From childhood to career and family: NTU student simulates Singapore life through a game

A computer science student at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore has created a game called "Singapore Life Simulator" to simulate a full Singaporean life through a series of choices. The game, available on both the Apple App Store and Google Play, covers life from childhood to adulthood, encompassing education, career, relationships, and family life.

The player starts in childhood, making rudimentary decisions such as whether to put their mother's phone in their mouth. As the player grows older, decisions become more complex, including matters like taking the Gifted Education Programme selection test, asking a classmate out, choosing a university residence, or taking up a part-time job. The game concludes with adult decisions such as selecting a career and a partner.

The game's unique feature is that it is based on real Singaporean choices, reflecting the local context. Each decision in the game affects four scores: wealth, happiness, family, and reputation. For instance, pursuing wealth through working overtime might increase the player's wealth score but decrease their happiness and family scores. Reaching a score of either zero or 100 ends the player's life, and the game ends.

The game grew out of Zhu Ke Xiong's observations of his peers' stress during exam seasons and his own experience of stress during university. He aimed to offer an alternative to the deterministic belief that a single path leads to success, allowing players to explore various possibilities without real-world consequences. The game currently has 67 possible endings, which range from a disillusioned banker to a quiet heartlander, illustrating the diversity of outcomes based on the player's choices.