Teachers and students are invited by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) to watch a live-streamed workshop aimed at teaching young people more about video game-making and inspiring them to make a game of their own.
The workshop, taking place at Bradford’s National Media Museum at 13:00 on Thursday 17 May, is part of BAFTA Young Game Designers 2012, a competition that aims to inspire the game designers and game-makers of the future by giving young people aged 11-16 the chance to design and create their own video game and develop it with industry professionals.
The live-stream will be broadcast at www.bafta.org/ygd from 13:00 until 15:30. Those who tune in will hear from leading figures in the games industry, including Hal Sandbach, Senior Designer at Evolution Studios, Tom Woolley, Curator of New Media at the National Media Museum, and John Dennis, former Head of Design on the Worms series of games. Viewers will get insights on how commercial games are made, and receive tips on how to create their own game. They can also tweet their questions at @BAFTAGames and the best will be put to the experts. An edited version of the workshop will be available after the event at www.bafta.org/ygd
The BAFTA Young Game Designers competition is open to 11-16 year olds and has attracted hundreds of entries from across the UK every year since it began in 2010. This year, for the first time, young people have two ways to enter:
The Concept Award is for those who have an idea for a new game, and can describe the characters, the world of the game, and how it will be played.
The Game-making Award, presented by Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE), will suit young people who want to make their own games using game-making software or programming languages. This is their chance to show off their technical skills as well as their creativity.
Young people can enter one or both categories, either as an individual, as a pair or as a team of three. The top three entrants in both categories will be invited to the British Academy Children’s Awards in November 2012, and the winners will have their game developed with experts from the University of Abertay Dundee, as well as visiting a leading games studio.
Future workshops are taking place at the following:
Games Britannia Festival, Rotherham – Wednesday 4 July
TeenTech schools event, Humber – Thursday 12 July
Dare ProtoPlay, Dundee – Friday 10 August
Edinburgh Interactive Festival – Saturday 11 August
Eurogamer Expo, London – dates tbc
BAFTA has partnered with Abertay University and Sony Computer Entertainment Europe (SCEE) on the initiative. The competition is open to all young people in the UK aged 11-16. The deadline for entries is 22 October 2012. Further details about how to enter, as well as teaching resources and details of workshops around the country, can be found at www.bafta.org/ygd
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