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Mr Linus Tan
Linus Tan is an exemplary developer who demonstrates that no obstacles are insurmountable if one has passion and sets his heart to achieve. With no formal IT training, Linus Tan, at the age of 16, developed a real-time strategy (RTS) game, Teridian Shadow, with a friend. This prototype later won him a coveted place at Milia 2002 Conference in Cannes, France, while he was in his first year of study at Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP).
Developed in a short span of 12 months by the duo, Teridian Shadow scored with its eye-catching graphics and innovative gameplay. The game was written from scratch with the industry-standard programming language, C++. Creating a game from the ground up allowed them to make breakthroughs in the areas of 3D graphics and artificial intelligence – achievements not otherwise possible if modifying an existing game.
These accomplishments, while attesting to his game development skills, also opened up business opportunities. For one, his capability attracted the attention of a local university, which commissioned him to develop a management simulation game. He took on this project under his newly set up company – Praxis Studios, which creates and markets innovative simulation-based learning and entertainment software.
He led a team of 4 people to work on the project titled iBusiness. In the process of developing the iBusiness, Linus experimented with several technologies to meet the varying requirements of the project. Essentially, he needed a cross-platform user interface engine to allow for smooth and intuitive interaction with the game. Existing solutions were either incomplete or intended for the creation of developer tools, not consumer applications. He finally developed a brand-new technology – GLInter. An advanced and flexible user interface engine, GLInter uses OpenGL to deliver a highly interactive and visually rich experience to users. Applications can be easily implemented and customised through an integrated plug-in architecture. Interfaces are defined with XML files and are easily editable, a first for this type of engine.
Apart from developing a new technology, Linus and his team also implemented a cutting-edge simulation engine in iBusiness. Artificial-life or agent-based simulations were not common in the finance or management simulation fields, but Linus believed that a higher level of accuracy and realism could be achieved if such an approach were used. Which was precisely what the team did – add learning value to the simulation due to the uncertainty modeled by the system.
Instead of using mathematical formulas and models common in financial simulations, the team modeled the behaviour of individual consumers and their reactions to various factors. This ensured that students would not be able to predict the outcome of their choices exactly, and forced them to make challenging real-life decisions. All this while Linus was juggling the project with his studies at NYP, where he is pursuing a Diploma in Information Technology.
The budding technopreneur is not resting on his laurels. Moving on from the iBusiness project, Linus has been working on enhancing the GLInter interface engine as well as the continued production of Teridian Shadow, with an intention of commercialising both projects. GLInter would be targeted at the developer community while Teridian Shadow would be released the consumer market.
Apart from Milia Game Developer Village award, Linus has also won several competitions. This included a Best Show award for Choreographer, a program that lets users add animated speaking characters to presentation and web pages, at the Experimental Laboratories Symposium under the Gifted Education Programme. This product was eventually sold to IQMind.com.
While in his final-year of study, Linus has plans to work with NYP on the commercialisation of his projects. He believes that to be a successful technopreneur, one has to dare to dream big, and work hard to achieve one’s goals. He is glad that the IT diploma course he studied has provided a firm grounding that will put him in good stead in his technopreneurial pursuit in the near future. The flexible academic system at the polytechnic meant that he could devote time to his personal pursuit in addition to his studies. Linus feels that the practice-oriented approach and industry exposure that the polytechnic education has provided is invaluable in helping budding technopreneurs like him understand the dynamics of the industry’s workings.
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