RIT game design students shine at RPI GameFest 2026

Each year, RIT game design and development students compete at RPI GameFest, one of the highest-profile game festivals in the Northeast. During the weekend event, students showcase work and compete for awards, cash prizes, and scholarships.

With 50 students in attendance and 15 teams exhibiting, RIT’s presence at this year’s Gamefest showcased a wide range of projects, including games from our MAGIC Maker and Vertically Integrated Projects (VIP) programs, as well as five intensive senior capstone projects.

In the end, RIT teams took home two of the weekend’s major prizes while placing in eight categories!

Winners

• Bait & Tackle – WINNER (Game Design): Recognized for its innovative mechanics, B&T was also a finalist for the Grand Prize. (Team members: Amelia Caird, Kendyl Greer, Jack Keegan, Dylan Pegg, Leo Schindler-Gerendasi)
• Function Junction – WINNER (Impact) (Team members: Thomas Roman, Aidan Vitka)

Finalists

• Myth of Change: Finalist – Narrative (Ariel Mercurius, Jeremy Barruso, Kai Gidwani, Kevin Insinna, Marc Browning, Rebecca Greene, Sejjemba Magoye, Stevie Meyer, Kendyl Greer, Sam Burgoyne, Will Tallarico)
• Pull It Together: Finalist – Impact and Game Design (Leo Schindler-Gerendasi, John Brazell, Jack Keegan)
• Cursebreakers: Finalist – Technical Excellence (Lorenzo Boccio, Sebastian Bolatto, Elad Flaishon, Midna Meyer, Sofia Rivas)
• WARD: Descent: Finalist – Game Design & Technical Excellence (Thomas P. Anderson)
• Index 1391: Finalist – Art and Technical Excellence (Frank Alfano, Vincent Le, Esther Loo, William Tallarico, Tamanna Taneja, Ryan Zhang)
• Hush: Finalist -- Art (Ar Kuchimanchi, Carrie Wilson, Jack Keegan, Kaitlyn Rodriguez, Max White, Miranda Lenaghan, Nicholas Binetti, Roberto Tello, Sasha Avteniev, Kendyl Greer, Sam Burgoyne, Will Tallarico)

"We’ve intentionally created a place where these moments of discovery happen over and over again," says professor David Negrin, RIT’s Competitions Coordinator. Negrin supports student competitors from the School of Interactive Games & Media through each step of the process—from planning and positioning to final strategy—ensuring our students’ work is seen by the industry’s best.

In addition, students from the VIP program received guidance and support from senior lecturer Erika Mesh, and game design and development alum Sam Burgoyne '25) who founded echoes, as part of the inaugural crop of RIT VIP programs in 2024. echoes -- which includes the games Myth of Change and Hush -- is a multidisciplinary project that "explores games as a reflection of our community."

To learn more about the games, follow the links above, or stop by the School of Interactives Games & Media’s inaugural Interactive Media Symposium on April 11 in MAGIC Center, where Bad Bass Games will present “Using RIT’s Resources – The Bait & Tackle Story,” where they will discuss their process of taking the project from idea to launch - and getting the most from the community around them.