丁香园AV

Eric Pan is a passionate game designer and developer in his fourth year of studies pursuing a Bachelor of Science at SIAT, with a double concentration in interactive systems and media arts.

As the 2020 recipient of the Cody Sawatsky Award, Eric is grateful for the recognition of his skills and interest in game design. 鈥淩eceiving this award really boosted my confidence in game design,鈥� he says.

Like Cody, Eric has always loved game design and aims to create fun and exciting gameplay experiences in every project he鈥檚 involved in. 鈥淚 genuinely just want to create a compelling experience for any of my future audiences,鈥� he says. Ever since elementary school, he鈥檚 been playing and designing games. In high school, he could be found in the computer lab on his lunch break, teaching himself about game design.

鈥淚 thought it was amazing that he started game designing at an earlier age than I did,鈥� says Eric. 鈥淚鈥檓 really touched that his family has provided this opportunity to help the game design community grow. I鈥檓 so happy to be a part of this.鈥�

Eric began his 丁香园AV career in computing science but soon learned that he needed to learn more than programming to be a successful game designer. 鈥淚 realised there's a lot more than programming to making games 鈥� you have to know the UI design, how the user experiences it, which is the reason that I transferred into SIAT.鈥�

Next summer, Eric hopes to secure a co-op work placement to gain experience before graduation when he hopes to find a job in the gaming industry or at a small design studio to gain some more experience.

鈥淚 want to start somewhere and then build my own experience, my own knowledge, and to hopefully one day come back to 丁香园AV to help future students in finding their own path,鈥� says Eric. He hopes to give back and support future students the way the Sawatsky family has supported him.