For ten years, the USC Games Expo has been a quiet but potent force in the video game industry, serving as a crucial launchpad for emerging independent developers. Long before titles like the critically acclaimed Journey, the narrative-rich What Remains of Edith Finch, and the addictive puzzle game Threes! garnered widespread recognition and redefined the landscape of interactive storytelling, their creators honed their craft within the halls of the University of Southern California’s School of Cinematic Arts, specifically its Interactive Media & Games Division. This venerable institution has fostered a fertile ground for experimentation, nurturing ideas that would eventually leave an indelible mark on the medium. This year’s annual showcase offered yet another compelling glimpse into the future of gaming, highlighting a new wave of student-driven innovation.
Held each spring, the USC Games Expo is a vibrant exhibition of student-created work. Attendees have the unique opportunity to engage with a diverse array of projects, ranging from digital video games and intricate tabletop experiences to immersive themed entertainment installations. For the student creative directors, the event represents the culmination of months, and often years, of dedicated work, providing the invaluable first-hand experience of observing real players interacting with their creations.
"In layman’s terms, the USC Games Expo is the largest academic games showcase in the world," explained Jim Huntley, an associate professor of Interactive Media & Games and the head of marketing for USC Games, in an interview following this year’s event, which took place in May. "We’ve been doing it for a little over 10 years now, and it’s been getting bigger and bigger each time." This consistent growth underscores the expo’s increasing prominence and its vital role in the academic and professional development of game designers.
While the expo is a cornerstone of the USC Games program, its scope extends beyond the division’s direct students. Any currently enrolled USC student who has developed a game is eligible to submit their project for consideration, transforming the expo into a comprehensive celebration of interactive storytelling across the entire university. However, the undisputed centerpiece of the expo remains the Advanced Games Project (AGP), the program’s capstone course. Within this rigorous program, multidisciplinary teams dedicate three semesters to conceptualizing and developing an original game from its nascent stages to a playable demo.
"It’s the final expression of all the stuff that they’ve learned throughout their time learning with us," Huntley elaborated. Students invest approximately 18 months in this process, progressing from an initial pitch to a polished project. They operate as small, cohesive studios, typically comprising around 30 collaborators, before unveiling their meticulously crafted games to the public at the expo.
This extended development period, Huntley emphasized, has become increasingly critical to the program’s success. USC Games has recently integrated an additional semester dedicated to pre-production, allowing students more time to thoroughly refine their ideas before embarking on full-scale production. "We value pre-production so much," Huntley stated, as it empowers teams to develop a deeper understanding of their game’s core concepts and mechanics before committing significant resources to the larger production effort.
This deliberate emphasis on preparation and foundational development mirrors the program’s adaptive approach to an industry that is in perpetual motion. Huntley explained that USC regularly consults with external studios and publishers to ascertain the evolving skill sets required by graduates entering the professional workforce. This engagement is balanced with a commitment to avoiding fleeting trends, focusing instead on distinguishing between short-lived industry buzz and enduring shifts that warrant integration into the curriculum.
The integration of Artificial Intelligence into game development is a prime example of this discerning approach. Rather than instructing students to rely on AI-generated content, the program prioritizes instilling fundamental creative and technical proficiencies. AI is viewed as a powerful tool to augment, not replace, the core game development process. "We do want to make sure that the students know how to script and code and write and design by hand, so that they’re not relying on the tool as a crutch," Huntley asserted. "It’s awesome to see the raw creativity that our students bring to bear. [The program is very] blue sky: what do you want to make? This is where they can make that dream happen, and it’s fun seeing what kind of dreams they have." This year’s showcase truly embodied that spirit of unbridled creativity.
Aftertaste: Exploring the Depths of Burnout Through Surreal Narrative
This year, Deadline spoke with three creative directors whose projects captivated attendees with their quirky narratives, inventive puzzle designs, and exploration of liminal worlds that reward curiosity. One such project was Aftertaste, a surreal narrative platformer developed by Baozee, a 22-year-old student from Hefei, China.
Aftertaste follows Tammy, a sentient tongue, as she embarks on a journey through the body of an overworked chef who has lost her passion for cooking. Drawing inspiration from traditional Chinese medicine, Baozee transforms the chef’s internal organs into evocative emotional landscapes. The game masterfully blends peculiar visuals with a heartfelt narrative that delves into themes of burnout, the process of healing, and the rediscovery of creativity.
