Welsh teenagers up for BAFTA awards for video games design

  • Kate Lewis has been to meet the two teenagers from Wales who are up for awards for their video game creations

Two teenagers from Wales are being recognised by BAFTA for their work in creating video games.

Jack Rafferty, 17, from Cowbridge and Robert Russin, 15, from Penarth are finalists in the BAFTA Young Game Designers.

The awards champion the work of youngsters aged between 12-18 with a ceremony taking place on 27 June.

BAFTA Young Game Designers work with schools across the UK to develop the skills of children who are interested in games.

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’.

Jack says the experience has taught him a lot about the world of gaming.

The 17-year-old 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 added that he's hoping to develop the game into a full-blown sequel in the future, with “better enemy AI, better level design, a story mode and much more!”

Robert’s game which is called clim3r is a 2D platformer featuring a player character with three arms.

The user has to understand the principles of gravity and momentum to move the main character across gaps and to allow them to climb effectively.

ITV Wales' not so tech savy Kate Lewis was shown how game coding works by Robert.

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.”

This year’s finalists have been shortlisted for two awards. The YGD Game Concept Award rewards the most original and best thought-out game idea, while the YGD Game Making Award goes to the most impressive use of coding skills on a freely available software, to create a prototype game.

Both awards are split into two age categories: 10-14 years and 15-18 years.

The winners of this year's event will have their work showcased at the Science Museum in London and at the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester.

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