AN 18-year-old student from Looe is among finalists named for the 12th Annual BAFTA Young Game Designers Competition.

BAFTA YGD is a year-round initiative of public events, workshops and a competition for 10 to 18 year olds, culminating in the annual YGD award ceremony to celebrate finalists and winners.

Over the last five months, 10 to 18 year olds across the country have been harnessing the power of their imaginations to create original concepts and designs for a brand new video game. Entrants have been working both in teams and individually, at home and at school.

A virtual jury of industry professionals, chaired by Dr Jo Twist OBE, Jodie Azhar, Nick Button-Brown and Des Gayle, have selected 40 of the most creative, thought-provoking and visually exciting games for this year’s final.

BAFTA revealed the 54 talented finalists from across the UK who have been involved in producing those games – and in the South West, Ellie Smith from Looe has been shortlisted for the prestigious BAFTA YGD Game Concept Award for her game ‘Escape the Engines’, as has also 15-year-old Megan Power from Bath for her game ‘The Everglade Theory’.

Ellie’s ‘Escape the Engines’ is a ‘steampunk’ escape room party game challenging players to communicate in order to escape before time runs out.

Steampunk is a genre of science fiction set in a fictionalised version of the 19th century era of steampower and Victorian costume.

Meanwhile, in competitor Megan’s ‘The Everglade Theory’ game, players must gather evidence to prove their theory that there is a lost civilisation hidden in the middle of the subtropical wilderness.

Ellie, from Looe, said: “When designing my game I really wanted to focus on encouraging face-to-face social skills and I feel like my game achieves this.

“To be a finalist is amazing because I get the opportunity to learn from experienced game developers and invaluable insight into the industry.”

Meanwhile, another South West entrant, 14-year-old Philip Du Pre from Bristol, is among the finalists for the Game Making Award with his ‘Eye of the Portal’ – an action game set in a mystical forest.

The 54 shortlisted individuals will compete for the YGD Game Concept Award, which will go to the most original and best thought-out game idea and which is split into two categories of 10 to 14 years and 15 to 18 years. They will also compete for the YGD Game Making Award, which is again split into 10 to 14 years and 15 to 18 years categories and which celebrates the coding skills used to create a prototype game using freely available software.

Winning entries will be judged on gameplay design and their suitability for the chosen games platform, ‘with the aim of supporting accessible career pathways into game design and thus nurturing the future generation of British gamemakers’.

This year’s winners will be revealed at a special virtual BAFTA YGD ceremony tomorrow (Thursday) at 5pm.

The ceremony will be hosted by actor, TV presenter and comedian Inel Tomlinson, who said: “I am thrilled to be hosting this year’s virtual BAFTA Young Game Designers ceremony, where the incredible work of the 54 talented young finalists will be celebrated.

“All the finalists have brought their A-game with exciting, original and compelling modern interactive experiences that challenge the perception of this medium.

“I am excited to see what these exceptional young designers do next with the support of BAFTA in their future game-making endeavours.

“This is the future of the British games industry, and I am honoured to be able to usher through their ideas for the wider world to one day experience.”

The BAFTA YGD Ceremony will be streamed on BAFTA’s Kids & Teens YouTube channel, with highlights and clips from the show available to watch on Twitter (@BAFTAGames) and LinkedIn.