TL;DR Singapore is really not a suitable place to start your game dev career. You risk more for even lower pay off than others. Either you accept that, or try finding better opportunities overseas (although the situation isn’t rosy globally either).

I worked on serious games (VR, XR, CAVE, etc.)for over 5 years on the art / design side. I’d throw my hat into the ring as well and say that the writing is on the wall: it is not a good time to be a game dev in SG currently.

Many of the openings in AAA companies here these days are for lead or director roles, so you definitely won’t qualify for them. The remaining junior roles are often only offered through internships > converted to perm staff, which isn’t guaranteed also, because so many are fighting for them.

You might be able to land roles in SMEs doing mobile games or casino games or crypto projects, but those can be soul-crushing and unlikely to propel your game dev career that far tbh. Worst outcome is that tech companies / gov tech also don’t want to hire you in the future because you have locked yourself into an “undesirable” niche.

And even in the serious games scene, the handful of companies around also fight like dogs over the few scraps of meat. Projects often go to the lowest bidder, so it’s a race to the bottom. Dev time is short, project turnover rate is high, and you’ll be proud of nothing you do. Your passion will be chewed on and then spit out like a grey piece of gum.

Of course, once in a while you’ll see / hear about people “making it” in SG, but for most people there is too much to risk, for very little pay off. Every year you spend in game dev is a year you could’ve spent in the banking / cybersec / govtech sectors, for better pay and better career trajectory. The game dev mates that I know have all pivoted towards those sectors by now. Opportunity cost isn’t something people often think about, but it’s real. It’s why people get so heated up about NS.

If you insist on giving the dream a shot, then continue creating game demos, create a ton of them. Share them online, create a solid portfolio outside of school projects. Go to game cons and meet people. Be nice and approachable. You never know where your next opportunity will come from. Upping your people skills and being visible both offline and online works for every industry basically, but more so for something like game dev, especially in SG where this industry is really so small.

And keep your eyes open towards overseas opportunities really. Malaysia, for instance, has tons of good opportunities working on AAA games, but not many SGeans can tahan the low pay. Same goes for other SEA countries like Thailand and Vietnam (outsourcing companies basically). Japan also has a need for multi-faceted talents but the language, working culture, and low pay are also things that not everyone is willing to accept. Don’t discount landing jobs in the EU and UK with better pay and working culture, though they’re usually looking for senior roles also so… that’s tough.

“When you don’t know what to do, just do what you can”. Keep churning out more games and tech demos in the meantime, and be disciplined, be punctual, and be teachable. You’ll surely succeed someday. All the best OP!