Games Development

Work with people from a variety of disciplines who share the same passion.

There’s no denying the growth the gaming industry has been experiencing the past few decades, as well as the impact it has on the current generation. Singapore’s not exempted from this development, and as a result, the government has been very supportive of this relatively young sector within the country.

Thanks to the country’s solid IT infrastructure, ease of communication and transportation and ready talent pool, many international players – such as Ubisoft, Gumi Asia and Tecmo Koei – have set up their regional bases here.

Career overview

Game production is a very complex process that requires expertise from a variety of disciplines – including project management, music composition, programming and art and animation – which can be further broken down into more specialised roles.

IT and computing graduates will be able to find plenty of employment opportunities here, but the sector’s still a competitive one and will require a lot of preparation.

Despite the generally contending nature of the field, however, an increasing number of game companies, whether independent or focusing on mobile devices, have presented new entry-level positions for graduates.

Graduate-level newcomers usually start out as junior programmers, working in a team with a mentor, and are expected to pick up key skills essential to the industry. Following that, recruits can become an authority in their chosen area of specialty, or even choose to lead a team of their own.

Alternatively, hopefuls can also take on a lead production role if they would like to oversee the whole process rather than focusing on just only one scope of the cycle.

Trends and developments

While it’s considered one of the most profitable sectors in the world, the games industry is also very hard to predict. Games and gaming will never stop evolving, and the challenge is to stay ahead of the curve and keep consumers happy.

Recent trends include augmented reality and battle royale, and games like Fortnite showed the possibilities and appeal of cross-platform play. Virtual reality and mobile gaming are other rising parts of the landscape, and are expected to continue gaining momentum as physical tours and the like become gamified to adhere to social distancing measures. Additionally, as people remained home over the course of the Covid-19 pandemic, many turned to videogames as a way to meet up with their friends and spend time together, such as VRChat, Minecraft and Among Us.

At present, the Southeast Asian gaming market is expected to have tripled what it was in 2017 by 2023. It’s well on track, as in Singapore alone, two-thirds of the market are now taken up by casual mobile gamers who recently hopped on the gaming train in order to kill time at home!

Pros and cons

An exciting industry

Working in games development can be a tremendously exhilarating experience as there’ll be constant exposure to new inventions and innovations.

And with programmers all over the world willing to experiment with different ways to improve gamers’ experiences, there’s the opportunity to be part of a field that is constantly trying to push the envelope in terms of technological capabilities and user interfaces.

Long hours

Unfortunately, the field is also known for protracted periods of brutally long working hours – termed as “crunch” in the industry – that becomes especially pronounced as deadlines approach. It isn’t uncommon to hear news of such cases, even at highly coveted game development companies.

While there’s greater dialogue now about having a better work-life balance, graduates should still be prepared to put in long hours if they wish to start a career here.

Required skills

• Strong interest in technology • Solid understanding of trends and technology innovations • Interpersonal skills • Presentation and documentation skills • Analytical skills • Good business sense