Loutfouz Zaman
PhD

Background

Dr. Zaman's first got interested in game development in his final year as an undergraduate student in computer science, when he took an advanced computer graphics course where, among other things, he learned about OpenGL. He then went on to build a DirectX simulation for his capstone project as the “battle” between the two APIs was ongoing during that time. After completing his bachelor’s degree, Dr. Zaman gained some practical experience as a C++ mobile game developer, working at a start-up company and developing 3D games for the Pocket PC platform which was popular at the time. Dr. Zaman’s academic journey continued at York University, where he pursued an M.Sc. and a PhD in computer science. During his Master’s studies, Dr. Zaman also worked as a part-time instructor in game development at Humber College.

At Ontario Tech University, Dr. Zaman has been leading research in visual programming interfaces, exploring alternative and difference visualizations in game development. This was an extension of his PhD thesis topic into the game development domain. As of 2026, under the supervision of Dr. Zaman, nine Master's students have successfully defended their theses and went on pursuing successful careers in the game development and interactive media industries. Dr. Zaman is versatile when it comes to student supervision. He has supervised Master’s theses in different areas of game and interactive media related research. These include not only alternative and difference visualizations in game development, but also serious games, exergames, digital board game tutoring via chatbots, user research in gaming, emotion analysis of players using computer vision, visual game analytics, and the use of deep learning for bug detection in games.

Dr. Zaman's is also involved in collaboration with industry. Over the years, he has been involved in projects funded by MITACS, NSERC, and industry contributions. These projects have been diverse and ranged from automated systems for incident management in healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic to the gamification of CRM software and language learning. He also supervised work of grad students on the use of computer vision for lost pet identification, the enhancement of air traffic control simulation training, development of a web-based 3D content creation and generative AI platforms. These efforts helped to advance practical applications, some of which have also contributed to academic literature.

Dr. Zaman has taught a diverse set of courses from introductory statistics for game development to more specialized graduate-level courses on human-computer interaction, machine learning for game analytics, and advanced game development and evaluation.

Dr. Zaman is currently looking for aspiring MSc candidates with relevant expertise and interests to join his research team, focusing on visual game analytics, virtual/augmented/mixed reality technologies, and automated bug detection in gaming. Dr. Zaman is also open to supervision and/or co-supervision of PhD students.

Dr. Zaman believes in the empowerment of individuals who have historically faced barriers to opportunities. He is a strong supporter of women in computer science. As of 2026, 5 out of 9 students who graduated from the MSc in computer science at OTU under Dr. Zaman’s supervision have been women. Dr. Zaman has also supervised and worked with students from the LGBTQ community and conflict zones like Ukraine. 

Dr. Zaman enjoys longboarding, cycling and mountain biking, has long been interested in music and previously played guitar in the extreme metal genres. He likes to play soulslike and surivival-horror video games.

Those interested to work with Dr. Zaman, should contact him directly.