Level Up

Level Up!

  On Wednesday April 3rd, 2013, my group (My First Ventilation Shaft) attended Level Up showcase at the Design Exchange in Toronto.  We were asked to showcase our game "Beat Dragon", where music is your weapon.

  I arrived early in the day, around 10 am.  I met my group members in the lobby, where shortly after, we were escorted upstairs.  At this time, only UOIT students were there, so we all sat around while they started to set up the monitors and stations where we would be presenting.  We sat around, touching up our game, making sure it was ready to present.  Half an hour later, students from U of T and OCADU started to come in.  We started to get our first glimpse at the competition.  Their games were impressive, but we used our own engines and they were using prebuilt ones, so we had a little extra hop in our step, so to speak.

  An hour later, and we were ready to head to our stations, and start setting up.  We managed to grab a TV down the middle of the main area, so we were in a perfect spot to show off our game.  We quickly got our game set up, and were ready to show it off to the world.  There was one problem however, it was hours until the doors opened.  So, we waited......

  After what seemed like days, 5pm rolled around and it was time to get to business.  People started flooding in; Individuals from the industry, attendee's relatives, children, and people off the street.  It got busy, fast.  We started showing off our game to anyone interested, and wanting to learn more.  We got so much positive feedback, and people who loved the concept of our game.  Even industry guys were intrigued with our game.  It was nonstop for the next 4 hours.

  I spent some time during these four hours, walking around and looking at other groups' games.  It was really incredible to see how unique and original the games being shown off were.  You can tell everyone had put in a lot of time and effort to make their game the best they could, and it showed.  One thing I can say from talking to the other participants from other schools was UOIT really teaches you everything you need to know when it comes to games, and seeing the look on people's faces when you tell them you built the engine yourself never gets old.  You can tell people understand how hard it is to build an engine from scratch.

  It was approaching 9pm, and people were starting to leave.  We were asked to pack up our stations, and hand in any remaining ballots to be counted.  Just as we finished packing, they started handing out the awards.  No one from UOIT won, but that isn't something to be get upset over.  We learn how to build games from the ground up, and we will be better for it when we graduate.  However, Knescha Rafat did win a nice gaming headset, so he was pretty happy about it.

  With everything done, and it getting close to 10:30pm, we decided to call it a night, and head home.  It was a thoroughly enjoyable experience, and if you ever have the chance to go, I urge you to do so.  I know we will be aiming to attend next year.  Here's to hoping!