Game Development Makes Its Debut at the Skills Canada National Competition 2026

The Skills Canada National Competition 2026 was held from May 27 to 30, 2026 at the Enercare Centre in Toronto, Ontario. The event featured opening ceremonies on May 27, two days of competition on May 28 and 29, and closing ceremonies on May 30.

The Skills Canada National Competition is a trades and technology competition for secondary and post-secondary students across the country. The competition consisted of 45 skill competitions in sectors that included Construction, Employment, Information Technology, Manufacturing & Engineering, Services, and Transportation. There were 550 competitors representing provinces and territories from across Canada. More than 7,000 local students attended the event to watch the competitions and find inspiration for their own career paths.

Game Development was introduced at the national level as a presentation competition for the first time. The competition originated in Saskatchewan, where it was first established as a provincial competition. Its introduction at the national level represents a meaningful step forward for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education in Canada. The Game Development competition followed a Game Jam model, challenging students to build a functional game from concept to completion under tight time constraints. The scope of the Game Jam was to create a 2D or 3D game using any game engine of their choice, with a final build that can run on a Windows PC or on the web. This year’s theme was “Anomaly.” Each team had a total of 14 hours across the two-day period to deliver a working game.

Two teams took part in the presentation. One secondary-level team came from Melville Comprehensive School in Saskatchewan, and one post-secondary team came from Niagara College in Ontario. Each team had four members.

Game Development is a good example of collaborative, real-world work. Shaun Nanan, Academic Director of Nanan Academy and organiser of the Game Development competition, explained, “The Game Development competition mirrors a real-world workplace, where each team member takes on a specific role such as an artist, programmer, or writer. Bringing a game to life requires many essential skills.”

Mackenzie Katsmar, a member of the post-secondary team from Ontario, shared, “Demoing a game jam competition for Skills Canada has been one of the largest highlights of my game development journey. Leading and working with an all-star team of graduating Niagara College students to create a beautiful and functional game in close to 14 hours was amazing.”

Andy Hu, a member of the secondary team from Saskatchewan, added, “Skills Canada is such an incredible opportunity. More people should definitely know about this. The chance to meet some of the most skilled people in the entire country should not be dismissed lightly.”

Special thanks go to Steve Isaacs, Director of Secondary Education at Epic Games, and Nazzal Naseer, Education Specialist at Epic Games, who provided coaching and feedback to competitors during the competition. Steve Isaacs and Cathy Cheo-Isaacs also lead the SkillsUSA competitions in Interactive Application and Game Development, as well as 3D Visualization and Animation. Appreciation also goes to Professor Conor McNeill, Game Development Professor at Niagara College, and Kara Deshaies, teacher at Melville Comprehensive School, for their support of the initiative.

The presentation generated significant interest from students, educators, industry representatives, and members of the public. Throughout the two days, visitors stopped by to watch development in progress, ask questions, and learn more about careers in game development.

The long term vision is to establish Game Development as a competition at WorldSkills, the international stage where the world’s most talented students compete to showcase their skills.

Post-Secondary Team: Aaralyn Pennings, Derek Stitt, Mackenzie Katsmar, and Mitchell Bocchini

Game: Cross Reference

Download from their itch.io page: link

Secondary Team: Anakin Parker, Andy Hu, Kiedis Elliott, and Raphael Ajiboye

Game: Entomb

Download from their itch.io page: link