Sheffield Teens Scoop Top Honours At BAFTA Young Game Designers Awards

Two young creators from Sheffield have given Yorkshire something to cheer about at this year's BAFTA Young Game Designers competition, taking home half of the four awards on offer.

Erin Goddard, 17, won the Game Concept Award (15-18) for TailBreak, a co-operative puzzle platformer in which a band of animals work together to spring their friends from the clutches of pest control. "I'm so happy and immensely grateful for this amazing opportunity," Erin said. "I never expected this!"

Fourteen-year-old Thiago van Vlerken Rene took the Game Making Award (10-14) for Yggdrasil, a Norse-flavoured adventure that casts the player as a banished Valkyrie roaming Midgard, doing battle with trolls and ravens, and ultimately the dragon Nidhogg, in pursuit of a stolen amulet. It is the latest chapter in what is becoming a remarkable run for the teenager: a four-time finalist who won the Game Concept Award last year, he has now switched categories and triumphed again, this time by actually building a playable game rather than just pitching the idea.

He described the achievement as "rewarding because it gives me a moment to stop and realise how much I've grown through making the game."

Now in its 16th year, BAFTA Young Game Designers exists to give children and teenagers a route into the games industry, mixing school workshops and roadshows with the annual competition itself. Entrants compete in two strands — Game Concept, for the strongest original idea, and Game Making, for the most accomplished use of free software to build a working prototype — each split into 10-14 and 15-18 age categories. This year's panel of judges included figures from major studios such as IO Interactive, makers of 007 First Light, and TT Games, the team behind LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight.

Tara Saunders, chair of the BAFTA Games Committee and studio head at Larian Studios (creators of Baldur's Gate 3), praised the calibre of this year's field: "Each winner's game is so unique, and we're excited to see where their passion takes them next."

Broadcaster Jules Hardy, hosting the ceremony for the first time, added that she was "really looking forward to supporting them in the future."

Yorkshire audiences will get the chance to see the winning games for themselves: both TailBreak and Yggdrasil will feature in the Power Up exhibition at the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford, alongside a showcase at the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester and the Science Museum in London. All this year's finalists will also be on display at BAFTA's Young BAFTA Showcase weekend at 195 Piccadilly on 27-28 June.