy power-up items from in app purchases.
“The game has to be able to stand on its own, and I think we’ve made a really refined and fun game,” he said. “It’s somewhat similar to Subway Surfers [mobile game] but we want to make it better in terms of game play.”
Karki said the most important part of the game is that all the funds from it go towards relief and rescue efforts in Nepal.
“By saving lives in this game, you save lives in Nepal,” he said. “All the money spent by players on our game goes back to Nepal. With other games, it just goes to the company.”
He has lofty goals for the project, aiming to raise $10 million for rescue efforts in Nepal. “As much as it sounds ambitious, I believe it’s possible,” he said.
Karki said there is potential to apply the game’s concept to raise money for other disaster-struck countries, and he would like to use the game to help out those in need.
The game is scheduled to officially launch on IOS and Android mobile platforms on June 15, and Karki urges Squamish residents to give the game a try.
For more information on the game, visit www.spiritthegame.org.
