Two Aylesbury students reach final of BAFTA's young gaming design competition

Two boys, aged 16 and 17, both from Aylesbury, have been shortlisted for the BAFTA's video game design competition.

Dhruv Kale, 16, and Humzah Awais, 17, are up for the Game Making Award alongside another enterprising teenager from Buckinghamshire.

Dhruv won over the voting panel with his entry, ‘WordPong!’, a fast, competitive online two-player word game, with four different game modes.

The 16-year-old has demonstrated great technical skill by making his game compatible with both computer and mobile devices, without any loss in functionality.

Overall, BAFTA announced 44 talented finalists, aged between 10 and 18, for the Young Designers Competition.

Also representing Aylesbury at the finals is Humzah Awais, with his game ‘Pipes’, in which players move through a large underground pipe to avoid mutated moles and ruthless sentries.

Meanwhile, 17-year-old Ava Rogerson from Amersham, is a finalist in the Game Concept category, with her game ‘Bounce Bat’, a 2D platformer game in which players play as a flightless bat fighting to make his way home. Impressively, this is Ava’s second time being shortlisted, having made the cohort last year with her game ‘Escape’.

Dhruv said: “I am really looking forward to learning new coding skills from the mentors to incorporate into my future projects, getting their expert advice on developing creative and elegant coded solutions to any problem, and finding out about current trends and tips to create interesting, original games.”

Dhruv, Humzah, and Ava, will attend an awards ceremony where the winners will be announced this will also be live-streamed on Youtube here, with highlights available on LinkedIn.

Humzah added: “I didn't expect to get this far but I'm excited to attend all the events and opportunities presented.”

This year’s ceremony is taking place on Thursday 22 June, and will be hosted by multi-award nominated actor and comedian Inel Tomlinson, for the second year running.

The shortlisted Buckinghamshire trio were picked from hundreds of entries, with a virtual judging panel picking their favourites.

Judges were looking for creators who displayed the creativity of their vision, and the technicality of their execution.

More details on this year’s finalists can be found online here.

This year’s expert jury was chaired by Nick Button-Brown, founder of The Games Angels, Tara Saunders, studio head at PlayStation London Studio, Des Gayle the founder of Altered Gene and Catherine Woolley, a senior designer for Media Molecule, and included some of the most influential figures in British games, such as Joe Straker, Lauren Kaye, Gurrashpal Khakh and David Valjalo.

Winners will be featured on the Power Up experience which opens at the Science Museum in London on 27 July. It is currently open at the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester.

The BAFTA project is designed to give young creatives and educators access to some of the most creative minds in the industry, through competitions, mentorship, exclusive masterclasses, as well as online workshops, teaching tools, and networking opportunities. Further information is available online here.