2025 AMES Video Game Design Super Showcase

For the tenth annual Advanced Media Entertainment Society (AMES) Game Design Competition and Showcase, students were required to make a game that used elements studied this year, from concept to design and implementation. They competed at their local school level, and teams won the right to represent their school and compete at this state-level event at Microsoft’s Studio B in Redmond, WA, on May 31, 2025.

2025 Prompt

All classes were given the same prompt and eight weeks to complete a game based on the prompt:

“The masks we wear.”

Itch.io Showcase Page

• amesshowcase.itch.io

Super Showcase Judges

Crystal Reid
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 at Bungie, she is a Production Director on Destiny 2, overseeing the shared creative services for the franchise.

Matt Pennebaker
Matt has worked in almost all areas of design over his 15+ year career, from QA to Design Director and many stops in between. Most of that time was spent working on Guild Wars 2, but also includes time spent working on Plants vs. Zombies 3, an unannounced Dungeons & Dragons game, and currently an unannounced game at Zenimax Online Studios. Matt’s primary role is to design and prototype design tools and facilitate content creation with other designers.

Kevin Martens
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.

Caitlin Nairon
Caitlin started out as an online instructor for iD Tech camps, teaching classes like 3D modeling and animation in Maya, 3D game design in Unreal Engine or Godot, and programming in Java or C++. 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. Now at Zenimax Online Studios as a Technical Designer working on an unannounced project, Caitlin is primarily focused on designing and trailblazing sustainable workflows and systems for designers to use when creating core player content.

Kelsey Pickinpaugh
Kelsey has long held an affinity for the multi-faceted world of player experience. Her first job working on virtual casino games as a UI artist was her introduction to UX, where it became a crash course in player psychology. After working in mobile gaming for several years, Kelsey joined ArenaNet (working on an unreleased title) before moving on to Undead Labs for State of Decay 2: Juggernaut Edition and leading UX design and direction of State of Decay 3. Kelsey’s passion for UX grows from her desire to make games more accessible to all players.

Competition Event Host

Nellie Hughes
As a game design industry veteran of 20 years, Nellie Hughes has worked on games such as City of Heroes, Champions Online, Star Trek Online, and Guild Wars 2 in various ways. She now resides as a Design Director at Xbox Publishing, helping guide the team and department to be the best they can be.

Super Showcase Program

Super Showcase Rubric

Outstanding Achievement Awards in Video Game Design

Gameplay Mechanics: Medibilis
Worldbuilding: He’s Behind Me, Isn’t He?
Art: Entrailed (Special Recognition: Five Shifts at Derpy’s)
Character Performance: 3 Masks
Unique Perspective: Illumoria
Sound: Mask Shooty Shooty
Controls: Plaguebreaker
UI/UX: Drama Outlet

Middle School Video Game Design Winners

1st Place: Five Shifts at Derpy’s
2nd Place: HyperMurder

High School Video Game Design Winners

1st Place: Imaskapable
2nd Place: Mask Shooty Shooty
3rd Place: He’s Behind Me, Isn’t He

Skill Center Video Game Design Winners

1st Place: PlagueBreaker
2nd Place: Entrailed
3rd Place: 3 Masks

YouTube Playlist of the Event

Comprehensive High School Competitors

Capital High School

Olympia, WA

Scott Le Duc
Video Game Design Instructor

“Masked” 
Programming/Producer: Landen Guthrie 
Design: Brody Rau 
Sound: Spencer James

“QuickSwap” 
Programming/Producer: Lex Lehr 
Art: Jonas Forgacs 
Design: Ayden Tucker

Why Not You Academy 

Des Moines, Washington 

Andrew Edmonds
Daniel Glaser 
Instructors

“Highway Rush” 
Programming/Producer: Yousuf Mohamed 
Design: Malachi Wondimagegnehu 
Sound: Abdirisaq Mohamed 

“Warn Facade” 
Producer: Jeremiah Collins 
Art: Connie Ivory 
Programming: Sammy Huxtable 
Design: Jaxon Rowland

Lindbergh High 

Renton, Washington

Gina Hansen
Instructor 

“Tooth & Nail” 
Programming/Producer: Veld Tocher 
Art: Atticus McSweeney 
Design: Skye Kelly

Everett High School

Everett, WA

Jim Flatmo
Video Game Design Instructor

“Imaskapable” 
Nicholas Bertiaux 
Thienbao Vo 
David Moiseyev 
Nathan Erickson 
Dereck Castillo Rodriguez 

“Mask Shooty Shooty” 
Kaloni Herring 
Ignatius Nelms 
Derek Haas 
Kyle Steele 
David Porter-Alvarez

Keithley Middle School 

Tacoma, Washington 

Brendan Stanton
Instructor

“Five Shifts At Derpy’s” 
Programming: Jose Franco Moreno 
Design: Josef Call 
Sound: Iris Little 

“HyperMurder” 
Producer: Liem Poore 
Art: Chanraksa Theuon 
Programming: Zachary Gavigan 
Design: Nathan Landers 
Sound: Jerry Tauala

Oak Harbor High School 

Renton, Washington 

Susan Rogers 
Instructor

“ Illumoria” 
Design/Producer: Trevor Jones 
Art: Kaitlin Cellona, Antoinette Scherer
Music: Raymond Matlack 

“Mega Antivirus Super Killer” 
Programming: Zachary Carothers 
Design: Lucas Gruenwald

Skill Center Competitors

Northwest Career & Technical Academy

Mount Vernon, WA

Jason Pasimio
Video Game Development Instructor

Spider Studios 
“3 Masks” 
Art: Grace Nelson, Taylee Brevick 
Design: Grizz Norman 
Programming: Jensen Lee, Jamie Cook 

The Insomniacs 
“Medibis” 
Art: Aslin Mellema 
Design: Xander Brown 
Programming: Echo Swanson

Tri-Tech Skills Center 

Kennewick, Washington 

Mat Adelmund Instructor

 TeamTech 
“Cyberdash” 
Art: Peyton Privratsky 
Programming: Hunter Taylor, Caleb Guzman 
Design: Jaxon Fuhriman 

Facadicle Four 
“Facadesicle” 
Art: Logan Pick 
Design: Sierra Moscatelli 
Programming: Angel Espinoza, Max Lorenzo

Sno-Isle Tech Skills Center

Everett, WA

Derek Sturm
Video Game Design Instructor

Keira Wentworth 
Animation Instructor 

Helmet Head Studios 
“Drama Outlet” 
Art: Harley Hedglin, Lazlo Pashelk, Mark Sivigliano 
Programming: Tobiah Day, Ethan Kellar 

How Hungry Studios 
“Plaguebreaker” 
Art: Ruth-Anne Jones 
Programming: Benicio Burgos, Braden Nichols, Cayden Goldman, Jaden Smith

West Sound Tech 

Bermerton, Washington 

Tony Sharpe
Instructor 

Three Bugs in a Trenchcoat 
“Entrailed” 
Art/Design: Kayla Fisher 
Programming: Nick Klusman, Morgan Erickson 
Sound: Morgan Erickson 

Crystal River 
“Maskpocalypse” 
Programming/Design: Wyatt Guski 
Art/Music: Tristen Simon

Thank You!

We would like to thank our Advisory Committees for going above and beyond in their help with curriculum steering, helping students with their projects, and 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 for hosting our Showcase.

To all of our guests, thank you for sharing this day with us in support of our students.