"Aftertaste is a 2D side-scrolling platformer where you play as a tongue named Tami," Baozee explained. "Tami is helping an overworked chef named Keh, who has experienced burnout and lost her sense of taste. So, her [anthropomorphic] tongue goes inside her body to explore the reason behind that. It’s a story about recovering her sense of taste and reclaiming her memories and lost passion. It’s a narrative adventure game."
The concept of a sentient tongue as a protagonist immediately sparks curiosity, and perhaps a touch of apprehension. "It started last year when I was learning about Chinese medicine while taking a stress management class," Baozee revealed. "We talked a lot about how emotions relate to sensations like taste. In Chinese medicine, different tastes relate to different emotions and different organs. That became a huge inspiration for my game. We also always forget about our tongue. It’s one of the most amazing muscles in the human body, so I thought, ‘Why not make a game about it?’ That’s when I came up with the story for Aftertaste."
The initial reception to such an unconventional idea was mixed. "Yeah. During the AGP program at USC Games, when I got my first round of feedback, a lot of people didn’t enjoy it. They didn’t think it was very appealing because they couldn’t picture what it would look like. But other people liked it because it was a combination of weird and cute." This feedback marked Baozee’s first significant exposure to direct responses to their creative work, especially from a diverse group of professionals and peers. "It was a big step for me," Baozee recalled. "The director of Sisyphus’s Worst Day (Again) and I were the only sophomore students leading projects, so it was challenging, but we learned a lot from it."
Recruitment presented the most significant hurdle in bringing Aftertaste to life. The team comprised students from various USC schools, some of whom lacked prior game development experience. "In a professional studio, people are paid to work on a project. At school, each team has around 50 to 60 people, so it was hard to connect with everyone and figure out whether they genuinely enjoyed the game or were just there to earn class credit. That was the biggest challenge. So, I trusted my friends a lot. The design lead was my roommate, and the art director was a very good friend of mine. I trusted them, and I think friendship, love and care can build beautiful things."
The most rewarding aspect for Baozee was witnessing the tangible results of their perseverance. "Seeing the trailer come out and seeing everyone at the Expo cheering for the work we’d done. We also really appreciated that we created such a cute and beautiful character. We made a lot of merchandise. That was one of the biggest gifts from my team and from the game."
Inspirations for Aftertaste include Super Mario Odyssey for its exploration of transformation, diverse abilities, and tactile interactions, and the Pixar film Inside Out for its personification of organs and emotions. Personally, Baozee cites What Remains of Edith Finch, also a product of USC Games alumni, as a pivotal influence that inspired their pursuit of game development due to its profound and serious thematic exploration. Baozee’s post-graduation dream is to become a freelance game developer, focusing on creating impactful indie games with small teams.
Sisyphus’s Worst Day (Again): A Mythological Twist on Perpetual Puzzles
Jason Lin, a 21-year-old from Taiwan, found inspiration in the cyclical nature of loops, which evolved into a clever reinterpretation of Greek mythology with his project, Sisyphus’s Worst Day (Again). This 3D puzzle game challenges players to devise elaborate contraptions to ensure Sisyphus remains eternally bound to his task. The game masterfully blends dark humor, ingenious puzzle design, and a playful reimagining of an ancient tale.
"I initially wanted to make a game about loops or cycles," Lin explained. "I started exploring mechanics where players would reverse-engineer AI by preventing it from reaching its goal. But I realized that premise wasn’t very interesting on its own. I wanted a narrative that players would connect with, so I turned to Greek mythology, which I’ve always been interested in. The myth of Sisyphus fit perfectly, so I created my own interpretation of it to serve the game."
The most significant challenge in developing Sisyphus’s Worst Day (Again) lay in the initial conceptualization and team leadership. "In the beginning, we had to design the game while also leading a large team that didn’t really know what the game was until we built the first demo," Lin stated. "Our design lead had to create levels while believing they would eventually work, and at the same time assign work to teammates even though none of us knew for certain how everything would come together. That challenge extended across the whole team. Everyone had to believe in the vision before they could fully see it. Building that confidence was probably the hardest part."
