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BBC News
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Bafta Young Game Designers 2025: Which games won?
The competition is split into two award categories with prizes up for grabs:The YGD Game Concept Award - which rewards the most original and best thought-out game YGD Game Making Award - which goes to the most impressive use of coding skills on a freely available software, to create a prototype of these categories is split into two age groups: 10-14 years old and 15-18 years old. Meet the winners of the Game Concept Award The winner of the 10-14 Game Concept Award was 14-year-old Tanisi Rawat for her game called 'The Undead'.Tainsi's game is a pixelated horror story, where the player explores a futuristic world filled with zombies, while trying to reunite with their part of the story players can uncover the truth behind what caused the zombie outbreak, whilst also exploring their own personal identity and about winning Tainsi said: "As a YGD finalist, I've learnt so much about the thought actually put into games; to think that a silly, little concept I thought up in my head could actually become something all the more real." The winners of the 15-18 Game Concept Award were 17-year-old Emily Sun and Isabelle Taylor with their game 'Mikka Bouzu'.Their game follows the story of a burnt-out game designer who has lost her passion for art and must journey through three of her unfinished games, writing endings for them to rediscover her lost creativity. The game is set in four different areas: The real world; Castlepunk - a medieval mini-world; The Adventures of 4 - role-playing-game area with a Japanese inspired environment; and Untitled - a white space filled with items and notes from her younger self. Speaking about their game Emily and Isabelle said: "The protagonist of our game struggles to finish her projects, We find this relatable because we also struggle to finish things. Like this quo-" Meet the winners of the Game Making Award The winner of the 10-14 Game Making Award was 13-year-old Thiago Van Vlerken Rene with his game 'Sir Floofington'.In the game, players play as the noble knight Sir Floofington, who uses his magnificent fluffy plume to hair slam and throw things at bats or skeltons as he fights his way through a spooky castle to find the legendary Golden Floof - the fluffiest treasure of his journey Sir Floofington can find conditioner bottles that grant temporary immunity and heart pickups to restore his health, before eventually coming face-to-face with the mighty boss and guardian of the Golden Floof."I like that Sir Floofington uses his plume as a weapon because it brings a silly spin on the game. But the best part is the boss fight. It is satisfying and rewarding, and it tests everything the player has learnt and feels like an intense showdown," said Thiago. The winner of the 15-18 Game Making Award was 18-year-old Luke Rayfield with his game 'Furniture Fu'.In the game you play as a pro ninja and first-time homeowner, but just as you start to unpack your things, the underworld bursts through the floorboards to try to stop game is a mixture of furniture arranging which rewards strategy and puzzle-solving, and fighting spooky demons, which rewards timing and reflex about the process Luke said: "This competition and Furniture Fu represents a huge milestone for me: firstly, an amazing accolade, and secondly, the only time I've managed to make a game to schedule. There's something so gratifying about so much work and passion coming together, against all odds, and I am thrilled for the opportunity to share that passion with others."
The Verge
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- The Verge
Astro Bot's director on making a PlayStation icon
Astro Bot is filled with whimsy and silliness that makes you want to pay attention to the details. But in a presentation at this year's Game Developers Conference, director Nicolas Doucet shared one particular aspect of Astro the robot that I hadn't noticed but blew me away. Doucet talked about how Team Asobi worked hard to give the game a good tempo with things like enemy placement and how you can interact with Astro's spaceship with the DualSense's gyro controls on loading screens. One thing that kept the momentum going was Astro himself and how he shows his impatience. Doucet showed a video of one idle animation where Astro is hopping up and down on his feet and pointing forward, almost like a little kid that's demanding you go to the playground. It's adorable — and was added 'very, very late' in development, Doucet says when I chat with him a few weeks after the presentation. While a lot of games have characters simply breathing or looking left to right while they're idle, Team Asobi thought that it could do something a little more fun. Since the game is about rescuing characters, the team started to tie the animations to the idea of looking around, Doucet says. The team even reduced the amount of time it takes for the animations to show as a way to more quickly remind the player of the goal to find the bots. Doucet thinks of this as a subliminal way to put players in the mood to move faster. Astro actually originates from a 2013 PS4 pack-in game called The Playroom that used the PS4 camera. In that game, the robot is named Asobi, but he looks a lot like the charming Astro from Astro Bot: Asobi has big blue eyes and a cute, pudgy robot body. 