USC GAMES’ 8TH ANNUAL STUDENT EXPO IS ON TUESDAY, MAY 7

USC Games :

LOS ANGELES (May 2, 2024) –   Featuring games by students from the University of Southern California’s top-ranked games program, the 8th annual USC Games Expo kicks off on Tuesday, May 7, with a live stream at 4:00 pm PT on Twitch and the USC Games Expo website. This year’s Expo is supported by Amazing Seasun Games, the global online game developer and publisher of the unreleased, highly anticipated multiplayer action game, Mecha BREAK. The Expo will showcase over 60 student-made video and tabletop games.
 
USC Games Expo 2024 trailer:
  https://youtu.be/Wqe27-NJKig
This year, the Advanced Games Projects (AGP) Spotlight Show will feature keynote speaker Lydia Bottegoni, executive vice president of story and franchise development at Blizzard Entertainment. The live keynote showcasing 10 top games developed in USC Games’ capstone course will stream live at 4:00 pm PT on Twitch and the USC Games Expo website.

AGP Spotlight Show Keynote Speaker: Lydia Bottegoni – Executive Vice President of Story and Franchise Development, Blizzard Entertainment



As executive vice president of story and franchise development at Blizzard Entertainment, Lydia Bottegoni oversees the creative strategy and execution of cross-media development around Blizzard’s award-winning game franchises. She is responsible for extending the Blizzard game universes across a variety of media formats and platforms, developing the corresponding business strategies and driving the company’s game worlds into new arenas to engage and entertain an ever-expanding global audience.

Each year, the USC Games Expo gathers students and game professionals to honor the most innovative works of the past year coming out of USC’s prestigious program. At this year’s show, USC Games will host a live esports tournament beginning at 12:00 pm PT, with the USC Trojans squaring off against the University of Arizona Wildcats. At 12:30 pm PT, a sneak peek of the AGP Spotlight Show will take place for local high school students in the USC Cinematic Arts Complex, offering a glimpse into the world of game development.
 
10 games are featured in this year’s AGP Spotlight Show, including:
 
Bugnauts! (PC)
Swing into battle in Buganuts, a thrilling 3D projectile action game! Armed with your trusty net, catch, aim, and swing back projectiles from the Phantom bugs invading your island home! Dodge enemy blasts and outmaneuver your opponents in intense 3D combat! Fight a variety of Phantom foes with unique attacks and behavior. Explore lush environments, collect insects, and immerse yourself in the world of Bugnauts!
 
Dandelion Wine (Mobile)
Dandelion Wine is a slapstick puzzle game for mobile. Play as a mischievous glob of wine wreaking havoc at a cult festival. Escape from thirsty festival-goers, solve puzzles to grow bigger, and build an army of tipsy Winefolk to defeat the all-powerful Wine God!
 
Echoes (PC)
Echoes is an isometric action roguelike game that features dash-focused combat. Players play as Beira, an amnesiac Fae Queen, as they journey through the ruined Fae kingdom. Beira must defeat hordes of enemies until she retrieves her lost memories, seeks revenge against her nemesis, Rot, and regains her former power.
 
Egregore (PC)
Egregore is a first-person mystery-adventure game where you are whisked away to a mysterious café in Cairo. Adopt a new perspective, and shape reality to your will as you unravel an occult mystery hidden in plain sight.
 
Lake Minnewaska (PC)
Lake Minnewaska is a first-person narrative adventure game where you play as Sosa, a fisherman hoping to reconnect with his daughter. Players will cast their line, collect fantastical creatures, and explore dynamic, mystical lake environments.
 
Oasis Blitz (PC)
In Oasis Blitz, step into the shoes of Bandit, a daring adventurer armed with the power of drilling. Navigate stunning landscapes with unparalleled fluidity, seamlessly drilling through terrain to conquer obstacles and foes alike. Experience the exhilaration of speed and skill as you restore a lost home, mastering novel traversal and combat mechanics in this fast-paced 3rd person platformer.
 
Sorelle (PC)
Immerse yourself in Sorelle's magical seaside town of Isola Chiara in this whimsical puzzle-platformer. Swap between three sisters Alessandra, Bella, and Capri, and combine their unique powers to solve puzzles and restore the town. Explore the magic of sisterhood and use your newfound powers to save the summer festival.
 