The most rewarding aspect, conversely, was observing player engagement. "Seeing people play it. The first time we really believed the game was fun was after we built our demo last December. Watching play-testers solve the puzzles and hearing them say, ‘Oh my God, these puzzles are really interesting,’ was incredibly rewarding. Showcasing the game at the USC Games Expo was also another highlight. We finally got to show the game to the public, watch people interact with it, and hear their reactions. We also had a lot of fun making merchandise and creating an experience around the game. The atmosphere at the Expo was great."
Lin’s primary inspirations for the game include Hades and Hades II for their narrative integration of Greek mythology with modern game genres, influencing the art style and perspective. Gameplay-wise, the team drew from traditional Sokoban-style puzzle games and the visual design of Order of the Sinking Star.
Unrealtor: Navigating the Labyrinth of Apartment Hunting Through Perspective Puzzles
Ariel Sol, a 25-year-old from Chicago, channeled their frustrations with the notoriously challenging Los Angeles apartment hunting scene into Unrealtor, a surreal co-op puzzle adventure. The game transforms a mundane house tour into an extraordinary journey through impossible architecture and perspective-bending puzzles, where reality itself seems to warp. Inspired by games like Superliminal, Sol expertly blends optical illusions with an uncanny, dreamlike atmosphere, turning a familiar experience into an inventive mystery.
" Unrealtor is a local co-op game where two people play together on the couch," Sol explained. "You and a friend are touring an apartment you’re thinking about renting, but the house tour turns into a surreal labyrinth, and you have to escape while the landlord keeps trying to sell it to you. It’s a puzzle game, and our main mechanic relies on perspective. You look at objects from certain angles to create a 2D image across the split screen."
The master’s program at USC is two years long, and the development cycle for Unrealtor spanned one year through the Advanced Games Project. Projects are greenlit in the fall, with the ensuing period until the next USC Games Expo dedicated entirely to ideation and development.
The genesis of Unrealtor stemmed from two distinct, yet complementary, sources. "The first was the mechanic," Sol stated. "I was really interested in optical illusions and the relationship between 3D and 2D space. But I also wanted a narrative because I think a game without a story is more like a toy. At the same time, I was moving around Los Angeles and thinking about all the truly terrible apartments I’d toured. I’d ask, while seeing these small places, like, ‘Where do I even fit a bed?’ and someone would tell me, ‘Just put it diagonally.’ Without the real-life stress, apartment hunting almost becomes a game just trying to figure out the layout. That’s when I realized those ideas could fit together."
The most significant challenge encountered during development was interdisciplinary communication. "I’m really proud of my team because I brought them an idea that was already difficult for me to explain. If it’s difficult for the director, it’s even harder to communicate to everyone else," Sol admitted. "The biggest challenge was combining design and art. Normally, designers figure out the mechanics and artists make them look great. But because our core mechanic relied on visual alignment in a 3D space, art had to be involved in the design process, and designers had to weigh in on the visuals. It took time to figure out that communication pipeline." The team overcame this by transitioning from separate meetings to unified discussions, fostering a more collaborative and efficient workflow.
The most rewarding aspect of creating Unrealtor was the playtesting phase. "Especially with a puzzle game, there’s nothing better than watching someone have that ‘aha’ moment when they suddenly understand what they’re supposed to do," Sol enthused. "When you’re designing the puzzles, you already know the solutions, so you’re estimating where that realization will happen. Seeing players actually reach that moment is incredibly satisfying."
Key inspirations for Unrealtor include Superliminal for its unconventional puzzle mechanics, as well as Blueprints and Monument Valley. On a personal level, Sol credits Journey with profoundly influencing their perception of games as an art form, a realization that has shaped their approach to game development ever since.
The USC Games Expo, now in its tenth year, continues to be a vital platform for fostering creativity and innovation within the interactive entertainment sphere. By providing students with the resources, mentorship, and public forum to showcase their ambitious projects, the expo not only validates their hard work but also offers the industry a crucial window into the next generation of game design talent. The diverse and imaginative projects emerging from USC Games serve as a testament to the enduring power of academic incubation in shaping the future of interactive storytelling.
