Meet the young game designers up for an award

Bafta have unveiled the talented finalists who have been selected for this year's Young Games Designers (YGD) competition.

The competition is part of a year-long run of workshops and public events for young people aged 10 to 18.

It ends with a ceremony live-streamed on Bafta's YouTube channel on 27 June, where the awards show will celebrate some of the UK's best young game makers.

Read on to find out more about some of the amazing creators who have been nominated.

Who are the finalists?

Bafta has connected young people with experts from the games industry

All the finalists are aged between 12 and 18 and are from the UK.

There are two award categories where a prize is up for grabs this year:

• The YGD Game Concept Award, which rewards the most original and best thought-out game idea.

• 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.

In each of these categories there are two age groups: 10-14 years old and 15-18 years old.

You can read about just a few of these finalists here.

Meet finalist Orson Hayward, 14

Orson's game is inspired by the cheerful, comic-book feel of Dav Pilkey’s popular Captain Underpants book series

Orson is 14 and lives in Dundee.

He is a finalist in the Game Concept 10-14 category with his game titled Collateral Damage.

Players star as George the Caretaker as he attempts to do his job cleaning up while an epic battle rages overhead.

Players must dodge debris and fire while limiting damage to win each level.

Orson said "I'm very excited to be a finalist, and particularly looking forward to seeing all the other games".

Meet finalists Zoe Taylor and Felix Myrie

Zoe entered the Game Making 10-14 category with their game Circuit Breaker

Zoe, aged 14, is from Liverpool, and her teammate Felix, who is also 14, is from London.

Their game Circuit Breaker has been nominated in the Game Making 10-14 category.

In the game players take on the identity of Pandora, a robot tasked with destroying an evil corporation from the inside across seven 3D levels.

Zoe said: "My favourite part of working on the game was making all of the music, I definitely learned a lot and I'll probably continue to make more!"

Felix said being selected as a finalist was a "great reward" after working on Circuit Breaker for such a long time.

What is Bafta Young Game Designers?

Young Game Designers is one of Bafta's ways to promote the art of creating games.

It is all about giving the next generation a look into the industry and the opportunity to meet some of the creative minds behind making games.

The programme is run year-round and includes events in the UK and North America.

With Ofcom's 2022 Online Nation Report finding that 56% of UK children aged 3-15 play games online, the hope is that the programme will raise awareness of the opportunity to turn game creation into a career.

Through the programme children are given a hands-on experience in the field and are shown accessible pathways into games careers.