TWO Vale teens have made it to the final of BAFTA’s ‘Young Game Designers Competition 2024’.
Jack Rafferty (17) from Cowbridge and Robert Russin (15) from Penarth have both been selected by some of Britain’s top computer gaming experts as finalists in the ‘Game Making 15 to 18 category’ of the competition.
BAFTA Young Game Designers is a year-round initiative of public events and workshops for 10 to 18 year-olds, culminating in the annual ceremony to celebrate finalists and winners.
Robert’s game titled clim3r is a 2D platformer featuring a player character with three arms.
Inspired by physics, the protagonist is able to harness gravity and momentum to cross further gaps and climb more effectively.
On the game’s development, Robert said: “I had to spend lots of time on the character's body, which is entirely physics based and simulated with joints and bones, making it run as smoothly as possible on different computers.”
Meanwhile, Jack’s game, Voidside, is a high-octane survival mission set in a series of locations ‘pulled out of time’, following a mysterious event known as ‘the shattering’.
Discussing his game, Jack said: "I learnt a lot, from furthering my programming knowledge to learning how to release a game on steam.
“Colour theory played a big part in how I designed Voidside's levels, and creating these levels taught me about game lighting, level design and more.”
Jack hopes in the future to develop the game into a full-blown sequel, with “better enemy AI, better level design, a story mode and much more!”
This year’s finalists have entered for one of two awards up for grabs: the YGD Game Concept Award, which rewards the most original and best thought-out game idea, and the YGD Game Making Award, which goes to the most impressive use of coding skills on a freely available software, to create a prototype game.
Each award is split into two age groups: 10 to 14 years and 15 to 18 years.
Finalists were selected on the basis of the creativity of their vision and the technicality of their execution.
Winning entries will be judged on their design and suitability for their chosen platform, with the aim of encouraging participants into games careers, and making the industry more accessible to young talent.
This year’s ceremony is taking place on Thursday June 27, and will be hosted by multi-award nominated actor and comedian Inel Tomlinson. The finals will be streamed digitally on BAFTA’s YouTube channel.
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