India, July 24 -- People don't say "I love to drive" as much as they used to.

Traffic won't move. Potholes multiply merrily overnight, as do piles of road rubble. Vendors, hawkers and crowds spill over onto the streets. and even near-death encounters are simply part of the everyday.

In a wry twist, game developers are now incorporating this chaos into videogame design, using it to add to the challenges of the plot. It's cathartic, they say, and no rules apply. So go ahead and shout back at the irate commuter in the next car; honk that horn and let it all out.

In Detective Dotson (Masala Games; 2025), set largely in Ahmedabad and Mumbai, a hunt for a killer is derailed by wedding processions, gully cricket, movie shoots, a municipal off...