The Future of Games: BAFTA YGD

Meet the winners of the BAFTA Young Game Designers competition in 2022, potentially the game changers of the future...

BAFTA Young Game Designers (YGD) is a year-round initiative of public events, workshops and a competition to inspire and support young people to create, develop and present their new game ideas to the world.

YGD Awards host Inel Tomlinson

BAFTA

Last year, BAFTA underscored its commitment to nurture the next generation of creative games talent by joining forces with education organisation NextGen Skills Academy (NextGen). The collaboration will deliver YGD masterclasses to 650 Further Education students, with YGD embedded into the NextGen Games, Animation and VFX Skills courses at more than 15 colleges across England.

These courses will encourage greater involvement in the YGD competition, which culminates each year with the BAFTA YGD Awards. The Awards have two categories – Game Concept and Game Design –which are divided into two age groups: 10 to 14-year-olds and 15 to 18-year-olds.

So, if you want an idea of who might be the future of the games industry then look no further than the incredible 2022 YGD winners, selected from 54 amazing finalists by an expert industry jury:

Game Concept (10-14 years old): Jasmine Guan, Tiled in Twilight

Tiled in Twilight, by Jasmine Guan

Game Making (10-14): Alfie Wilkinson, Egglien

Egglien, by Alfie Wilkinson

Game Concept (15-18): Jaime Williams, Carrier Pigeon: World Tour

Carrier Pigeon: World Tour, by Jaime Williams

Game Making (15-18): Andrew Ah-Weng, Space Boids

Space Boids, by Andrew Ah-Weng

The winning games are all featured in the prestigious Power UP exhibition at the Science Museum in London and the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester, attracting more than 199,000 visitors annually. The winners and all the finalists also have access to masterclasses and mentorship from games industry professionals, as part of BAFTA’s commitment to accessible pathways into games.

Find out more: ygd.bafta.org