How this local developer 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. 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 skill-based score-chasing action, high-speed arcade gameplay, and a juicy 8-bit soundtrackPlayers can also compete in the global leaderboard to earn the top spot as the best blade-jumper.

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.

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 playing Super Mario Land on my uncle's GameBoy when I was 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!

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

It can be difficult to find time for game development while also having to teach and grade assignments. As such, I set aside the weekends as strictly my game development time. To ensure that I stick to schedule, I've also organized a weekly chit-chat every Sunday where I'd get together with a couple of like-minded friends online and we'd share our progress on our respective projects. This helps to keep us accountable.

What skills from your teaching experience have you found most beneficial in your game development work?

I used to teach very young students (ages 6 to 11). Something I've learnt from that experience is that for every concept I needed to convey to students, I needed to do so in as visual (via illustrations) and as intuitive a manner as possible. I'd like to think that this experience has influenced the way I go about teaching game mechanics to players of my games.

Has your experience as a solo developer influenced your approach to teaching game design? If so, how?

I wouldn't say that developing a game mostly by myself has influenced the way I teach the curriculum, but it has allowed me to offer some perspective to students who are also interested in developing indie games by themselves.

What inspired you to develop A Slight Chance of Sawblades+ on your own?

A Slight Chance of Sawblades is actually a remake of my first ever, and exceedingly obscure mobile game! Several years ago, I bought the game engine, Game Maker Studio, at a massive discount, and decided to make a simple game to get used to the engine. At that time, I had just released a PC game titled Spacejacked on Steam with some teammates after 2.5 years of development. I decided then that my new game would be on mobile, so that I could learn more about the processes of making and releasing a mobile game. It'd also have to be really small, because I did not have it in me to immediately dive into another years-long project after Spacejacked. That was how I ended up building Jump Over the Rings (JOTR).

Years after releasing JOTR, someone reached out to me with a photo of their classmates playing the game together. I was very surprised to see such interest for JOTR, a game that had barely registered any downloads. That planted the seed to my remaking the game in the form of A Slight Chance of Sawblades.

Can you walk us through a typical day in your life, balancing teaching and game development?

On average, I teach about four days a week. On a school day, I'd go to school, either to conduct a class by myself at Republic Poly, or be the assistant to the main lecturer at Nanyang Poly. After class, I may stay behind for a while to assist any students who require assistance. In the evenings, I'd either work on my games or grade assignments. Weekends are strictly for game development.

What were some of the biggest challenges you faced developing A Slight Chance of Sawblades+ solo, and how did you overcome them?

Since I work mostly by myself, my focus has always been on crafting the best game experience I can, given the limited amount of time I have. Commercial aspects of game-making like contracts, insurance and other administrative tasks are things I admittedly lack experience in. This is the challenge I faced while developing A Slight Chance of Sawblades+. Thankfully, through the guidance of the local Apple team and the advice of fellow game developers, I was able to overcome it.

How do your students react when they learn that you are also a solo game developer?

I do not go out of my way to tell students about my game development ventures. Yet, somehow they always find out! There are students who are very passionate about making their own games, and would reach out to me for feedback about their own projects. Some even ask me about how much money I make from game development, lol. Once in a blue moon, I'd see students playing my games in class. There have also been a couple of students who'd made their own versions of A Slight Chance of Sawblades.

How do you feel about being the first Singaporean to have an App Store Great* on Apple Arcade? What does it mean to be on a platform like Apple Arcade?

I feel deeply honored and also incredibly lucky for my game to be the first App Store Great from Singapore! I've been making games commercially for 10 years, and this is the biggest opportunity I've been given thus far! I'm certainly hoping to see more App Store Greats from Singapore!

When I develop my games, almost all of my efforts are spent on crafting the gameplay experience and I admittedly don't spend nearly as much time fine-tuning and tweaking the monetisation of my games. I find monetising the traffic of my game without compromising on the gameplay experience to be a challenge and can be a source of frustration during development. This is why a platform like Apple Arcade is so important to developers like myself. It allows us to focus on crafting the best game we can without worrying about monetisation such as in-game ads or in-app purchases! It's a dream come true for developers in my position.

How has working solo on this project impacted your views on collaboration and teamwork in game development?

I wouldn't say that I'm truly "solo". I commissioned my long-time collaborator, Disyman, for the music, and my artist friend, Victoria, for the game's promotional artwork. Outside of that, I'd say that making a game mostly by myself is very liberating, as I'm free to explore any ideas I'm personally interested in without having to seek approval from teammates. That said, I'm missing a sounding board, someone whom I could bounce an idea off of, someone who would challenge me about a bad idea. To make up for that, I'd often try to show off early prototypes and mockups to my friends and gauge their reactions. Furthermore, I'd also reach out to the local Apple team with a playable build and seek their advice. Often, I would receive feedback on how I could better improve the user experience. Addressing their feedback is an essential part of my development process to build a better game, and I've been doing so since 2018.

What advice would you give to other solo developers who are also balancing another career?

Discipline! I think it's critical to set aside time every week to work on one's projects and to stick to schedule. Finishing a project can be really difficult, so one must have discipline to consistently work on their project in order to bring it across the finish line.

*Apple Store Great is a category within Apple Arcade, where it features award-winning games that were brought over from the App Store. Read more about it here.

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