Successful game-design career a 'dream come true'

Patawat Phamowad, 24, is head of game and application design at CyberPlanet Interactive

How many people would think that designing games for computers, mobile phones and gaming consoles could be a sustainable career in Thailand?

Patawat Phamowad, 24, is head of game and application design at CyberPlanet Interactive, and since starting work for the Thailand-based global game producer three years ago, he has designed games for the pleasure of gamers around the world.

His big success story so far has been the development of the game "Barbie the Fashion Show: Eye for Style", for Nintendo DS game consoles and personal computers. The game has not only sold around the world, it was spotlighted recently when it won the media and entertainment application category at the Thailand ICT Awards 2008 (TICTA 2008), hosted by the Software Industry Promotion Agency (Sipa).

It wasn't many years ago when Patawat was a child who loved to play computer games. He has now turned his dream into reality, and has become a producer of new games to entertain people around the world.

"My idols are Miyamoto Shigeru, the designer of the famous game series Mario, Donkey Kong and Zelda, and Chris Crawford, another famous game designer," he said.

Patawat said his fascination as a youth for game playing and reading game magazines had helped a lot in his career by giving him a thorough gaming-world background and making him familiar with the special language used in the game industry.

His dream was to combine this background with his degree in computer science from Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Education.

"CyberPlanet was the company I was dreaming of. The company is famous in the game industry and I knew a lot about it when I was a student. I decided to work for this company, in the hope that I could develop games that would be recognised by people around the world. I wanted to produce games that people would enjoy and have fun with," Patawat said.

As soon as he graduated, he went directly to CyberPlanet to apply for a job. His first position was in the IT support department. One day, he was given the task of designing an application. Using his coding and graphic skills, he completed the job successfully and was later promoted to become a game designer.  

"I am very happy working here because as I am in an environment with [others of] the same species. We speak the same language - 'game language'. We are all hard-core gamers. Here, I am surrounded by model games and game performers. I am so lucky that I can work at a job that I love," he said.

He said the role of a game designer was not dissimilar to that of a film director. It began with the "bible" of a developing game - its design document, which included the game story, key features, actors, game mechanics, the game interface, risk management and market analysis.

In his three years with CyberPlanet, he has designed and developed about 30 games, including flash, mobile, PC and console games. Even though he is only 24, he oversees the work of four designers on his team.

The successful game "Barbie the Fashion Show: Eye for Style" was designed and developed earlier this year and has been available in Europe and the United States since October. It is a game designed for girls aged between seven and 13.

He said the key to good game design was not to lead players into "goofy effects" or situations of dilemma. Game designers have to have a lot of creativity as well as technical skills. For example, a certain colour may look good when a game is played on a PC, but it may not be so good on a console.

Careers in game design have gained recognition in Thailand as the number of game companies in the country have grown. Local game designers are now being employed in developing games for the global market instead of hiring foreign designers and opportunities in the field are opening up for younger-generation designers, Patawat.

"In the entertainment business, gaming is growing every day. In the future, games will grow in importance beyond pure entertainment, to be used in exercise machines, karaoke devices and as medical tools. So, the game industry is expanding and game-related careers are offering opportunities for young people," he said.

As well as being a game designer, Patawat also works as a lecturer in the arts programme in interactive design and game development for Dhurakij Pundit University's Faculty of Information Technology.