Making Games: BAFTA Young Games Designer competition 2026

Education Scotland is keen to support as many children and young people participate in playing and making games as possible.

We are excited to work with Into Film and West College Scotland to deliver ideas, resources and live lessons to help children and young people participate in the BAFTA Young Games Designer (YGD) competition.

YGD is “a chance for 10–18-year-olds to design, develop and present new game ideas”.

The competition is now open and the closing date for entries is 12th March 2026.

Children and young people will need an account on BAFTA to enter the competition – educators should check their employers’ rules on children and young people creating and accessing accounts. Educators can create an account to oversee and create accounts for children – *Check the T&Cs.

There are two categories: Game Concept and Game Making (use this link to visit the YGD site)

Game Concept Award

Entrants must submit an original game idea created by themselves or with a team of up to two other people.

Entries will be judged on:

gameplay design
creativity
suitability for chosen games platform

There is an award for:

10 to 14 year olds
15 to 18 year olds

Game Making Award

Entrants must submit an original game created by themselves or with a team of up to two other people.

Entries will be judged on:

gameplay design
creativity
suitability for your chosen games platform

There is an award for:

10 to 14 year olds
15 to 18 year olds

*Check the T&Cs to see what software you can use to build your game.

Support for YGD Game Concept Award

Into Film will run two Live Lessons in January and February for Scottish educators. These are free to join and will explain the rules of YGD, what makes a ‘good game concept’ and an overview of their games resources.

You can access Into Film’s FREE games resources using this link: https://www.intofilm.org/theme/131/about

Support for YGD Game Making Award

Dr Amanda Ford, West College Scotland, will present recorded videos and guidance for young people and educators on developing their own games. This will support computing and games development classes to link their learning to YGD.

You can access free game making platforms, such as:

Microsoft MakeCode Arcade

GameMaker | Make 2D Games With The Free Engine

*Remember to check with your local authority data security team/officer before registering any learners as users.

Examples of learning from previous games live lessons

A primary teacher from Rowantree Primary School in Dundee shared this with us:

“My class recently attended the above session and following on from your email we were keen to share our learning. They really engaged well with the session and loved making game ideas. We used their ideas later the same day to create a short piece of writing talking about their gaming ideas. Some really exciting and dark stories emerged!

I liked the simple materials and found it fun myself. I’d consider using the materials again.”

A primary teacher from Glenlee Primary School, South Lanarkshire shared this:

A primary teacher from North Queensferry Primary, Fife, shared this:

“My P5/6/7 class loved getting involved in the Games Jam last term. I have attached of what they created. They were all very engaged an this is probably the least terrifying one!

On the back of this work, the class have chosen that their topic for this term be about ‘Video Games’.”

A link to a pdf of the game design: Plague Game