Game
Development in Asia in Singapore can still be considered to be in its infancy.
While it has been around for over a decade, it has come nowhere near to
fulfilling the potential that a nation of its stature should be able to. Now,
before you start screaming foul play… that was in no way a criticism of
the industry here.
The
truth is that Singapore boasts perhaps the best infrastructure countrywide in
the world. Political stability, state-of-the-art technology and excellent
funding from the government has meant that the stage is set for companies to
set up on the island and take the world by storm with its games. In fact, with
the tools at their disposal, one would expect them to be rivaling traditional
game dev powerhouses such as the United States. So,
why aren't they?
Most
people who are not from the industry tend to point fingers at the lack of
creative talent in Singapore, and to be honest, they could not be more
wrong. In truth, Singapore’s creative education sector have in the past 10
years, unearthed some diamonds in the
rough. Heard of Portal? Yes, that very same game from Valve which took the
world by storm was made in Singapore – and by students no less! The game
featured revolutionary game play and mechanics for a first person shooter, and
the founder of Valve was so impressed with their initial build that he hired
the entire student team that built the game. The
game’s quality and planning was living
proof that the standard of game level
design courses and that other technical aspects of its education was up
to scratch with the very best. The fact that it featured ground-breaking
game play mechanics also meant that the creativity of
the local developers were nothing to sniff at. So why then?
The
truth is that the larger household studios who come here don’t give enough opportunities
for the local creative talent to flourish. The common complaint for local game
developers working in large local firms is that they have no creative input
into the games that are being made. Take for example, Ubisoft and EA, both of
whom have made Singapore their Asian hub. It’s been several years since
the two giants have settled here, but there has been no noteworthy titles
coming out of their Singapore headquarters. Those employed in this part of the
world, are given bit part support roles to their American and European
counterparts. How then can the country’s talent be expected to flourish?
The
solution is simple, and it is something that the nation has started to see. For
one, it is no secret that the country is stepping up efforts to support local
development studios, with only Gung Ho
Entertainment the recent addition to multinational companies added to the list
of game developers in recent years. Educational
institutions are also doing their part, ensuring that students are up to date
with the latest development tools. 2013 saw a large spike in the number of
schools that started integrating 3D game
development with Unity 3D. Even
the media is doing its part, with the Straits Times creating a new category
for local games in its yearly awards – “Best Made in Singapore Game” in 2014.
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