Bafta's Young Game Designers 2023 nominees announced

Benji, 16, created Lizard: The Game where the aim is to escape from the evil Lizard King and his many servants without being trapped in the tower

A slime creature called Gloop, soap-themed super-villains and an accessible game for people who are deaf or blind are among the big gaming ideas nominated for the British Academy of Film Television and Arts (Bafta) awards.

Bafta's Young Game Designer (YGD) awards has been running since 2010 and encourages young people to create, develop and present their ideas for games.

The annual competition is open to 10 to 18-year-olds and the winners will be announced later this month.

Winning games will also be displayed at the Science Museum's Power UP exhibition.

The Lost Soul was created by Shuaib who says they are looking forward to "connecting with other talented finalists"

The awards are split into two categories - the Game Concept Award, for a written idea for a new game, and the Game Making Award, for a game made using computer software.

There are two awards available for each category, for young people aged 10 to 14 and another for those aged 15 to 18.

The winners are chosen by a jury of industry professionals who are looking for well thought-out game ideas and impressive use of coding.

Forty four young people have been nominated in 2023 and will be celebrated on 22 June at an awards ceremony that will also be streamed on BAFTA Kids & Teens YouTube.

Go Home Edd was created by nominee Elliott who said he was "very excited" to be a TGD finalist

In the 10-14 Game Concept Category, 13-year-old Sophie Hudson is among the nominees.

She said she wanted to get involved to see more females represented in the industry.

Her concept, titled The Screen is Completely Black, asks players to rely on spatial audio and haptic (waveform) vibrations to escape a dark labyrinth housing a Minotaur.

Accessibility was a key focus for Sophie, as she deliberately created a concept that was easy for blind and deaf players to enjoy.

Tommy, who made Gloop Fishing, said: "I spent a long time developing my game so being selected as a finalist for YGD made all the hard work feel worthwhile"

Meanwhile, 15-year-old Tommy said he used his knowledge of physics to create a casual fishing game called Gloop Fishing.

In it, players embody a small slime creature called Gloop, and have to try to catch 21 different types of fish.

To design the game he said he applied rope physics using Unity's line renderer and Hooke's law of elasticity to simulate the movement of a fishing line.

The gaming sector is a rapidly growing industry, with the number of companies producing them increasing by about 31% in the UK since September 2016.

It is estimated more than 80% of 12-15 year olds in the UK play games online and Bafta wants to show that games can be more than just a hobby.