In 2021, COVID-19 forced Singapore to postpone its National Day Parade. For a small team of students, that felt like a gap worth filling: if Singaporeans couldn't gather at the Padang, perhaps the celebration could come to them.
The result was Vanda Bay — a mobile game app carrying the first-ever virtual National Day Parade. Built by our founder Winston Ng, then 18, together with a team of five working long days for a month and a half, it launched on iOS and Android on 8 August 2021.
A parade in your pocket
The virtual NDP featured a parade and ceremony segment, the state flag flypast, mobile column and fighter jet displays, and a sing-along segment featuring that year's theme song, "The Road Ahead". Before the virtual fireworks finale, the experience paused for a tribute to Singapore's healthcare workers and frontliners.
What happened next
- Vanda Bay reached #1 on the Apple App Store in both the Simulation and Role-Playing categories.
- The project was featured by the Ministry of Education, MediaCorp Channel 8 News and Lianhe Zaobao, with support from the National Youth Council.
- Most importantly, it caught the attention of MINDEF — which invited Finute to support the National Day Parade in an official capacity from 2022.
Vanda Bay taught us the lesson that still guides our work: national moments don't have to be bounded by physical venues. Done well, a virtual celebration isn't a substitute — it's an extension that reaches people the stadium never could.
Vanda Bay today: Singaporeverse
The story didn't end in 2021. Vanda Bay lives on as Singaporeverse — our next-generation, high-fidelity recreation of Singapore, and the most ambitious project Finute has ever undertaken. Here's a sneak peek at where it's headed:
