No child's play

(Specially for my Dunman students)

Lack of parental support and academic guidance did not stop Jason Chionh from realising his dreams.

IT WAS his teacher who inspired Jason Chionh to pursue a career in video games, but not in the way you would expect.

While doing his final-year Computer Science project at Victoria Junior College, Jason was discouraged from proposing a games-related one. According to his teacher, his design could 'never compete' with the commercial games that are in the market.

'I didn't do a games project but it got me thinking that maybe I can do something in the future,' recalls the 33-year-old, who grew up playing Wing Commander, Monkey Island and Ultima role-playing PC games.

After receiving a computer science degree from the National University of Singapore (NUS), he followed it up with a Master of Science, all the while dreaming of entering the fledgling game industry.

'There were no game-related studies but I knew what I wanted to do and was prepared to move overseas if I had to.'

There was also the fantasy of creating his own game with a few friends, if no one would hire him.

All this while, he kept his aspirations from his family and friends, knowing that job opportunities were scant, with gaming still considered mere child's play.

In 2002, he applied through the Economic Development Board job attachment program to work with noted Japanese games company Koei but was not selected.

He found a job as a full-time teaching assistant at NUS and tried again the following year. This time, he was accepted by Sega, another noted Japanese games developer and publisher, and went on an 18-month stint.

What he found really useful was the on-the-job training and experience he gained from working on console games.

One title he worked on was Altered Beast for the Sony PlayStation 2 console.

He worked on all the programming aspects for implementing the fight scenario, the artificial intelligence behaviour of the boss character, the visual effects and the sound and animation of the characters, to name a few.

Upon returning home, he took on a job with G-Gadget, a local start-up working on games for the Nintendo DS-Lite platform.

His parents, however, did not like his job because they felt that game piracy limited any possible success in the industry.

Things took a positive turn when industry giant Lucasfilm of Star Wars fame announced that it was setting up an animation and games arm here.

Jason successfully applied to Lucasfilm Animation Singapore and soon found himself surrounded by his childhood movie and game heroes, from the Jedi masters, Indiana Jones to Guybrush Threepwood.

'I heard they were hiring and you don't question yourself if you want to join Lucasfilm,' he said.

As a games software engineer, he is currently working on several unannounced game projects. He already has one title under his belt - last year's Jedi Alliance game for the DS Lite.

His involvement in this game was more extensive, as he worked on programming both the engine for the game and the game systems, including the sound, visual effects and combat systems.

His parents have also come around and accepted his chosen profession.

For Jason, his long-time dream lives on. Although he is part of a large team working on several games, he still wants to create his own video game one day.

To turn that dream into reality, he realises it is going to take more hard work at Lucasfilm.

'What I find most valuable is to be able to work with a very talented pool of people here. We are able to openly discuss ideas and bounce these ideas off one another,' he said.

'Because of this, I have learnt a lot and I feel there is so much more that I can learn.'

Source: http://www.straitstimes.com/vgn-ext-templating/v/index.jsp?vgnextoid=c6ad31f5ae830210VgnVCM100000430a0a0aRCRD&vgnextchannel=d884758920e39010VgnVCM1000000a35010aRCRD