Raji developer balanced finishing their game with rescuing stray dogs

Raji: An Ancient Epic was a stealth launch on the Nintendo Switch in August, taking many by surprise, but what's even more surprising is that the developers were taking care of hundreds of stray dogs all while developing the game.

A brilliant report by Eurogamer delves into the story behind how Indian developer Nodding Head ended up adopting hundreds of stray dogs. The feature tells the story of how Nodding Head raced to finish Raji earlier this year, all while venturing out into COVID-hit Pune, India to feed and care for stray dogs, which ended it numbering north of 200.

Nodding Head co-founders Shruti Ghosh and Ian Maude talk at length about how they had to get special permission to venture out of isolation and around Pune. The pair were actually recognized as special dog feeders by the police, which was the only way they were able to go out and help the strays.

If you've played Raji: An Ancient Epic to completion, you might have noticed there's an entry for the Nodding Head Doggos in the end credits, which total 12 dogs. These are the pups that Nodding Head adopted while working hard to finish Raji earlier this year. If they named every single dog they'd actually helped this year, the list would go on forever. 

When it first launched back in August, Raji was a timed Nintendo Switch exclusive game. It's actually only just launched on PC, PS4, and Xbox One earlier today on October 15, and it's a really excellent game that you shouldn't pass up on. There's no news yet as to what Nodding Head's next venture could be, but I'm undoubtedly keeping an eye on it after the story of Raji and its development.

Check out some of the upcoming Nintendo Switch games that may or may not feature dogs in them.