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U of T students ‘level up’ with top honours at game design showcase

University of Toronto computer science students triumphed at the 2025 Level Up Showcase.

On April 12, the Westin Harbour Castle in Toronto buzzed with excitement as 157 teams from 25 colleges and universities across Ontario gathered for the 2025 Level Up Showcase. This prestigious event, celebrating student talent in game design, animation and computer science, attracted over 4,000 registrations.

Attendees, including peers, industry judges and the public, played the games and provided live playtest feedback to the student creators.

Students from CSC404: Video Game Design, taught by instructor Elias Adum and Professor Steve Engels, represented U of T well at the competition.

Three teams with U of T computer science students earned top awards and honours. Here’s how they did:

Marco Polo

(U of T + Sheridan College, Summer section)

Best Overall Game, 1st place

  • Kien Pham (Sheridan College)

  • Koren Hu (U of T CS)

  • Amy Salomon (Sheridan College)

  • Shan (Angelina) Zhai (U of T CS)

  • Violet Regier (Sheridan College)

  • Grace Yang (Sheridan College)

Team Marco Polo with their Best Overall Game first place award.

A team of U of T computer science and Sheridan College students won Best Overall Game for ‘Marco Polo’ at the 2025 Level Up Showcase. From left to right: Kien Pham (Sheridan College), Angelina Zhai (U of T CS) (top), Koren Hu (U of T CS) (bottom), Violet Regier (Sheridan College), Amy Salomon (Sheridan College), Grace Yang (Sheridan College), Elias Adum (Photo: Courtesy of Elias Adum)  

Cooking with a Gun

(U of T + Centennial College, Fall section)

Achievement in Audio, 1st place
Best Overall Game, 3rd place

  • Madelyn Arsenault (Centennial College, Animation)

  • Sage Gayle (Centennial College, Animation)

  • Simon Chen (U of T CS)

  • Alan Fan (U of T CS)

  • Edward Han (U of T CS)

  • Bariskan Aydin (Centennial College, Game Art)

  • Gustavo Tupinamba (Centennial College, Game Art)

  • Anthony Gunadi (U of T Music)

  • Peter Zougas (U of T Music)

  • Kurtis Law (U of T CS)

  • Matheus Estolano Pereira (Centennial College, Game Art)

Team Cooking with a Gun with their first and third place awards.

A team of U of T computer science and Centennial College students won first place for Achievement in Audio and third place for Best Overall Game for ‘Cooking with a Gun’ at the 2025 Level Up Showcase. Top row, left to right: Peter Zougas (U of T Music), Matheus Estolano (Centennial College), Anthony Gunadi (U of T Music), Alan Fan (U of T CS), Simon Chen (U of T CS), Madelynn Arsenault (Centennial College), Sage Gayle (Centennial College). Bottom row, left to right: Edward Han (U of T CS), Barsikan Aydin (U of T CS) (Photo: Courtesy of Simon Chen) 

Frankenpets

(U of T + OCADU, Winter section)

People’s Choice Award, 3rd place

  • Chelsea Wang (U of T CS)

  • Anne Chow (U of T CS)

  • Nina Huang (U of T CS)

  • Rohan Bhalla (U of T CS)

  • Jason Fung (OCADU)

  • Evelyn Hoang (OCADU)

  • Alex Carluen (OCADU)

  • Sarth Sharma (OCADU)

  • Mhd Taleb Sairwan (OCADU)

  • Qiunuo Zuo (U of T Music)

  • Kyle Meng (U of T Music)

Team Frankenpets with their People's Choice third place award.

U of T computer science and OCADU students from left to right: Taleb Sairwan (OCADU), Anne Chow (U of T CS), Rohan Bhalla (U of T CS), Alex Carluen (OCADU), Steve Engels (front), Sarth Sharma (OCADU), Evelyn Hoang (OCADU), Nina Huang (U of T CS), Chelsea Wang (U of T CS), Kaleigh Cronkwright (OCADU) and Kyle Meng (U of T Music), won third place in the People’s Choice category for their game ‘Frankenpets’ at the 2025 Level Up Showcase. (Photo: Courtesy of Steve Engels)