In the quiet town of Kokrajhar, two teenage friends are building something that could reshape how independent game developers in India validate, publish, and grow their work
— and they've only just begun.
In the northeastern corner of India, far from the bustling startup corridors of Bangalore and Mumbai, a quiet revolution is taking shape in the world of independent gaming. Two teenagers from Kokrajhar, Assam — Jigmi Brahma, aged 16, and Prasanta Ray, aged 18 — have come together to build what they believe could become a foundational piece of India's gaming infrastructure.
The platform, called Fathm, aims to solve a problem that has plagued independent game developers for years: visibility. For every successful indie game that finds its audience, countless others remain undiscovered, their creators left without the validation or feedback needed to refine their work and move forward.
Fathm's model is structured around validation through community engagement. Independent game developers bring their game concepts to the platform, where players engage with them through structured game jams and feedback loops. The platform collects player responses, highlights strengths and weaknesses, and provides developers with the data they need to refine their games before committing to full-scale development and publishing. It is, in essence, a validation engine — one that gives indie developers something they rarely have: a clear signal that they are building what players actually want.
For Jigmi Brahma, who serves as the company's Chief Executive Officer, the idea for Fathm was born out of lived experience. A self-taught developer and entrepreneur, Brahma began building gaming platforms at age 11 — a journey that gave him an intimate understanding of how difficult it is for independent creators to gain traction. "I've been in that position where you build something and have no idea if anyone will ever play it," Brahma shared in an earlier conversation about the platform's origins.
"Fathm is about giving developers that answer before they invest months or years into a project that might not connect with players."
Brahma's personal philosophy — "fail quickly and recover even faster" — is woven into the fabric of the platform itself. By allowing developers to test concepts early and often, Fathm reduces the cost of failure and accelerates the path to improvement.
Behind the technical infrastructure of Fathm sits Prasanta Ray, the company's Chief Technology Officer. At just 18, Ray brings over seven years of experience in server administration, cloud infrastructure, and full-stack development to the venture. A graduate of the Central Institute of Technology in Kokrajhar, where he is currently pursuing a Diploma in Computer Science and Engineering, Ray also founded CodelithLabs, an open-source software organization, in 2025. His technical depth — spanning Linux, DevOps, and AI — provides the foundation upon which Fathm is being built. For Ray, Fathm represents a rare opportunity to apply his technical expertise to a platform that addresses a real pain point for developers across India.
The timing of Fathm's launch in 2026 aligns with a broader expansion in India's gaming ecosystem. According to industry reports, India's gaming market has grown rapidly in recent years, with millions of new users coming online and an increasing number of developers entering the space. Yet, for all that growth, independent developers continue to struggle with discovery and validation — gaps that larger, better-resourced studios navigate more easily. Fathm aims to bridge that divide, offering independent creators the kind of structured feedback that has traditionally been available only to teams with significant capital or industry connections.
What makes the Fathm story particularly compelling is the location from which it emerges. Northeast India, and Assam in particular, has historically been underserved in the national tech entrepreneurship narrative. While cities like Bangalore, Hyderabad, and Pune attract the lion's share of venture capital and media attention, founders from the Northeast have often found themselves overlooked. Brahma and Ray are challenging that pattern, building a gaming
infrastructure platform from Kokrajhar — a town of approximately 40,000 people that is rarely mentioned in the same breath as India's tech hubs.
The founders see their geography not as a disadvantage but as a differentiator. They are building Fathm to serve developers wherever they are — whether in Bangalore, Mumbai, or a smaller city— and they believe that their own journey can serve as a signal to other young founders in the region that building something meaningful is possible without leaving home.
Fathm operates as a private limited company, registered in 2026, with its headquarters in Kokrajhar, Assam. The platform is currently in its early stages, with development work underway and a growing focus on outreach to the independent game development community across India. Further information about the platform and its offerings is available at fathm.net, and updates on the company's journey can be followed on LinkedIn and X.
As the founders continue to build and refine their platform, they remain grounded in the philosophy that brought them together: a belief that independent developers deserve the same tools and opportunities that larger studios take for granted. And they are not waiting for permission to build them.
"We started building because we saw something missing," Brahma said. "And we want developers across India to know — we're building this for you."
Fathm Private Limited is a gaming infrastructure company based in Kokrajhar, Assam, founded in 2026 by Jigmi Brahma and Prasanta Ray. The platform helps independent game developers validate their game concepts through structured player feedback, game jams, and publishing support. For more information, visit fathm.net.
Follow Fathm on LinkedIn and X for updates on their journey.