4 games advance in the annual Game Design Shark Tank competition

Four games are moving toward production following the annual Game Design Shark Tank event held at the end of fall semester. Each year, student teams pitch video game ideas that they developed during the semester to industry professionals.
The event was held live in the Ken and Audrey Beckley Studio on Dec. 13 and streamed to Franklin Hall commons and on Facebook. Director of the BS in Game Design and Senior Lecturer Will Emigh opened the event with teaser trailers for the previous year’s winning games set to be released this spring. He also praised this year’s teams.
“They have been working on these pitches since the beginning of the semester,” Emigh said. “It’s been a hard process, but they’ve made it with determination and teamwork.”
In celebration of The Media School’s 10-year anniversary, the Game Design program brought in three IU alumni as the sharks. Students pitched game ideas to Max Lancaster, BA’16, of Psyonix; Ian Sundstrom, BFA’12, of BUCK; and Ryan Reske, BA’19, BS’19, of High Voltage Software.
These industry professionals gave in-depth critiques of student pitches while offering suggestions and areas of focus.
Media School students Teegan Emerson and Austin Niehoff interviewed teams before and after presentations to get insight on how the teams felt. Students expressed nervousness and excitement and appreciated advice from the professionals.
“I came into college hoping to make some sort of video game, and here I am, pitching it. This is at the very end of the line, and hopefully it all goes well,” said Nelson Aleman-Moreno, the systems and content designer on the Crow Heist team.
Seven teams presented their games.
The industry professionals and faculty chose four of the seven games pitched to move forward with production:
- Silliards
- Divine Diner
- Crow Heist
- Hellish Scrub
Student teams will begin production on these four games this semester. Next fall, they will collaborate with informatics students to develop them, and in spring 2026, they will launch their games.
Each team was made up of two to four students who had various roles in the projects. Students whose games were not chosen to move forward were reassigned to the remaining teams.
Watch the recorded eventThe games presented during the event were:
Escape From Tomorrow
By students Lydia Higgins, Kat Steele, and Liam Walsh
This decision-based game takes place in a world where superheroes exist, but the government seeks to control them. The player takes control of a team of three teenagers with superpowers – Case, Laura, and Aimes – as they try to escape from the Tomorrow Institute. Players will have to build team relationships and use character abilities to overcome skill-based challenges in their attempts to gain freedom.
Silliards
By students Garrett Biggs, Drew Gerke, and Jonathan Perrotta
This game dives into the mind of Bill Eugene Yards – Bill E. Yards for short – as he strives to become the world’s greatest billiards player. Players will go through wacky levels of Bill’s imagination using a pool cue and ball in various formats to wreak havoc in physics-based environments. Each level completed will bring Bill one step closer to Billiards Nirvana.
Deeper
By students Allan Mance, Booker Rothenberg, and Daniel Trauberman
Play as the cultist-raised Joan as she explores a lake haunted by the ghost Medea to find a powerful artifact located in a quarry submerged in the water. In this narrative game, players search for ways to gradually drain the lake, and, through conversations with Medea, learn secrets about Joan, the cult, and Medea’s connection to the lake.
Divine Diner
By students Molly Pugh, Arwyn Tuttle, and Jania Woods
In this narrative cooking game, players take the role of a demigod and prepare foods for various Greek gods in a diner run by Hades in the underworld. Players search for information on their own godly parent through conversations with customers while playing cooking minigames in a cozy environment.
Spirit’s Gambit
By students Seth Bolden and Jack Horvath
This game puts players in the role of the LeBlanc crime family’s eldest son, Jean, as he infiltrates Spirit’s Hand Casino to find members of his family who have been turned into hexed playing cards. Players will use several card-based abilities to gather information, locate, and obtain the LeBlanc family cards.
Crow Heist
By students Nelson Aleman-Moreno, Xavier Evans, and Joshua Mom
Play as Crowley the Crow in this comedy stealth game as he gets revenge on the HOA for destroying his nest by breaking into people’s homes to collect shiny objects. Players can explore and create chaos in an interactable environment while avoiding (or utilizing) a prowling house cat.
Hellish Scrub
By students Justin Hay, Noah Kintner, Jack Mahoney, Caleb Perkins
In this pixelated action-adventure game taking place in hell, a depressed Satan has created a mess of the underworld. Players control a newly deceased janitor who agrees to clean the place in exchange for the freedom to leave. They will clean their way through two districts, battle a trash demon, and confront the Devil himself.