The Glitch Witch (PC)
In a tech-dead future, you play as Rosette, repairing broken tech by solving puzzles to uncover the lost power of 80s technology. She is thrilled about this discovery - until she faces accusations of witchcraft. Will friendship triumph, or force her to choose between power and acceptance?
 
The Veiled Ones (PC)
The Veiled Ones is a first-person horror game about a Muslim exorcist trying to save his son, who has been taken by invisible beings known as jinn. Using a looking glass to spy into the alternate world of the jinn, players must explore the environment, avoid jinn, and find hidden clues to uncover the truth of why their son was possessed.
 
The WereCleaner (PC, Mobile)
The WereCleaner is a casual stealth game with a comedy twist. Play as Kyle, a werewolf janitor who works the night shift, doing his job while trying to resist killing the other employees and getting fired. Explore a detailed and evolving office, making plans and improvising when those plans are foiled by Kyle's worst instincts.

About USC Games
USC Games is a flagship collaboration offered jointly by the School of Cinematic Arts Division of Interactive Media & Games and the USC Viterbi School of Engineering Thomas Lord Department of Computer Science. This unified brand allows press, industry, students and faculty to discuss the overall efforts at USC in games and simultaneously clarify the important distinctions between the offerings of the various programs.
The program has been ranked No. 1 for twelve years, as evaluated by the Princeton Review. The program at the School of Cinematic Arts focuses on both the design and production of interactive media and games. Students emerge as creative media leaders, fluent in many forms of visual expression and storytelling, with a sophistication to design and develop innovative interactive experiences that expand the state of interactive art and play across domains, such as entertainment, education, health care and social action.
 
The Computer Science Games program at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering provides students with a grounding in the fundamentals of computer science and a cross-disciplinary background in game development. Students emerge with an engineering-oriented game-programming skillset, with an understanding of key technologies and the ability to lead complex technical teams in the development of games.
 
In addition to the advanced games class, USC Games offers the USC Games Expo and an annual industry event held at the Game Developers Conference. USC Games brings more shared courses under this umbrella, including those from other schools at [email protected].
 
About the USC School of Cinematic Arts
The University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts is one of the leading film schools in the world. Founded in collaboration with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1929 over 90 years ago, the USC School of Cinematic Arts has fueled and mirrored the growth of entertainment as an industry and an art form. The School offers comprehensive programs in directing, producing, writing, critical studies, animation and digital arts, production, interactive media and games, all backed by a broad liberal arts education and taught by leading practitioners in each field. Its more than 13,000 alumni are among the world’s most distinguished animators, scholars, teachers, writers, directors, producers, cinematographers, editors, sound experts and industry executives. Since 1973 not a year has passed without an alumnus or alumna being nominated for an Academy Award. https://cinema.usc.edu/.
 
About the USC Viterbi School of Engineering
Founded in 1905, the USC Viterbi School of Engineering was named in 2004 as the Andrew and Erna Viterbi School of Engineering, honoring USC alumnus Andrew Viterbi, who developed an algorithm to connect the world, and his wife Erna. Located in Los Angeles, a global center for arts, technology, business and innovation in the heart of the Pacific Rim, USC Viterbi draws undergraduate and graduate students from all over the world. With more than 10,000 students, 400 faculty across all ranks and appointment levels, and more than 40 in-residence or affiliated members of the National Academies, USC Viterbi is considered among the top engineering programs. Under the leadership of Dean Yannis C. Yortsos, the school helps re-imagine the 21st century engineer, by pioneering the Grand Challenge Scholars Program, leading national efforts in enhancing diversity, and changing the conversation about engineering. With its vision of engineering a better world for all humanity USC Viterbi embodies the power of engineering (Engineering+) to advance discovery and solutions across all disciplines, to serve California, the nation and the world. In 2024, the USC Viterbi School of Engineering launched the School of Advanced Computing, thus creating a new school “within a school.” http://viterbi.usc.edu/
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Press Materials:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1vVeZdj-Pme_htbqDFZHqtruXWixE1OFv

Press Contact for USC Games:
[email protected]