How local developer Chinykian became the first Singaporean to have an App Store Great on Apple Arcade

Yong Kian Chin aka Chinykian is a lecturer by day and an indie game developer by night.

- AARON YIP

His fascination with gaming began when he first experienced the Gameboy as a child, igniting a passion that led him to craft his own games today. He's already developed Serious Scramblers, Jump Jerboa and more recently A Slight Chance of Sawblades+ (available on Apple Arcade). Slight Chance of Sawblades+ is a quirky yet challenging retro 2D pixelated platforming game that feature skillbased score-chasing action, high-speed arcade gameplay, and a juicy 8-bit soundtrack. Players can also compete in a global leaderboard to earn the top spot as the best bladejumper. Alongside his game development pursuits, he shares his experience by teaching game design and programming part-time at local polytechnics. In our interview with him, Chinykian shares his thought process, how he balances time between his work and love for game coding and his advice for fellow local developers.

Yong KIAN CHIN

01 How did your interest in game development start? Was there a particular game that inspired you to go into this field?

My interest in games began with my first experience play ing Super Mario Land on my uncle's GameBoy when I Iwas little. Since then, I’ve always had a deep interest in games. However, I did not consider the possibility of making my own games until I was introduced to Macromedia Flash in secondary school. I learned that I could write scripts to make simple, interactive programs. That opened my eyes to the possibility of crafting my own games. Later, a mind-blowing experience playing Metroid Fusion on the GameBoy Advance convinced me to pursue an education in game development!

02 How do you balance your responsibilities as a game design lecturer and a solo game developer?