'Back then, the design of the character came from two angles,' Doucet says. One was that the development team didn't have much time, so they went for a simple character design instead of a human that might require a lot of facial animations. But they also picked a robot because of where it would be making its debut: a preinstalled game on (at the time) new Sony hardware. When you think about Sony or PlayStation, Doucet says that there is an 'aspiration to the future' or something 'a little bit science fiction.' Team Asobi uses the term 'techno magic.' The robot's design came from that: 'we wanted the playful fun character, but also coupled with something really cool and futuristic.' The PS5 hardware and Astro might share a lot of similarities — white plastic with black parts and blue lights — but that's an accident, Doucet says. Instead, both the character designers and hardware team were following similar values. While it's flattering to hear that people treat Astro as PlayStation's mascot, Doucet says that wasn't the design team's original intention for the character. Instead, a mascot needs to be something that 'grows naturally' and something that the users decide or feel. That happens through repeated consistency and quality, Doucet believes. In retrospect, the awards for the game — including Game of the Year at The Game Awards — are well deserved, but the goal was primarily to put platformers and family-friendly games back on the map and release 'as good a game as we can.' Doucet used to look at renowned PlayStation studios like Naughty Dog (Uncharted, The Last of Us) and Santa Monica Studio (God of War), and think they knew some kind of 'black magic' that Team Asobi didn't. But following Astro Bot, the takeaway was that 'actually, it became the sum of lots of small things that are carefully made.' If the team keeps that consistency and makes sure that 'every bit' of the game is done as well as possible, then 'the sum of it ends up being high quality.' No wonder Astro is impatient to explore.
Geek Tyrant
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Geek Tyrant
Hideo Kojima Reveals He Rewrote DEATH STARNDING 2 Because Too Many People Liked It — GeekTyrant
Only Hideo Kojima would look at overwhelmingly positive feedback and think, 'We have a problem.' While most developers would see high praise during internal testing as a green light, Kojima saw it as a warning sign. The legendary game creator known for embracing the strange, the bold, and the deeply personal, decided to rework Death Stranding 2 because, in his eyes, it was too well received. In a recent interview with Rolling Stone, Kojima's longtime collaborator and composer Yoann Lemoine (aka Woodkid) shared a surprising behind-the-scenes story about the game's development. 'There's a key moment where we had a discussion, probably halfway [through] when we were doing the game, where he came to me and he said, 'We have a problem.' 'Then he said, 'I'm going to be very honest, we have been testing the game with players and the results are too good. They like it too much. That means something is wrong; we have to change something.' And he changed stuff in the script and the way some crucial stuff [happens] in the game because he thought his work was not polarizing and not triggering enough emotions. And he said, 'If everyone likes it, it means it's mainstream. It means it's conventional. It means it's already pre-digested for people to like it. And I don't want that. 'I want people to end up liking things they didn't like when they first encountered it, because that's where you really end up loving something.' And that was really a lesson for me; not doing stuff to please people, but to make them shift a little bit and move them.' It's a very Kojima philosophy, one that fits perfectly with his legacy of crafting deeply strange yet emotionally rich games that often divide audiences. Death Stranding was already a litmus test for patience and curiosity. On paper, it was a 'walking simulator' where you delivered packages through rain-soaked landscapes haunted by invisible spirits. In practice, it became one of the most talked-about and debated games in recent memory. With Death Stranding 2 , it looks like Kojima isn't looking to course-correct for the masses. In fact, quite the opposite as he's steering even harder into the idea that his work should challenge players rather than comfort them. Interestingly, Norman Reedus, who returns to play Sam Porter Bridges, hinted that the sequel's story might be easier to follow. He said he found it more digestible this time around, which might suggest a tighter narrative. But, don't mistake clarity for compromise. Kojima's still pushing boundaries; he's just making sure that what he's building can't be described as 'conventional.' So what do you think of Kojima's decision to rewrite his game because people liked it too much?
