Thomas Detko

Background

About Thomas Detko

Thomas Detko attended Ryerson University for web programming, graduating class of 2009. Seeking the educational background to support his passion for game design, he went on to attend Herzing College, Computer Graphic Design Diploma, graduating class of 2010. Thomas is also a professor of Game Art and Design at Centennial College and has been designing games and interactive media professionally for over 12 years. As Principal Investigator with Centennial College’s WIMTACH, Artscape and Ada Slaight Youth mentorship, Thomas directed the Immersed VR Social project. Presented at Nuit Blanche 2019 and Regent Park Film Festival, Immersed is a Virtual Reality (VR) experience that examines the potential of community-based storytelling to raise the voices of inner-city youth. Thomas began his relationship with Shaftesbury as a consultant in 2017 on the WREST project and later become a full-time addition to the team until January of 2021. As a Game Designer with Phantom Compass Inc, Thomas wore many hats. On the business side, he contributed to the marketing strategies and internal development processes. As a game designer, artist and former programmer, he helped focus team energies on efficient, iterative design methods to find the fun in each project. Thomas has a broad range of expertise across all forms of gaming including emerging technologies such as VR and AR game and narrative design. In addition to his narrative design, level design, game design and project management contributions on WREST VR, Thomas was lead designer on 2 previous industry award winning video games.