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Level Up Showcase is about celebrating student talent.

Students across Ontario gain valuable skills in post-secondary video game courses; that experience culminates in this public exhibition, where they compete for best-in-show awards and put their work on display for the world to see.

Founded and run by digital media faculty from post-secondary institutions across the province, this one-of-a-kind event has become a yearly tradition for students, institutions, and industry.

Feedback

The goal of Level Up Showcase is to help foster and develop student talent in game design, animation, and computer science. We want to provide a space where students can showcase their work to a large audience and receive valuable advice/feedback from industry experts.

meet the board

Emma Westecott, Ph.D.

(she/they)

Level Up Showcase Founder
Associate Professor, Game Design, Digital Futures @ OCAD University
Co-Director @ game:play Lab

Bio

Dr Emma Westecott is a feminist game studies scholar. Emma is Associate Professor in Game Design, and Co-Director of the game:play Lab (with Cindy Poremba). She has worked in the game industry for over 30 years – in development, research, and the academy. She originally achieved international recognition for working closely with Douglas Adams as producer for the best-selling CD-ROM Adventure Game, Starship Titanic (1998, Simon & Schuster).

Since then, Emma has built up a worldwide reputation for developing original as well as popular game initiatives, including running an applied game research lab in Sweden and a regional student game event in Toronto called Level Up Showcase.

Emma’s funded research connects the aesthetic, expressive, and political potential of digital game form to a longer tradition of critically informed research creation practice. She has been invited to present internationally and has been published in edited collections and journals such as DiGRA, Loading and Eludamos. Emma co-chaired the Game Design Track at DiGRA 2020 and has sat on PhD committees for students at both The Norwegian Film School and the University of Toronto.

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7206-7250

Steve Engels, BASc, MMath, Ph.D.

Level Up Showcase Founder
Professor of Teaching in the Department of Computer Science @ University of Toronto

Bio

Dr Steve Engels (BASc, MMath, PhD) has been an Professor of Teaching in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Toronto since 2002. Steve is an award-winning instructor for courses in computer organization, artificial intelligence and video game design, and has supervised nearly 200 research students in these areas.

Steve’s main research is in AI (particularly generative AI) and video game design, and he is the coordinator of UofT’s Video Game Design program. In addition to working extensively with industry groups, Steve has worked with organizations such as the Royal Ontario Museum, the Ontario Science Centre (RIP), the CNE Gaming Garage, Nuit Blanche and the Aga Khan Foundation. More details at www.steveengels.com

Dina Sabie, Ph.D., MArch

Level Up Showcase Co-Director
Professor & Program Coordinator, Game Programming @ Humber Polytechnic

Bio

Dr. Dina Sabie is an educator and researcher at Humber Polytechnic. Her work sits at the intersection of human–computer interaction, interactive learning design, and emerging technologies, where she explores how community‑based design and collaboration can enhance well‑being and agency among vulnerable and marginalized populations.

She joins the Level Up Showcase team as its newest board member.

Dushan Horvat

Level Up Showcase Co-Director
3rd year Coordinator/ Professor @ Algonquin College

Bio

With over two decades in real-time 3D technology, Dushan Horvat has worked across cinematography and sound, architecture, 3D design, animation, interactive media applications, and product development, collaborating with national and international corporations and government, to bring innovative products to market.

Dushan is an Autodesk Certified Evaluator and has delivered international workshops with Autodesk’s global team, helping develop the internationally recognized ACI and ACE certification standards. He later partnered with Unity to establish a similar certification initiative and authored educational framework e-books used worldwide.

As a full-time Professor at Algonquin College, Dushan has helped pioneer curriculum in Virtual Reality and emerging technologies, providing graduate-level instruction on production pipelines and business strategies. His work bridges industry production pipelines with academic innovation.

He also serves on the Board of Directors of Level Up Showcase, contributing to strategic oversight and organizational development independently of his College responsibilities.

Jeremy Leipert, Ph.D.

(he/him)

Level Up Showcase Co-Director
Project Coordinator, Digital Humanities @ Brock University

Bio

In over 20 years in post-secondary education, Jeremy has taught English, ESL, Technical Writing, Communications, Engineering, UI/UX, Media Studies, Cultural Studies, Film Studies, Game Studies, Project Management, Instructional Design, and Anthropology.

Jeremy currently teaches new media, special projects, and game studies at Brock University, where he’s also Project Coordinator for Digital Humanities. He’s the Director of Communications for Level Up Showcase.

Questions?

If you are part of the media, wishing to sponsor, or have general questions about the showcase, please contact us!