Yorkshire teens win in BAFTA Young Game Designer Competition

BBC News

22-06-2025

Two teenagers from Yorkshire have scooped prizes at a national competition for young video game designers.13-year-old Thiago, from Sheffield, and 14-year-old Tanisi, from Leeds, were crowned winners in the BAFTA Young Game Designer Competition.They were selected from 52 finalists aged between 10 and 18, who each created a game or a game concept.Their work will be showcased at the Power Up video game exhibition in London, Manchester, and Bradford, as well as at a BAFTA showcase event.
Thiago won in the age 10-14 Game Making Award category.He created a game called Sir Floofington, where the player controls a knight who wields a broom whilst hunting for the Golden Floof.He said he had been inspired by other dungeon crawlers where the player fights enemies and hunts for treasure, but had wanted to put his own spin on them.He added he had also been inspired by his dad, who is a game producer."I've always wanted to get the ideas that I have in my head out into code, that way other people can enjoy them as much as I do," he said."I might see a game on YouTube and think it's great, then have a long train of thought about how I can make it better and different."He said it feels "really, really wonderful" to have won."I've seen everyone else's games and they're really good, so I feel really humbled."
Tanisi won in the age 10-14 Game Concept Award category, for her idea for a psychological horror game.Called The Undead, the game which would let the player control a character trying to find their missing family in a post-apocalyptic world filled with zombies.She said she "loves storytelling", but had not written a story for a video game before now.She said she was "so grateful" that someone else had seen the vision she had been trying to convey in her proposal."I didn't know if it was going to be seen in the way I saw it," she said.
Inel Tomlinson, host of the competition's online prize ceremony, said: "It's refreshing to see such real, thought provoking, human ideas from these young game designers, and I'm truly excited to see what they'll create in the future."Judge and game producer Dan Ayoub said: "As someone who's been making games for many years, this experience left me deeply inspired—and incredibly optimistic about the future of our industry.""It was an absolute honour to serve on the judging panel, and beyond the joy of working alongside brilliant developers, I was genuinely humbled by the level of talent, creativity, and ambition these young creators brought."
Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds or catch up with the latest episode of Look North.