Forbes
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Forbes
What Bungie Will Add To ‘Marathon' After Its Announced Delay
Marathon Marathon isn't cancelled. I do not believe Marathon is going to be cancelled. Even if yesterday, Bungie announced that Marathon would no longer hit its September 23, 2025 release date, with no new date given, that's not what's happening. The game is too far along and too important for both Bungie and Sony to just throw in the towel now. As such, Bungie has now written a list of what is being worked on during this Marathon delay period, and I thought it was a good time to go through and analyze each point. Let's get going: More challenging and engaging AI encounters – This is something Bungie already touched on during the Alpha itself, testing out more intense enemy AI, and they reiterated that in the last livestream. A robust, more pervasive AI presence is something that could differentiate it from competitors and at least fulfill some PvE wishes from sections of its potential playerbase. We also have to remember more AI factions are coming, like the Pfhor, and they may be here by the new release date, perhaps. More rewarding runs, with new types of loot and dynamic events – We were always getting 'new types of loot' with the Alpha holding a lot back, but I'm wondering if this means things like extra high-end, special perk gear, or even something like new equipment slots. And more rewarding gear would perhaps help you to take more away even with shorter runs. More dynamic events could be things like weather or enemy drops or more things to engage with, like supply drops, all welcome. Making combat more tense and strategic – I very much take this as leaning into the harder core aspects of the extraction genre, moving away from feeling like a slower Apex Legends and more into 'tactical' engagements. Bungie has touched on this already, talking about moving the gap between super-geared players and lower-geared players together so it's less of an auto-stomp. Still, I do not take this as an effort to make the game more casual, but the opposite. Marathon FEATURED | Frase ByForbes™ Unscramble The Anagram To Reveal The Phrase Pinpoint By Linkedin Guess The Category Queens By Linkedin Crown Each Region Crossclimb By Linkedin Unlock A Trivia Ladder Increased visual fidelity – I mean, this one was obvious. The Alpha did not look great because it was unfinished, and a lot of stuff, mainly exteriors and player models, needed tons of work. I will be curious to see where it ends up. More narrative and environmental storytelling to discover and interact with – There is currently very little of this in the game at all. Most narrative is contained to some vendor conversations but on the maps themselves? Adding lore there would be nice. That said, it's difficult to make dedicated PvP players care much about lore, and it's likely not enough to drag PvE players in to experience it, is my guess. A darker tone that delivers on the themes of the original trilogy – I'm a little confused about this one as I do think the lore we do have is dark and has themes of the original trilogy. The main complaint about Marathon not feeling like 'Marathon' is the fact that it looks and plays completely different and is an entirely different genre of game, which I can't imagine changing. And you're not going to make it look like that image three paragraphs above this, certainly. Marathon A better player experience for solos/duos – Possibly the biggest complaint about Marathon to date has been that there is no dedicated solos playlist, meaning you have to load in by yourself against teams of threes. However, the way this is phrased does not at all confirm that's what's coming. Rather, Bungie did already talk about making it feel better to be solo or duo in a game. Maybe they will make solos or duos playlists, but that is not what this is necessarily saying. Prox chat, so social stories can come to life – Everyone was pretty stunned when they realized that Bungie was making an extraction shooter without proximity chat, which is an obvious staple of the franchise. I am willing to bet the issue here was some sort of thing with Sony, given how its other games don't have the feature either, and I don't think it's really a technical issue. Still, it's allegedly coming. I remain skeptical this is as big a draw for Marathon as people make out, given how it will function in its non-Tarkov combat loop, but yes, obviously, the game should have the option, at least. I'm trying to be a bit more positive here than normal, but I'm not changing my ultimate conclusion that all this won't be enough. We'll see. Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram. Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
Khaleej Times
09-06-2025
- Business
- Khaleej Times
Dubai gaming ecosystem expands rapidly with 350+ companies
More than 60 new gaming companies have set up shop in Dubai since the emirate launched its Dubai Program for Gaming 2033 'DPG33' in November 2023, marking a growth rate of 16.6 per cent since the launch of the programme, data showed Overseen by the Dubai Future Foundation, the Dubai Program for Gaming 2033 'DPG33', has announced that Dubai is home to more than 350 companies, with 260 of them categorised as specialised game developers, contributing overall to a global industry valued at $200 billion globally. The gaming industry has emerged as one of Dubai's most promising economic sectors in recent years. Khalfan Belhoul, CEO of the Dubai Future Foundation, said: 'The recent achievements in the Dubai's gaming industry reflects the success of the city's vision for its future economy — one built on economic diversification and the proactive investment in current and future development opportunities. The gaming sector holds unprecedented economic potential, and Dubai was — and will remain — a land of opportunity and a destination for innovators and creators. The industry offers a wealth of unprecedented opportunities thanks to the supportive ecosystem for entrepreneurs and innovative ideas in advanced technology sectors, particularly game development, which is a key driver in enhancing Dubai's global competitiveness and in achieving the goals of the Dubai Economic Agenda (D33).' DPG33 aims to position Dubai among the world's top 10 global gaming hubs over the next decade, with 30,000 new jobs and a $1 billion boost to GDP by 2033. It focuses on nurturing talent and entrepreneurship, embracing technological advancements, and fostering digital content development, while creating training and employment opportunities with leading global firms and academic institutions, and leads a variety of local and international events, exhibitions, and partnerships that strengthen collaboration between individuals, businesses, and regulatory bodies in Dubai and beyond.
