Highlights From The First Year Of #LevelAPP

2022 was a year full of challenges! The first year of Level APP has been full of excitement. It was started as a project to help aspiring game developers learn from industry experts, receive feedback on their apps, and get insights into game development. It also aims to be a platform for them to share…

365 Days In: A Look Back and Forward

Since it started on June 2021, #LevelAPP has been a learning experience for everyone involved. Especially for the apprentices in the program, who were able to see how much work goes into creating a game while also learning how to market and pitch their idea to potential investors. Working on a project that’s the first…

#LevelAPP Game Development Council: A strategic partnership of industry professionals, entrepreneurs, government and academe stakeholders

The idea for the Game App Development Project: Enabling the Next Generation of Gaming Entrepreneurs, also called #LevelAPP was born out of an opportunity. Nowadays, it seems like everyone is playing mobile games —and if you’re not playing one? Well, then you should be! Games are fun and engaging; they can build community among people…

#LevelAPP: Enabling Space for game developers in Central Visayas

The Level APP project also aims to provide business support for developers who want to bring their games to market.

Level APP Region VII

The Level APP project also aims to provide business support for developers who want to bring their games to market.

Sargassum Seaweed

Description and Characteristics Sargassum is a kind of brown seaweed characterized by having brown leaves (blade), stem (stipe/axis), floats (air bladders), and holdfast. It has numerous stems-like structures called stipe/axis but it lacks true roots and a vascular system. It usually floats in island-like masses because of the round, berry-like air bladders called “pneumatocysts” which…

Kape (Coffea)

Description and Characteristics Kape (kâ-pé), famously known as coffee, is a small evergreen tree usually growing up to a height of three to five meters. However, developing coffee in the wild allows the stem to grow up to 10 meters. Coffee plant has shiny green leaves in a shape of elliptic-ovate to elliptic-oblong and pointed…

Oyster Fungus (Pleurotus ostreatus)

Description and Characteristics Oyster mushroom (sometimes called “oyster fungus” or “tree oyster”) is a soft mushroom characterized by its oyster-shaped cap which grows up to 25 centimeters across, usually white but there are also other colorings including gray, blue, yellow and pink. Furthermore, compared to most mushrooms, this species is smooth and does not have…

Sea Buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides )

Sea buckthorn is a spiny shrub that grows in sand dunes along the east coast of Scotland. It is a native plant but was also artificially planted in some areas to help stabilise dune systems, and is considered invasive in some parts of the country. Sea buckthorn is a large, deciduous shrub – growing to…

Palay (Rice) (Oryza sativa)

Description and Characteristics Palay or rice is an annual warm-season grass species. Its stalk/stem grows up to one to 1.8 meters tall depending on the variety and soil fertility. Just like other grass species, it has long, slender leaves reaching up to 100 centimeters long and 2.5 centimeters wide. Moreover, leaves are rough with small,…

Leather (skin and hide from animals and fish)

Leather is a versatile, hardwearing, and functional textile, used for a variety of uses from interior textiles to wearable garments. Although leather is in no way unique to Scotland, it has a long history of production within Scotland. It’s used for its strength and longevity, and is considered by many to be a sustainable and…

Draff (by-product of brewing industry, composed of barley, wheat, and other grains)

Draff is the damp grain that is leftover after the malting process when brewing beers and spirits such as gin and whisky. It is composed of grains including barley, rye, and wheat, depending on the alcohol it was used to produce. There may also be some other plant material present that is leftover from the…

Willow (Salix – various species)

Willows, also called sallows, are a genus of trees and shrubs that are found primarily on moist soils in the cold and temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. They are fast growing and considered to be a pioneer species as they will readily put down roots from cuttings or where broken branches lie on the…

Granite (predominantly composed of quartz, feldspar and mica)

Granite is a hard igneous rock known for its durability and resistance to wind and rain. It is predominantly found in the north east of Scotland around Aberdeen, and was used so extensively in the building of many of the city’s buildings that it became known as “The Granite City”. It varies in colour depending…

Sandstone (Composed of quartz or feldspar)

Chances are if you think of an iconic Scottish building, it will be made of sandstone. Historically, it has been the main type of building stone in Scotland and was used in many architectural projects across Scotland – from Abbeys and castles, to tenement flats built to grow rapidly growing work forces as cities expanded….

Juniper (Juniperus communis )

Juniper is one of only three conifers native to Britain, along with Scots Pine and Yew. It’s an evergreen shrub or small tree with blue-green needle shaped leaves with a broad white stripe which are present year round. The bark on young plants is brown, but turns grey as the plant gets older. Juniper bushes…

Kelp (Laminaria digitata, Laminaria hyperborea, Saccharina latissima, Saccorhiza polyschides, and Alaria esculenta)

Scotland provides a home to a wide variety of seaweed species, with different species thriving in different coastal areas. One of the most abundant and widely harvested types of seaweed, and one which has a lot of potential as a sustainable material, is kelp. Kelp is a large brown seaweed that grows on rocks, from…

Flax (Linum usitatissimum)

Flax, also known as linseed, is a flowering plant with a distinctive pale blue flower. It is a herbaceous annual that grows to around 1 meter in length on average, and is one of the only natural fibres that are capable of being grown in Western Europe. Flax has been grown in Scotland for centuries,…

Nipa (Nypa fruticans)

Description and Characteristics Nipa is a monocious and pleonanthic palm meaning it is a plant that bears both male and female flowers, and does so without dying after its flower cycle. The male flowerhead of Nipa is brown, erect, up to one meter high while the female measures one meter high or less. Nipa has…

Clay (Composed primarily of kaolin, ball clay and feldspar)

Clay is versatile, hardwearing, and commonly used material. It is a type of fine-grained natural soil containing clay minerals, which has plasticity when wet but becomes hard after being exposed to very high temperatures. It is used across the world, and has been used for millennia to create everything from function objects for the home…

Capiz Shells (Placuna placenta)

Description and Characteristics Capiz is an aquatic mollusk that has a compressed body enclosed within a hinged shell. It has different names such as capiz shell, hatchet-footed shells, and windowpane shell.  The name “capiz shell” was generated because these shells were harvested near and found in abundance in a small town called Capiz in the…

Santol (Sandoricum koetjape)

Description and Characteristics Santol, also known as cotton fruit, is a hardy, vigorous tree growing up to 50 meters high with a diameter of up to 100 centimeters. Its outside bark is smooth but sometimes flaky with greyish to pale pinkish-brown color while the inner bark is pale brown or red-brown to pink and is…

Diliman / Hagnaya (Stenochlaena palustris)

Description and Characteristics  Diliman fern, also known as Hagnaya in some provinces of the Philippines, is a grainy, climbing fern of indefinite length. Its rhizomes, the stem part that contains nodes from which roots and shoots originate, is creeping or climbing in a way that it attaches to trees or lattices. Its rhizomes are brown…

Wool (Fleece from Ovis aries)

Wool is a versatile, hardwearing and functional textile, used for a variety of uses from interior textiles to wearable garments. Although wool is in no way unique to Scotland, it has been produced here for many centuries and has played a significant role in the UK. It’s used for its warmth and longevity, and is…

Birch Silver Birch (Betula pendula) and Downy Birch (Betula pubescens)

Birch trees are the most common native trees found in Scotland, and are widely found in the Tayside region. There are two species of birch tree in Scotland, but the silver birch is the most commonly found and is easily recognisable thanks to its distinctive bark which is silvery white with black marks, and has…

Kaong Palm (Arenga pinnata)

Description and Characteristics Kaong palm, also known as sugar palm, is an upright medium-sized palm tree. Upon reaching its maturity age which is more than 15 years, it grows to a height of up to 15 meters and a diameter of about 40 centimeters.  The stalks attached to the trunk have leaves that are arranged…

Wrack (Ascophyllum nodosum, Pelvetia canaliculata, Fucus vesiculosus, Fucus spiralis, and Fucus serratus)

Scotland provides a home to a wide variety of seaweed species, with different species thriving in different coastal areas. One of the most abundant is wrack, also known as rockweed. Wrack is a large brown seaweed that grows along the Scottish coastline. There are five species of wrack native to Scotland – Ascophyllum nodosum, Pelvetia…

Slate (predominantly composed of quartz and muscovite, along with other minerals)

Slate is one of the most widely used building materials in Scotland. It is particularly well known for its use as a roof covering on many traditional Scottish buildings, and has been used for this purpose for centuries. It varies in colour and texture depending on where it has been quarried, but is predominantly grey…

Lukmoy (Rhaphidophora monticola)

Description and Characteristics             Lukmoy are root climber plants that cling on many tropical trees and are characterized by their prominent, stout aerial roots that more often extend from the top of tall trees down to the ground. The aerial root has a diameter of at least 0.5 centimeter, brown and smooth, and sometimes flaking…

Moras Grass (Vetiveria zizanioides)

Description and Characteristics Moras, better known as Vetiver grass, is a coarse and erect bunch of long flexible blades of grass growing close together up to a height of one to two meters. Moras is present at all seasons of the year. It has a massive and fibrous root system that grows straight down rather…

Pandan (Pandanus)

Description and Characteristics  Pandan is a common name shared by a number species of Pandanus, and is also known as Fragrant Screw Pine. It varies in size from small shrubs less than a meter to medium-sized trees of about 20 meters. It is characterized by its abundant leaves spirally crowded towards the ends of its…

Narra (Pterocarpus indicus)

Description and Characteristics Known as the National Tree of the Philippines, Narra is a majestic reddish hardwood tree reflecting the same resiliency and strength as that of the Filipino people. It is an enormous tree with asymmetrical corrugated trunk growing up to 40 meters high, two meters in diameter or can even get larger as…

Ilang-ilang (Cananga odorata)

Description and Characteristics Ilang-ilang, also spelled Ylang-ylang, is a medium-sized tree growing up to 10 to 30 meters. Its young bark is usually smooth, light to dark brown in color and it becomes rough, greyish or silvery as it matures. Its wood is easy to work, soft and highly perishable. Ilang-ilang branches are hanging down…

Anahaw (Saribus rotundifolius)

Description and Characteristics Anahaw is a large, perpendicular palm that grows up to a height of 15 to 20 meters and 25 cm in diameter. As it matures, the leaves are packed at the top of the tree leaving a straight trunk marked with leaf scars. The part connecting the leaves and the trunk known…

Pili (Canarium ovatum)

Supported by the Connections Through Culture programme of the British Council, our Materials Library Expansion Project is the first collaboration between UNESCO Creative Cities of Design #Cebu and #Dundee. #MATIC #CreativeDundee #BritishCouncilPh #BritishCouncilCTC

Almaciga (Agathis philippinensis)

Description and Characteristics The almaciga is a vast tree that grows up to 65 meters tall and the trunk up to 3 meters in diameter. It has green, leathery leaves that are opposite, broad, shaped like an oval (or sometimes with a narrower portion from middle to tip) that develop up to seven centimeters (7cm)…

Saluyot (Jute) – use and benefits

Jute is a long, soft, shiny vegetable fiber that can be spun into coarse, strong threads. Jute is the second most important vegetable fiber after cotton due to its versatility. It is used chiefly to make cloth for wrapping bales of raw cotton, and to make sacks and coarse cloth.

Raffia: fiber from the Buri Palm

Buri Palm fibers are on the rise in the international fashion and design industries.