For this year’s Advanced Media Entertainment Society (AMES) Video Game Design Super Showcase, student teams across Washington State developed original games based on a shared prompt within a two-month production window.
2026 Prompt: “Everything Has a Cost.”
Teams competed at the local level for the right to advance to this Super Showcase event, held May 30, 2026, hosted by itch.io and Northwest Career & Technical Academy.
Itch.io Showcase Pages
Super Showcase Judges
Crystal Reid
- Title: Sr Manager, Production
- Studio: Santa Monica Studios
- Crystal Reid | LinkedIn
Crystal started working in games in 2010 as a QA Tester at ArenaNet. Since then, her career journey has jumped disciplines multiple times, first starting in Design, then transitioning to Narrative, eventually taking on Audio and Cinematic department responsibilities, and now finally moving into the role of Production. Currently, she is at Santa Monica studios overseeing the Production department on unannounced projects.
Nellie Hughes
- Title: Game Designer
- Studio: Turn 10 Studios
- Nellie Hughes | LinkedIn
Nellie Hughes is a seasoned professional with 20 years of experience in the game industry. Throughout her career, she has contributed to various aspects of design, including open world content design, monetization design, system design, and people and department management. Currently, she is about to start her new adventure at Turn 10 Studios, working on the Motorsport Horizon game series, leading the Co-Development of the live games in their portfolio. Her work includes notable titles such as City of Heroes, Star Trek Online, Champions Online, and Guild Wars 2, along with several other projects that remained unreleased. Nellie is passionate about creating lifelong positive memories for players and is dedicated to bringing diverse voices and their experiences into the game industry.
Caitlin Nairon
- Title: Technical Designer
- Studio: Bungie
- Caitlin Nairon | LinkedIn
Caitlin started out as an online instructor for iD Tech camps, teaching classes in the game design and programming space. They then migrated to the game industry in 2022 at Bungie as an Associate Technical Designer working on Destiny 2’s seasonal and expansion content, mainly working with object mechanics. Later, they moved to Zenimax Online Studios as a Technical Designer for player combat mechanics, working on an unannounced and now shelved project. Now back at Bungie, Caitlin is primarily focused on designing and trailblazing sustainable workflows for designers to make use of when creating content, as well as establishing fundamental systems to be used in creating activities for the game Marathon.
Kevin Martens
- Title: Creative Lead
- Studio: Archetype Entertainment
- Kevin Martens | LinkedIn
Kevin started in games as a writer in 1998 on the Baldur’s Gate series at BioWare. While there, he made Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, and Dragon Age Origins. He has also worked on Diablo III and World of Warcraft at Blizzard Entertainment and currently leads the Design Department at Bungie Inc. His favorite part of game design is finding new combinations of elements in a game that make all of them feel fresh again.
Super Showcase Program
Super Showcase Rubric
Awards Ceremony
Outstanding Achievement Awards in Video Game Design
- Outstanding Achievement in Gameplay Mechanics: Summon the Beast
- Outstanding Achievement in Worldbuilding: Charlotte
- Outstanding Achievement in Art: Grog and Gold
- Outstanding Achievement in Character Performance: Small World
- Outstanding Achievement in Unique Perspective: Charlotte
- Outstanding Achievement in Sound: K’nitt
- Outstanding Achievement in Controls: K’nitt
- Outstanding Achievement in UI/UX: Defanged
Middle School Video Game Design Winners
- 1st Place: The Cursed Town
High School Video Game Design Winners
- 1st Place: Small World
- 2nd Place: Beggars Can’t Be Choosers
- 3rd Place: Wool Giver
Skills Center Video Game Design Winners
- 1st Place: Summon the Beast
- 2nd Place: K’nitt
- 3rd Place: Just One More
Comprehensive Middle School Competitor
LaVenture Middle School
LV Falcons Video Game Development Club
- “The Cursed Town”
- Khuong Bui
- Quinn Deasy
- Campbell Frazier
- Carter Hensey
- Maddie Stewart
Comprehensive High School Competitors
Capital High School
Team 4
- “Wilco”
- Landen Guthrie
- Brody Rau
Team 6
- “Need for Bleed”
- Lex Lehr
- Bennett Blodgett
- Jonas Forgacs
- Alden Visser
Everett High School
Bass Line
- “Gridlock”
- Peder Williams
- Zirakhan Ishaque
- Shigeru Stavnshoj
- Lucas Clark
- Finnegan Davis
The Tangerines
- “Wool Giver”
- Grace Beatty
- Nicholas Bertiaux
- Madison Brady
- Judah Stenberg
- Kaitlin Langland
Lindbergh High School
Kitty Cat Accent
- “Small World”
- Veld Tocher
- Atticus McSweeney
- Elizabeth Bean
- Skye Kelly
Oak Harbor High School
OHHS Game Lab
- “Beggars Can’t Be Choosers”
- Elizabeth Peoples
- Olivia Lockard
- Trevor Jones
- Amelia Crowder
Skills Center Competitors
Northwest Career & Technical Academy
Starship Narrators
- “Charlotte”
- Kennedy Herron
- Dice Mellema
- Xiomara
- Elena Concepcion
Batcave
- “Defanged”
- Echo Swanson
- Grizz Norman
- Ryan Lopez
- Jacob Radchishin
Sno-Isle TECH Skills Center
Spectral Frog
- “Blind Bet”
- Maleia Brown
- Kaitlyn Coleman
- Isabella Culver
- Jasmine Estrada-Rodriguez
- Nicholas Philpott
Strawberta Studios
- “MONEY, BLOOD, and HOTDOGS”
- Mikel Bannavong
- Grayson Brown
- Henry Clare
- Rian Francis
- Taylor Wyckoff
Tri-Tech Skills Center
Tri-Tech
- “Just One More”
- Nathaniel Martinez
- Isaac Spinelli
- Benjamin Arthur
WANIC DigiPen
Cabbage Cult
- “Summon the Beast”
- Diana
- Holden
- Rilan
- Kat
- Maya
- Kailee
On Screen Odyssey
- “Grog and Gold”
- Andrew
- Donovan
- EJ
- Erik
- Rafael
West Sound Tech
Team WRS (Wizard Revenue Service)
- “The Cost of Coin”
- John Smith
- Felix McKinney
- Sylas Oliver
- Owen Kardonsky
Starboiled
- “K’nitt”
- Chloe Keller
- Bryson Upton
- Lily Hodges
- Jake Waldrop
Thank You!
We would like to thank our Advisory Committees for going above and beyond in steering the curriculum, supporting students with their projects, and providing constant support for our programs.
We would also like to thank our industry representatives for attending this event and being part of our panel. We really appreciate everything you do!
A special thank you to itch.io and Northwest Career & Technical Academy for hosting this year’s Showcase.
To all of our guests, thank you for sharing this day with us in support of our students.




