![\"\"](\"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/298\/Draft1_AZGameCup.jpg\")
<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\nCreativity, grit, and collaboration<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
For Preston, a fourth-year IMG major who transferred to NAU to pursue both track and game design, the AZ Game Cup offered the exact kind of industry-aligned experience he had been craving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEveryone in the industry emphasizes how important it is to make things<\/em>,\u201d Preston said. \u201cNAU\u2019s program is new, and the faculty are incredibly passionate about helping us build real portfolios. When I heard about the competition, it felt like the perfect opportunity to push myself and create something I could show to Unity and other developers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The competition brought together student teams from across the state for 48 hours of uninterrupted development. Each team received the same asset pack, meaning they were required to use the same premade set of characters, objects, and environments. Preston\u2019s team had to think inventively to turn those constraints into something original.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt forced us to be creative,\u201d he said. \u201cWe couldn\u2019t make our own art, so we had to figure out how to use what we were given in new ways. That challenge ended up being one of the most fun parts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Students worked in a dedicated classroom space with on-site mentors\u2014professional game developers who volunteered to guide teams through design problems, production challenges, and career questions. According to Preston, this mentorship ended up being one of the most valuable aspects of the entire event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe got to meet people actually working in the field,\u201d he explained. \u201cOne of the mentors even met with me after the competition to talk more about careers in game development. That kind of access is huge.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n While Preston served as team lead and delivered the group\u2019s winning pitch, he emphasized that success came from an environment of deep trust and shared creativity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNobody had an ego,\u201d he said. \u201cEvery idea was open for discussion. We\u2019d take a concept, talk it through, and make it better together. That collaboration made the whole experience smoother, especially when things got hectic.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The most stressful moment came near the end of day two, when the team hit a series of technical issues while merging scenes and finalizing gameplay elements. Preston spent the final hours troubleshooting bugs and stabilizing the build, while teammates continued polishing other components.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was definitely stressful, but we worked through it,\u201d he said. \u201cEven when we had to cut features, everyone stayed positive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the judges began testing the game, the team knew they had created something special.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAll the judges kept playing past their scheduled time,\u201d Preston said. \u201cThey didn\u2019t want to stop\u2014which is always a good sign.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n NAU faculty advisors who attended the event noted the professionalism, energy, and resilience of the team. They also saw how the competition validated the university\u2019s investment in the Immersive Media and Games program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Professor Eck Doerry shared his immense pride in the team: “Watching the award ceremony was a really cool moment\u2014we were absolutely the dark horse. We\u2019re a new program, just getting started, and I had hoped for a respectable third place. When another team took third, I assumed we had just missed the podium. Then they announced NAU as the winner. You could have knocked me over with a feather. Our students won on creativity, which is the most important jewel in this crown. You can always add polish to a game, but the creative concept is what ultimately sells it\u2014and that\u2019s the rarest skill to teach. This was truly a victory of brain over brawn.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n The victory is especially meaningful given that NAU\u2019s Immersive Media and Games program is still building momentum. Faculty members Ashish Amresh and Jared Duval, who helped prepare the students and supported their travel, have been working to create a curriculum and culture grounded in hands-on learning and real industry engagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Duval shared, “Our students won because they embodied two fundamentals we teach in IMG: scoping and ludonarrative harmony. They created a concept where every element\u2014sound, art, mechanics, story, even their presentation\u2014worked together as a polished, cohesive experience. It\u2019s not about doing the most; it\u2019s about doing the right things well. Mark my words, Arizona is the next powerhouse of the game industry, and we\u2019re excited to collaborate with every institution that participated.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Dr. Ashish Amresh, associate professor in the School of Informatics, Computing, and Cyber Systems (SICCS), the event demonstrated both statewide momentum and the strength of NAU\u2019s emerging talent. \u201cIt was amazing to see the camaraderie between all the five universities and their teams at the first-ever AZ GAME CUP,” he shared. “While NAU’s team was crowned champions, the real winner is the state of Arizona. In a very short time we have one of the best growth stories in offering gaming programs, and we are now the only state in the U.S. with an official statewide competition.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n For the team, the AZ Game Cup served not only as a competition but as a launch point\u2014opening doors to connections, experience, and career clarity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt was a really great opportunity to experience what real game-industry pressure feels like,\u201d Preston said. \u201cI\u2019m really grateful I got to go. And I think it\u2019s just the beginning for what NAU students can accomplish.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A team of five students from the Immersive Media and Games (IMG) program took first place at the inaugural AZ Game Cup, a statewide game-development competition sponsored by Unity and hosted at Arizona State University. Led by team captain Jake Preston, the group\u2014made up of students Zach, Devin, Sage, and Bex\u2014earned top honors for their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":282,"featured_media":8359,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"_oasis_task_priority":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8358","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college-of-engineering"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8358","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/282"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8358"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8358\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8364,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8358\/revisions\/8364"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8358"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8358"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/college-engineering\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8358"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Teamwork for the win<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
A transformative weekend for NAU<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
A Big Win for a New Program<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Looking ahead<\/h2>\n\n\n\n