Sledgehammer Games

We’re back with another “Coolest Corners” from Sledgehammer Games’ new Bay Area studio ✨ The Venue is the heart of Sledge’s newest home—a place to connect, create, compete, and celebrate. Where presentations become events, town halls bring everyone together, and game sessions (with 36 players to be exact) turn into full-scale battles.

Last Thursday, I got to attend Brock University on behalf of Sledgehammer Games to accept the 2025 award for Experiential Education Community Partner of the Year - Faculty of Humanities given out by Brock University Co-op, Career & Experiential Education team. Also a massive thank you to Jeremy Leipert for always reaching out with these incredible opportunities that happen at the University. It's always exciting to get an email about an upcoming industry night, accessibility workshops and just giving a talk in general. The team at Sledgehammer Games here in Toronto have been killing it! Getting to do Design Document Reviews, consulting with students, Industry Nights and sponsoring the "Achievement of Accessibility" award at the annual LevelUp Showcase! Massive shoutout to the entire team and thank you all that offer the support each year to help out students! It's great to see !😀 There's two personal thought's I'd like to share as well. First is an absolute honor to talk about Accessible Game Design and it's importance in the industry today. Getting to inform and teach some of the incredible talent that's breaking through into scene very soon is really cool and I can't wait to do more of it in the future! Keep breaking through the barriers and making gaming a more inclusive place everyone ❤️ But on a more somber note, I'd also like to thank Mark K. for the incredible words he offered in the nomination for this award. Mark's word's where nothing short of compassion, love and a desire to make a difference. I was saddened by learning of Mark's passings several months ago and I consider myself very lucky that I was able to converse with him after I gave a talk on Accessible Game Design for some students. While we only got to speak briefly, I could tell Mark was all about trying to make the industry a more accepting and accessible place. We should all aim to meet these qualities that Mark displayed. Remember, when everyone plays, we all win 😃 (Massive shoutout to Marc Poirier for making the drive down from Toronto and join me in celebrating this award!!!! Without his support, this wouldn't be possible, so massive thank you!)

WOAH!!!!! 😮 🥳 🤪 🤯 🤯 🥹 😎 That's about how I can sum up such an incredible event that is Level Up Showcase for 2026. It's always amazing to go out and take part in this event to see what I quite frankly think are very much publishable games. The students there are super energized, passionate and just gleem with talent and wherever they find themselves after the school year, I know that any studio would be lucky to have any of these students. It was also a great honor to go as a part of the Sledgehammer Games team and even present the "Achievement in Accessibility" award that we've sponsored for the third year in a row! This is an award that recognizes Accessible Game Design implementation in the students projects which can include UI, Audio and Gameplay features. I've seen projects use color outlines for their characters (which can also be customized to different colors), haptic feedback, in depth tutorial systems, one handed controls and even visual systems like high contrast mode (per viewport even for the MP side of things!) Shoutout to the following winners for their incredible passion and dedication to incorporating Accessible Game Design: 🥇 Touche Tempo - York University 🥈 Crystal Core - Conestoga College 🥉 Brass Rebellion - Niagara College (As an alumni, let's go!!!) For those that won, please drop your team members names in the thread here (or the teams names even!) so they can be recognized for the incredible work you did. You deserved to be noticed and mentioned for all the amazing work you've done. Remember, when we incorporate Accessible Game Design into our games, we're not just bringing in new players, but we're also creating cherished moments that can now be experienced by everyone with no barriers. When everyone plays, we all win

WOAH!!!!! 😮 🥳 🤪 🤯 🤯 🥹 😎 That's about how I can sum up such an incredible event that is Level Up Showcase for 2026. It's always amazing to go out and take part in this event to see what I quite frankly think are very much publishable games. The students there are super energized, passionate and just gleem with talent and wherever they find themselves after the school year, I know that any studio would be lucky to have any of these students. It was also a great honor to go as a part of the Sledgehammer Games team and even present the "Achievement in Accessibility" award that we've sponsored for the third year in a row! This is an award that recognizes Accessible Game Design implementation in the students projects which can include UI, Audio and Gameplay features. I've seen projects use color outlines for their characters (which can also be customized to different colors), haptic feedback, in depth tutorial systems, one handed controls and even visual systems like high contrast mode (per viewport even for the MP side of things!) Shoutout to the following winners for their incredible passion and dedication to incorporating Accessible Game Design: 🥇 Touche Tempo - York University 🥈 Crystal Core - Conestoga College 🥉 Brass Rebellion - Niagara College (As an alumni, let's go!!!) For those that won, please drop your team members names in the thread here (or the teams names even!) so they can be recognized for the incredible work you did. You deserved to be noticed and mentioned for all the amazing work you've done. Remember, when we incorporate Accessible Game Design into our games, we're not just bringing in new players, but we're also creating cherished moments that can now be experienced by everyone with no barriers. When everyone plays, we all win