Croydon teenagers in BAFTA Young Game Designers final

The Croydon students have beaten hundreds of other hopeful entrants to reach the final of the BAFTA Young Game Designers competition.

Among the Croydon finalists are Sam Kingston, 13, and Sebastian Heitz, 13, who have been shortlisted for the Game Making 10-14 category for their robot-inspired game, 'RoboRogue'.

The 13-year-olds created coding for a unique equipment and damage system, introducing bullets with different properties to match their post-apocalyptic game world.

Sam and Sebastian's entry, RoboRogue (Image: BAFTA)

Sam said: "In the process of designing RoboRogue, we went through many ups and downs, lots of excitement and lots of challenges, but I'm proud of what we've accomplished.

"I'm glad we've got this far and I'm hopeful that we'll continue to do well."

Sebastian added: "I had so much fun making the music and I was inspired by music from games like Undertale and Terraria, especially for the bosses.

"Also for [the] gun design I went with a blocky look to fit with the art style we were going for."

Also from Croydon, Liana Ekanayake Ralalage, 13, and Ayesha Aamir, 13, are finalists in the Game Concept 10-14 category.

Liana and Ayesha are finalists in the Game Concept category (Image: BAFTA)

Liana and Ayesha have crafted an imaginative and joyful game called 'SunnySide'.

In this game, players take on the character of a duck named Sol, tasked with bringing happiness to a miserable town, aptly named Esctatica, by earning 'happiness points'.

The duo from Old Palace of John Whitgift foundation school said: "We feel ecstatic and really proud of ourselves for being  finalists and we are really thankful to the teachers who encouraged us to take on this challenge.

"We enjoyed designing our characters and loved planning our game concept.

"We are really looking forward to meeting the other finalists in the BAFTA HQ.

"We are also looking forward to inspire many others and to continue learning about coding , game making and designing."

Liana and Ayesha's game idea, SunnySide (Image: BAFTA)

In this annual competition, which has been promoting young talent since 2010, budding game designers from across the country, aged between 10 and 18, are in the running for two prestigious awards.

The YGD Game Concept Award rewards the most original and best thought-out game idea.

The YGD Game Making Award celebrates the most impressive use of coding skills to create a prototype game.

These games have been judged for their creativity and technical execution.

The winners will be selected based on their game design and suitability for the chosen platform.

The aim is to encourage these young talents towards careers in game design, making the industry more accessible to the coming generations.

This year's award ceremony is set for for 12pm, June 27.

It will be digitally streamed on BAFTA's YouTube channel and will be hosted by comedian and actor Inel Tomlinson.

The 2024 winners will be featured as part of the Power Up exhibition at the Science Museum in London and at the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester from June 28.