SINGAPORE – As a kindergarten pupil who struggled with writing because of dyslexia, Mr Solomon Tan turned to educational computer games like the Putt-Putt series, which helped him improve his language and mathematical skills.
In secondary school, his dyslexia no longer troubled him, and Mr Tan turned to video games to de-stress. But they also turned out to be a valuable source of life lessons.
Now, the 26-year-old has levelled up. He is a junior gameplay programmer at video game giant Ubisoft Singapore and one of 57 students from the 2024 inaugural graduating class of the Bachelor of Science (Hons) in Computer Science in Interactive Media and Game Development jointly offered by the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) and DigiPen Institute of Technology.
He was among more 2,800 graduating students, including those from pioneer cohorts of six degree programmes, who attended SIT convocations from Oct 16 to Oct 18. It is SIT’s largest graduating cohort by far.
And this started with playing games and applying them to his life.
“I remember trying to get better at League of Legends when I was in Secondary 3 or 4. I would go online and watch (video) guides to learn how to improve my play,” said Mr Tan, who attended Pasir Ris Crest Secondary School.
“One video ended with ‘it’s not about winning or losing, it’s about improving.’ I’ve tried to apply that to other aspects of my life too.”
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Mr Tan first seriously considered becoming a game developer when he was deciding on going to polytechnic. His decision to study game design and development at Temasek Polytechnic was motivated by playing tabletop role-playing games when he was younger.
“I enjoyed being a dungeon master, crafting scenarios for my friends, rather than being a player in the game,” he recalled.
“I had good grades at the time, so I remember many of my distant relatives telling me that I was wasting (my talents) pursuing game development,” he laughed. “But thankfully, my parents were fully supportive of me pursuing my passion.” Mr Tan’s father is an accountant, while his mother is retired.
After graduating from polytechnic in 2018, Mr Tan enlisted in National Service. Even during that time, he kept his skills sharp by participating in game jams, online events in which participants make short themed video games from scratch in a limited time frame.
Mr Tan also developed games as part of his university programme. The project he is most proud of is Minute, a 3D action platformer where you play as a wind-up toy in a tinker’s workshop. It was developed by Mr Tan and 11 other students over the course of the year.
“These (hands-on) projects were the favourite part of my course,” he said. “It really mimicked the indie game development environment of working with a small team of people with different backgrounds and talents.”
Having scored a full-time job at Ubisoft in April, Mr Tan hopes to be able to develop games that have a strong emotional impact on players in the future.
“Whether it’s imparting important life lessons or making people feel seen, I want my games to be able to help people,” he said.
“Ultimately, I just hope that my games can brighten someone’s day.”