BAFTA reveals Young Game Designers Awards 2018 shortlist

BAFTA has announced the Young Game Designers (YGD) Awards finalists for 2018, with the winners to be revealed during a ceremony at BAFTA’s headquarters on July 7th.

This year, 40 games from 60 finalists were shortlisted – 40 per cent of which are girls. The young designers are divided into two age groups (10-14 years old and 15-18 years old), with two awards up for grab in each group. The Game Concept Award will recognise a “paper-based written game idea,” while the Game Making Award will reward a game prototype.

The winners, who could work on their game alone or with a team, will not only go home with an award but also with a wealth of prizes paving the way for their future career: “Games, hardware, software licenses, tours of games studios and a mentor from the games industry to help them develop their skills further. A prototype of their game will also be created by a team of developers,” the BAFTA announcement said.

Five educators were also shortlisted for the YGD Mentor Award, “which is presented to an individual, nominated by the public, involved in the education of young game designers,” BAFTA said. The finalists for this category this year are:

• Dr. John Bradford, DigiLocal, High Tech Bristol & Bath CIC (Bristol)
• Guy Bramwell-Smith, Access Creative College (Manchester)
• Vanessa Bonthuys, Simon Langton Girls School (Canterbury)
• Erika Rhodes, Chenderit School (Middleton Cheney, Oxfordshire)
• Adam Syrop, Impact Gamers C.I.C. (Bradford)

If you want to learn more about what happens after you win a YGD Award, you can read our interview with last year’s Game Making Award winner, Spruce Campbell.

Here’s the full shortlist for the BAFTA Young Game Designers (YGD) Awards 2018:

Game Concept Award: 10-14 years old

Barista, by Grace Farsides, aged 14

Bristol Business, by Anish Raja, aged 11

IAN the Alien, by Joshua Robinson, aged 11

Polar Blast, by Diya Patel, aged 13

Psycat’s Adventure, by Heidi

Surf Simulator, by Benjamin Cranston, aged 13

The Clue Finder, by Tierney Gettins & Heather Dixon, aged 13

The Haunted, by Alexander Thomson, Robert Baird & Sonny Cunningham, aged 13

the unBEARable winter, by Edie Sunmanm, Clelia Alishah & Lillie Henchley, aged 13

Trapped, by Dalvia (14) & Tiva (11) Dhillon

Game Concept Award: 15-18 years old

Bitweb, by Aryaan Awais, aged 18

CloudScape, by Molly Morgan, Elizabeth Mcmorrow & Dafydd Mulcachy, aged 17

Crossbeats, by James Doran (17), Brodie Millar (17) & Aidan Baker (16)

Down the Well, by Ben Dunn-Flores, aged 18

Dream Detective, by Ayo Norman-Williams, aged 17

H.e.24, by Nathan Burton (18), James Dare (17) & Joe Harison (17)

Take Your Thyme, by Yue Qi, aged 15

Tea & Tartlets, by Sophia Shepherd (16), Katrina Shields (16) & Erin Jones (17)

The Great Fly Escape, by Tom Mort, aged 15

TransMission: Sidereal, by Jordan Han, aged 18

Game Making Award: 10-14 years old

¡HOLA MEXICO!, by Lauren Fenwick, aged 12

Beating Bullying, by Chloe Rattle, aged 12

Bee Simulator, by Ariyan Hormoz, aged 11

Dragon Jump, by Anete Nagla (12), Iga Masolwska (12) & Victoria Nixon (12)

Maggie, by Harry Thurston, aged 10

Mei-Ling – The Forgotten Princess, by Aysheq Hussain, aged 14

Paddle Boat Panda, by Alex Robinson, aged 11

Penguin Peril, by James Lindsay, aged 10

The Great Fraction Adventure, by Jack Rafferty, aged 11

T-rex Need Eat: Type Real Weird Words, by Maximilian Robinson, aged 13

Game Making Award: 15-18 years old

All Alone, by Thomas Robson, aged 17

BattlePunk, by Elizabeth Hornsby, Hannah Birrell & Tatiana Vlassi, aged 15

Cacophony, by Jordan Han, aged 18

Coob Dools, by Adam Pace, aged 17

Life Raft Survival, by Abigail Tan, aged 16

Memories, by Anthony Moran & Joseph Sweeney, aged 16

Mouse Trapped, by Joe Anderson & Michael Bell, aged 17

Super Boson, by Prithvi Kohli, aged 17

The Elementalist, by Morgan Brown, aged 16

Tim’s Adventure, by Jamie Buttenshaw, aged 15