Following a successful inaugural cohort in 2017, Interactive Ontario is proud to once again offer its ipprenticeship program and is pleased to announce the first four participants in our 2018 cohort. The program provides week-long paid placements and honoraria for aspiring interactive digital media (IDM) professionals who are currently underrepresented in the industry at leading IDM studios.
This year’s ipprenticeship placements focus on women and Black youth; the program is jointly funded by the Black Youth Action Plan (under the Ministry of Children and Youth Services) and the host companies. See below for more on the Ubisoft Toronto and Magmic participants and stay tuned for information on the Groupe Media TFO ipprentices!
Danielle Pelletier is a budding UX researcher with an eye for design who hopes to specialize in games user research. At Level Up 2018, her team showcased Chiaroscuro, a two-player co-op puzzle game that uses light and dark as its main puzzle mechanic, which received great positive feedback from judges and event attendees. On that project, she acted as the game’s producer and UX designer, developing the game’s UI and userflow in addition to advising the level designers on how to create puzzles while keeping the player in mind. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Cognitive Science from Carleton University, during which she wrote her honours thesis on haptic feedback and engagement in first person games. Her career goal is to combine her training as a UX professional and her passion for games to create the things she loves with the skills she has.
Stevie Ray Hunter is a 1st year Game Design student at Sheridan College from Jamaica. Coming from a strong Graphic Design background his primary interest falls into UI/UX design in gaming, with a keen secondary interest in Systems and Mechanics design. Having just completed his first year of studies at Sheridan, he is eager to seek out the next step in furthering his career by making connections and developing his skills as a burgeoning game designer.
Coley Caverley is a level designer who recently released an atmospheric puzzle game with Longbow Games called Golem. For the past 4 years she has studied for a Bachelor of Game Design and will be completing a post-grad in Level Design at Sheridan College. Combining prototyping skills developed over many game jams with UX knowledge and design theory, she creates compelling and scale-able proof of concepts rapidly. She has been awarded the IGDA Women in Games Ambassador, XBox Women in Games, and Dames Making Games scholarships and has won multiple game jam competitions including DreamHackJam, MisJam, and Sheridan Sprint Week. In her everyday life Coley enjoys trying new experiences, swimming laps, and public speaking.
Lauren Bartley is an aspiring UX Designer and a recent graduate of Sheridan College’s Game Design program. With a background in both interaction and game design, she looks forward to applying her knowledge to the game industry. She has previously worked for Sheridan College, Canada’s National Ballet School and Mr. Nussbaum Learning & Fun.
