Winners and Runner-ups

Grand Prize Winner – Fragments by Wonder Ring Interactive

Runner-Ups

A Lion’s Age by SemiMyth Entertainment

Tank Pig by Possum House Games

React! by the team led by Prerak Juthani

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Pitch your game to a panel of industry professionals in the first annual Connecticut competition for digital games, card games, and board games for entertainment and education.

The competition is sponsored by EntreprenuershipFoundation.org and organized by GameDevCT. All you need is an idea and a prototype to enter! With up to $9,000 in prize money, assistance with establishing your business, incubator startup space, and advice from veteran game developers, it’s time to bring that passion project to the world. Independents, hobbyists, and students with a connection to Connecticut are encouraged to apply.

Sign up anytime and submit your prototype by April 25th 11:59PM EST. The showcase and competition will be held on April 30th, both in-person at Quinnipiac University in the Mt. Carmel Auditorium and online on gather.town.

Our Judges

CEO of Engaged Media, LLC

Senior Outreach Lead in Tabletop Games at Kickstarter

CEO of Petricore, Inc.

Owner of Popcannibal

Founder and Game Director of Hintersight Studios

Jacqueline S. Beauchamp is a seasoned international businesswoman and social-entrepreneur with more than 25-years of experience within the digital media, technology, and entertainment industry. Ms. Beauchamp is currently the Co-Founder, Chairwoman and CEO of Engaged Media, LLC, a multi-platform digital media and entertainment company that develops video games, VR/AR immersive experiences, mobile applications, animated children’s books, animated film and motion picture productions to inform, educate, and entertain. Before co-founding Engaged Media, LLC, Ms. Beauchamp was a co-founder of Nerjyzed Entertainment, Inc. which became the first African-American led video game studio to ship on Microsoft Xbox 360 Console with the shipment of “The Black College Football Experience (BCFx) Video Game Experience – The Doug Williams Edition,” Ms. Beauchamp’s 25-year high-tech multimedia and executive-level corporate experience includes Fortune 500 companies IBM and Motorola.

Jonathan Ritter-Roderick is the Senior Outreach Lead in Tabletop Games at Kickstarter. Jon has been working in Tabletop games since 2013 in various capacities. Currently, he is co-owner of a publishing company (Lay Waste Games), and owner of a creative agency (Very Creative Name).

@petricoregames Ryan Canuel currently serves as CEO of Petricore, Inc., the company he co-founded in 2015 just before graduating from Becker College. Petricore develops digital games and software applications for worldwide clients in the digital games, augmented reality, and advertising spaces. The company has released numerous games including, Mind the Arrow, Gelato Flicker, and Battery Boy. All have earned various accolades, and share more than 750,000 downloads. Ryan was named 2015 entrepreneur of the year by the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce, and a 2018 40 under 40 by the Worcester Business Journal. Ryan also serves on the board of advisers for MassDiGI.

@popcannibal Ziba Scott of Popcannibal is a Boston-based video game studio responsible for critically acclaimed games such as “Girls Like Robots” and “Elegy for a Dead World”. Ziba Scott is the sole-proprietor. Collaborator Luigi Guatieri creates all of Popcannibal’s art. Ziba is the creator of “Kind Words [lo fi chill beats to write to]”, 2019. A BAFTA winning game about writing nice letters, Designer, developer of “Make Sail”. 2016 and Co-designer and lead developer of “Elegy for a Dead World” an IGF 2015 nominee, IndieCade and IndieCade E3 2014 selection, and IGF 2014 honorable mention.

@Stexe Stefan Lopuszanski is the Founder and Game Director of Hintersight Studios, a company working on physical-digital hybrid tabletop games. Stefan has been studying games of all types for decades, having previously worked at an arcade, an escape room, and on published video game titles, like IGF 2013 nominee Card Hunter and with former Blizzard and Riot Games employees on Defend The Cake. Stefan earned his MFA in Digital Media and Design from the University of Connecticut in 2020 and has been assisting the Connecticut industry group GameDevCT with their organizing and marketing goals.

Participating Games

Why make games in CT?

Video and board game companies have the potential to transform our communities and bring jobs into the state, take for example our neighboring New York, and the pair of brothers that started two successful video game companies in the Albany area, which now has a vibrant community of hundreds of software developers. This should happen here!

We want to show support to all the indies as well as the vibrant game design programs at CT schools including the University of Connecticut, Quinnipiac University, Sacred Heart, and Manchester Community College. We have some of the highest-ranked schools in the world for game development and it’s time we have game studios to match.

Many students are eager to stay local after college and we are working to build up opportunities for them. If there is something you’d like to contribute to the competition, such as access to workspace in your town, business advice, or other services that support entrepreneurs please contact kenneth.thompson@uconn.edu