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Ramone Russell, Director of Product Development Communications and Brand Strategy, San Diego Studio, is this year’s Advanced Games Projects (AGP) Spotlight Show keynote speaker.
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Xbox Game Studios is showcasing an in-depth look at the highly anticipated title Towerborne, giving attendees a chance to go hands-on with the upcoming game.
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The AGP Spotlight Show will stream live at 4:00pm PST on Twitch and USCGamesExpo.com with eight featured student-made games.
LOS ANGELES (Apr. 16, 2025) – USC Games, the #1-ranked collegiate game design program in North America, will host its 9th annual USC Games Expo on Tuesday, May 13, 2025. Taking place on the USC campus, this event invites USC students, faculty, and gaming enthusiasts to explore and play over 50 new digital and tabletop games. The Expo floor will open following the USC Games Advanced Games Projects (AGP) Spotlight show.
This year’s Advanced Games Projects (AGP) Spotlight Show will feature keynote speaker Ramone Russell, Director of Product Development Communications and Brand Strategy, San Diego Studio. The live show will highlight eight top games developed in USC Games’ capstone course and will stream live at 4:00pm PST on Twitch and the USC Games Expo website.
AGP Spotlight Show Keynote Speaker: Ramone Russell – Director of Product Development Communications and Brand Strategy, San Diego Studio
Ramone Russell, Director of Product Development Communications and Brand Strategy, San Diego Studio, has been one of the public faces of MLB The Show for over a decade, driving the franchise’s growth through innovative brand strategy and creative storytelling. He spearheaded Storylines Presents: The Negro Leagues, earning congressional recognition, and helped launch PlayStation Career Pathways Program, a multi-year career readiness program that elevates the next generation of business, creative and technical talent.
Additionally, Xbox Game Studios Publishing will showcase Towerborne, the highly anticipated co-op action RPG from Stoic. Set in a vibrant, ever-evolving world, Towerborne puts players in the role of an Ace, defending the Belfry and battling through dynamic, hand-crafted adventures. Attendees can go hands-on with the game and get an exclusive in-depth look at Towerborne’s standout features.
Announced earlier this year, the eight games featured in this year’s AGP Spotlight Show include:
Art House (PC)
In Art House, step into the life of Lisa, a single mother to Ollie and Zoe who's struggling to pick up the pieces of her life after the passing of her mother, Betty, a painter whose fading memories come to life on a magical canvas. Guide Lisa through hauntingly beautiful paintings while solving puzzles and confronting the shadows of the family’s past. Navigate a journey through grief and towards healing that lingers after the final brushstroke.
Donuts! (PC)
Donuts! is a fast-paced arcade experience that mixes whimsical driving/skateboarding gameplay with heartfelt cultural storytelling. As Mony, a young Cambodian-American, you'll race through vibrant LA streets to deliver donuts while learning more about herself, her community, and her family. With a retro-futuristic art style and 90s SoCal vibes, deliver donuts, dreams, and downright radical tricks in this action-packed ride.
DuoQ (PC)
DuoQ is an e-dating sim about romancing another person through an online game. Play alongside Starlight, a mysterious stranger met in the fictional FPS game "To the Heart." Work - and flirt - together, over real-time voice comms, solving in-game puzzles and trying desperately to win Starlight’s love.
Myth of Lumi (PC)
Myth of Lumi is a physics-driven, lightweight strategy card game where the players enlist the help of 2D magical creatures, Lumi, who lives inside the cards. Players will use their mastery of magic and ability to work with Lumi to compete in stylish Magic Duels against rival magicians.
Potion Problems (PC)
Potion Problems is a chaotic multiplayer party game that combines social deduction with magic. Navigate through Pigeonpoint's College for Potion Making as a troublemaker or diligent apprentice. Collect ingredients to make unique potions, avoid being turned into a frog, and vote out troublemakers as you try to complete your degree!
Scare Crow (PC)
Scare Crow is a wacky, tower-defense stealth game where players must fend off an army of hungry squirrels from invading a backyard rich with birdfeeders. Play as Casey, a laid-back, nonchalant crow whose lifestyle is rudely interrupted by Sergeant Squeak and his troop of squirrels who are determined to steal every last bit of Casey's birdseed. Set traps, scare squirrels, and defeat Sergeant Squeak to ensure that your yard remains squeak-free!
Smoke Break! (PC)
Smoke Break! is a lighthearted 3D stealth and puzzle game. Play as Applewood, a living cloud of smoke, who uses stealth to outwit bakers, avoid the janitor, and cause trouble as he searches a dessert factory for a delicious--and elusive--burnt pie!
Unchained (PC)
Unchained is a turn-based tactical RPG in which the player can achieve victory without resorting to violence. Maintaining positive relationships with party members is as important as combat tactics as you contend with rival Chain Hunters and the enigmatic Spirit of The Chain. Fight, negotiate with, or even recruit these foes to join you on your epic quest.
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 USCgames@usc.edu.
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 95 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 18,000 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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