Digital Illustration and Animation student, Ava Rogerson, was recently awarded The Game Concept Award, as part of 2023 BAFTA Young Game Designers (YGD) competition, after being selected as 1 in 10 young designers shortlisted from across the country.
Her game ‘Bounce Bat’ is a 2D platformer game in which you play as a flightless bat to navigate a series of caves, whilst avoiding enemies and fighting bosses, to find their way home.
Ava began designing her game ‘Bounce Bat’ while on holiday with limited resources, developing base ideas into a game she would like to create. Taking inspiration from the natural world, Ava used shape language and a variety of different artistic techniques to create likable characters and vibrant colour palettes.
Having entered the competition in 2022 with her game ‘Escape’, Ava decided she wanted to challenge herself to get even further this year, after previously reaching the finals of the BAFTA Young Game Designers awards.
Ava has gained confidence since previously entering the competition through working with creatively minded people during her time at college. She has also been given the opportunity to learn a variety of different skills at college that assisted her during the BAFTA process, including her use of Photoshop, in which she designed the artwork for her game.
Ava explained: "I’m absolutely thrilled to have won this year, and honestly still can’t believe it happened! It was really inspiring to see everyone’s work and meet so many incredible people over the showcase weekend. I’m super grateful to BAFTA for creating this opportunity for young people to express their creativity and skills and I’m looking forward to seeing what comes next for the competition and for the creative industry".
Take a look at Ava's game below:
