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Since Narendra Modi's successfully completed run to Parliament began about a year ago, election fever has been gripping an unexpected bunch of people with no relation to politicking - developers. Last year, the Bharatiya Janata Party's chase for majority in the Lok Sabha on the coat-tails of Modi saw the strongman of Gujarat, and now India, running in a variety of scenarios in crude games modelled on extremely popular older ones, such as Mario. And it wasn't Modi alone: Rahul Gandhi and Arvind Kejriwal - with Modi, individually or in different combinations - were the other prominent leaders who provided food for thought to developers. Many of these are still being played, such as the very basic hop-skip-jump Modi Run that has a rating of four in five stars and has been downloaded a million times from the Google Play Store.
The upcoming Delhi Assembly elections has again brought the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) alumni who had a short but turbulent rule in the national capital and Modi, as proxy for his party and on whose image the party is betting a lot, centre stage. A group of IITians from Delhi has launched Muffler Man for Android players. Here, you help the faceless Hollow Man-esque Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) candidate who wraps a muffler Kejriwal-style beneath his Gandhi cap jump to the posts of corporator, MLA, minister, chief minister and finally prime minister. Based on the hugely popular Doodle Jump game (unavailable in India), Muffler Man has a better interface and game plan than Modi Run. Though it still hasn't seen even a thousand downloads, it has a rating of 4.6 in five stars in the Play Store. Beginning at the base of the India Gate, you jump from a platform of bolted steel plates on to similar plates floating in the air. As the jump takes you higher up in the air you pick up brooms from these plates even as you press on these to reach even higher. Three brooms win you a riding broom, a la Harry Potter. After a height come the AAP merchandise, such as a coffee mug and a badge, that throw you much higher than most of the plates. Not all the plates are equally springy. Some throw you much higher than others, while some other broken ones make you lose height.
You have to keep reaching higher till you are the prime minister. Also, the candidate in Muffler Man isn't fully in your control once the game begins. The man doesn't move sideways easily and it's completely the spring in his step and the next plate that will determine the next level. Besides, there are just too many pestering advertisements.
