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BAFTA celebrated the success of indie games development on Wednesday night as the Breakthrough Brits 2017 honorees were revealed.
Every year, BAFTA selects 20 of the most promising and inspiring young Brits across the creative industries. This year, a quarter of that number was made up of representatives from the video games sector.
The winners from gaming including game directors, Adam and Thomas Vian of SFB Games who developed Snipperclips, artist Anna Hollinrake, who worked on Lola and the Giant from Climax Studios, creative director Henry Hoffman, who developed Hue with Fiddlesticks, writer and editor Olivia Wood of Failbetter Games and games designer Daniel Fountain, who developed mobile puzzle game Kami.
The panel of judges included Dream Reality Interactive’s Dave Ranyard, Playstack CEO Harvey Elliott, developer Carolin Krenzer and BAFTA Special Award recipient and Develop Legend Award winner, Brenda Romero.
"To be an individual identified out of a studio that size is pretty incredible," said Harvey Elliott of artist. Anna Hollinrake.
"Her work is obviously inspirational," said Brenda Romero of Olivia Wood. "To anyone in any other field other than games, the notion of having an editor edit your writing is not a big deal. But in games, it is.
"I see the importance of this role growing… She’s at the cutting edge of that. She’s talked about it. She’s mentoring people. She’s inspiring… I see her as a trailblazer."
Speaking about Henry Hoffman, Romero was also very impressed with his work ethic. "The question is what didn’t Henry do on Hue," she said. "If I feel like I’m not doing enough, it’s because Henry’s doing all of it. He’s the living, breathing example of ‘how much can you love games, how much do you want to make a game’ because here’s somebody who’s doing everything he conceivably can."
Romero also added some thoughts on Adam and Thomas Vian, saying" I’m so impressed by what they achieved – the success of their game was a ‘wow’ moment.’
"Breakthrough Brits, in partnership with Burberry, identifies the very best emerging talent in film, games and television," said BAFTA chief executive, Amanda Berry OBE. "As it reaches its fifth year, I am so proud of what the initiative has achieved and the talented people it is has honoured. Over the next year the Breakthrough Brits will be supported by BAFTA and mentored by some of the industry’s most established professionals. This year’s Breakthrough Brits truly represent the diverse range of talents that make up our industries. We’re thrilled to be recognising these individuals this evening.”
(Photo Credit – @BAFTA twitter.com/BAFTA)
