He's not playing around: Final-year student already thinking about starting game development company
Mr Clarence Tay had already started thinking about designing games when he was just three.
When his mother introduced him to Disney action and adventure games about characters like Aladdin and Hercules, he would be thinking about how they were designed and making the games himself.
He made his first game when he was 16.
Mr Tay, now 19, told The New Paper: "My first game was heavily inspired by shoot-'em-up games I played in the arcade."
For the Temasek Polytechnic (TP) student, the best feeling he gets from developing a game is when he sees people enjoy it, even when they get frustrated over how difficult it can get.
After his O levels, he enrolled into TP's game design and development course through the Direct Polytechnic Admissionsscheme, which is now called the Early Admissions Exercise (EAE).
The EAE is an aptitude-based admissions exercise that allows students to apply for and receive conditional offers for admission to polys prior to receiving their final grades.
REQUIREMENT
All TP students are required to take at least one cross-disciplinary subject (CDS), but Mr Tay has taken eight, one of which is Music: Expressions & Applications.
It teaches students how to compose music, a skill Mr Tay intends to use when developing games.
He said: "We can create and tailor the music to do exactly what we want so that we can invoke a certain emotion from the player."
Mr Tay is still in his final-year at TP, but thanks to three CDS about entrepreneurship, he already has plans to start his own game development company.
In addition to planning for his company, Mr Tay also takes part in competitions.
Last year, he participated in WorldSkills Singapore, where he won gold for the web design and development category.
He is now training to represent Singapore in the international WorldSkills competition in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, this October.
Said Mr Tay: "I feel like I have come a long way. From a child drawing game designs on his A5 notebook to actually creating something that other people can play and enjoy."
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