For the sixth annual Advanced Media Entertainment Society (AMES) Film and Animation Design Competition and Showcase, students were required to make a film or animation that used elements studied this year, from concept to design, and implementation. They competed at their local school level, and five teams won the right to represent their school and compete at this state-level event in Mount Vernon, WA at Northwest Career and Technical Academy on May 17, 2025.
All classes were given the following prompt and eight weeks to complete a film or animation based on the prompt:
LOCATION: Northwest Career and Technical Academy (NCTA) 2205 West Campus Place Mount Vernon, WA 98273
Updates
Hi everyone! A couple quick updates this morning!
Animation and Film both have their rubrics added on the Film / Animation Competition page. No changes to either rubric from last year other than the updated prompt.
Added Animation Milestones to that page as well – Keira gave those to me last week, I posted them and then realized today they weren’t linked anywhere… they’re accessible now. Thanks Keira for sharing those!
If anyone has any other resources to share for the contest please let Jim or Scott know!
As I was updating the pages I haven’t been able to find the master copy of the Animation/Film contest rules. Functionally they are the same as the game design competition but with a different set of deliverables (the film itself and an itch.io page to access it) – I’m going to keep looking and/or draft a new set if necessary and get that posted ASAP, for the interim the Game Design rules are/have been what we’ve been following anyway.
Here’s an updated version of the prompt – the prompt remains “unchanged”, this version just has more supporting text/clarifications on intent/etc. “The Masks We Wear…” remains the ‘formal’ prompt title. Itch.io jam pages have been updated accordingly.
From the literal masks we’ve worn in recent years to the metaphorical ones we put on every day, the idea of masks is deeply woven into our lives. We wear masks to protect, to conceal, to transform, and to express. Whether it’s navigating social expectations, hiding secrets, embracing a new identity, or even stepping into the role of a hero (or villain), masks shape how we interact with the world and how the world sees us. Your prompt for this showcase is “The Masks We Wear…” There are countless ways to explore this theme—be creative, take risks, and most importantly, have fun! We can’t wait to see what you create!
Hey nerds! We are in week 2 of Showcase production! By now teams should have finished their ideation/planning phases and moved on to their next steps. Recommended goals for this week are prototyping for game, and getting through preproduction steps for other media (Decide genre, pick exemplar films or scenes to mimic, build a plot diagram, start script writing, create a mood board, storyboard on paper with camera position and movement notes, audio notes, and blocking detailed, sound design and music style decided)
The 2025 Showcase Competitions are about to start!
Showcase Competition officially starts on March 10 at 7pm with our online Prompt Launch event! Event is open to everyone and will be held on Zoom at https://everettsd.zoom.us/j/9167070608
For the ninth 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 three teams won the right to represent their school and compete at this state-level event in Everett, WA at Everett High School Little Theatre on June 1, 2024.
2024 Prompt
All classes were given the same prompt and eight weeks to complete a game based on the prompt:
Crystal Reid Crystal started working in games in 2010 as a QA Tester at ArenaNet. She had an opportunity to transition to design where she specialized in combat encounters from scalable open-world creatures to Raid bosses. Currently, she’s at Bungie working at a studio level overseeing NAC (Narrative, Audio & Cinematics) in a strategic role. She’s probably on her 4th playthrough of Baldur’s Gate 3 by the time you read this.
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.
Timothy Cobb Tim started working in games in 2021 after finishing school at Full Sail University. He is currently an open-world content designer on the MMO Guild Wars 2. His most recent work was on Guild Wars 2: Secrets of the Obscure. Tim enjoys breaking apart game worlds and finding things that help keep players immersed.
Clayton Kisko Clayton has 15 years of experience in the games industry spending most of his time on live service games both as a content creator and team lead. Some of the games Clayton has worked on include Madden, Tony Hawk, and Guild Wars 2. Currently, Clayton is working on creating activity content for Destiny 2’s seasonal release content where the focus is on encounters, boss fights, and engaging combat spaces for the players.
Competition Chairman & Event Hosts
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.
Liz Bell Utilizing a passion for games and teaching, Liz has been teaching kids from 5 to 18 how to make their own video games. They now work as a Franchise Business Consultant for Code Ninjas, helping over 60 locations across the West Coast that teach kids how to make games.
Snoozing Studios Art: Satine Watts Programming: Braden Nichols, Jackson Martin, Lapis Krueger, Ruth-Anne Jones
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.
For the fifth annual Advanced Media Entertainment Society (AMES) Film and Animation Design Competition and Showcase students were required to make a film or animation that used elements studied this year, from concept to design, and implementation. They competed at their local school level and five teams won the right to represent their school and compete at this state-level event in Everett, WA at Everett High School Little Theatre on May 18, 2024.
All classes were given the following prompt and eight weeks to complete a film or animation based on the prompt:
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 our guests, thank you for sharing this day with us to support our students.
AMES - Advanced Media Entertainment Society 