2021 Young Game Designers: ‘Game Concept’ finalists

A wholesome but engaging task-completion game for all ages when they want to relax whilst still challenging their problem-solving abilities.

When our character’s normally colourful world suddenly turns grey, dull and rainy, they must journey around the town, interacting with townspeople and completing quests to restore the happiness around town. Choices they make in dialogue sections influence how the game progresses and how people react to them. They can also encounter townspeople who will give them ‘Sun Segments’ in return for them completing their tasks. Gradually piecing the sun back together, the character returns colour back to their world.

First person, mystery, story driven, open world survival game about an artist who's banished to an abstract island and has to survive whilst pursuing their passion for art.

The goal of the player is to gather resources to survive whilst making and selling sculptures in order to escape from the island. Players can trade sculptures with the mafia for a currency called 'Peirp' (a play on words with purple since it was considered a valuable colour to artists). This currency can be used to gain consumables from the ‘Kletch’, a mysterious island inhabitant with a love for art. After meeting the Kletch, players can decide between getting off the island with art likely to still be prohibited in the dystopian society or to help the Kletch to make the island a safe haven for artists to pursue their craft.

A very unique aspect of the game that we have developed is that the island is segmented into different art styles similar to how biomes behave. So the player may go up north and notice that the branches are like that of art nouveau or travel east and notice that the night sky is similar to that of Van Gogh's starry night.

A simple yet innovative mobile app, using fun and engaging features to promote positive treatment of the environment and awareness of climate change to the younger generation.

The player is introduced at the start to a fisherman at a very dirty polluted pond full of rubbish. The aim is to collect rubbish by tapping on it as it rises to the surface. Once this rubbish is cleared fish will start appearing and the player will then have access to the city. The city at this point is very dirty and full of pollution. In the city the player can sell the fish they catch, change their outfits and tools and upgrade their fishing rods and bait. As the player cleans the pond, it, and the city, becomes cleaner.

The game would have a hand-drawn art style, with characters’ expressions shown purely through the ways they perceive the environment and in small cutscenes and character movement animations, their body language.

Each player has a slightly altered perspective of the same level and must work together and communicate to succeed in this puzzle-platformer, and to progress their own character’s path of self-discovery.

The game is exclusively co-op; it focuses on two characters on their own journeys of self-discovery, joined in their journey to escape a metaphysical tomb they find themselves trapped inside. Although, as these characters are on separate introspective journeys, they perceive and interact with the world differently. David, the smaller character, can see doors and levers that Goliath cannot, while Goliath can move obstacles and throw David to higher platforms. Therefore, with these mechanics, communication, facilitated by a simple ping system, is made necessary.

An adventure platformer based around escaping a large labyrinth full of twisting paths.

In this game, you play as a character with a balloon as a head. They have been captured and put in a laboratory for testing. It is your goal to escape the laboratory. This game is a platformer based around exploration, as there will be many secrets that will lead to important items and powers that can help you along the way.

Because of the character having a balloon for a head, there are many unique movement options that will be unlocked throughout the game. These will be signified by different coloured and shaped heads.

We planned for the game to have a more simplistic, cartoony look rather than gritty realism as it is very important with the concept that the players are able to see the colour draining from the objects around them.

A lone space traveller flies from planet to planet trying to avoid the spreading colour corruption, which has caused planets to be drained of colour before dying.

The player is tasked with travelling from planet to planet, gathering enough resources to overcome the corruption and put an end to it. Players have a limited amount of time on each planet, indicated by how much colour remains in their surroundings, and cannot visit the same planet twice. Players must mine for minerals and cut down trees, waiting too long on each planet will have negative side effects but leaving too early will leave the player with less resources.

The Super Scaffolder will feature a simplistic, vibrant and colourful art style with very distinct themes.

A match-3 puzzle game with a unique and refreshing twist using platforming as a second core concept for the game, all set in very unique environments full of fascinating characters.

The player will begin the level in a traditional match-3 style game where they are tasked with matching pieces in combinations of 3 or more. Instead of scoring points, every successful match will create a platform in place of the shapes you matched. The player should be trying to create a path of platforms for them to navigate from the left of the screen to the right After the player has used all their moves or they end the matching phase prematurely, they will attempt to run and jump across their platforms and any pre-placed objects in the level to reach their target.

When a mysterious government organisation captures their creator/mother and little sister, three robot siblings must band together and go on a cross-country quest to rescue them, discovering a sinister conspiracy along the way.

A 2D action platformer where each level has you take control of one of three (later four) playable characters, each of whom has their own unique abilities and playstyle. Master stealth and technopathy as Alpha, harness brute force as Muscle, swing and glide across platforms as Spider and battle hordes of enemies as Laser.

What you'll be doing will depend on the plot, but the goal of every level is simply to get to the end, sometimes after collecting certain items or defeating specific enemies.

As the player completes more levels, they unlock many different abilities, such as animal telepathy and sunlight healing.

A story-based platformer where you assume the role of a corporeal woodland spirit tasked with retrieving the stolen heart of the forest from the hands of a greedy overlord.

Every level falls into one of four categories which determines the theme and goal of the level: Story levels focus heavily on the overall progression of the story and mainly include puzzles and character interactions. Timed levels have time limits that the player must finish under to complete and feel more accelerated. Search levels require the player to find a specific item hidden in a larger area. Machine levels have a higher number of machine enemies and often end with a boss battle.

You play as a detective who uses a series of postcards to time travel, gathering clues in the future and past, then using them to solve cases in the present.

The game is a mystery/puzzle game where you solve various cases using time travel. However, this time travel is limited to one day in each of the four seasons, meaning that you can't simply travel to the day the crime happened to figure out what happened. Instead, you will need to travel to various points before and after the crime in order to gather evidence, interview people, and hopefully piece together the clues you find so that you can solve the case.

Completing a game will rely on accusing the correct suspect, with extra points being awarded based on time taken to solve it, and the amount of time travel done in the level. The player will need to be careful though, as accusing the wrong suspect will lead to a game over.

The general look for this game is pixelated, bright and very cute. Aside from that, it really depends on which area of the game you're in. For example, UNNAMED's deleted world is a boring, stark white - the kind of blank that it's just too easy to turn lonely and hateful in.

Help UNNAMED as he tries to gather ideas to restore his deleted world - but be careful, as there may be something far more sinister hidden behind the cute designs and happy music.

An RPG in which you play through different game genres and fight their associated creatures. UNNAMED is the only surviving character from a deleted game. He asks for your help to travel the Dreamscape, the place where all creativity comes from, to collect ideas and to restore his game.

The theme of my game is magical animal care so the animals you use are Dragons, Unicorns, Phoenixes and Basilisks. In the game you build enclosures for, feed and heal different animals depending on the task cards that you are working on.

Play online against friends to complete tasks for a Magical Animal Rescue Centre. Build cages, feed and heal animals as your rivals try to hinder your plans.

In this logical first person game, the player is tasked with completing a set of tasks to take care of magical animals such as Dragons, Unicorns, Phoenixes and Basilisks. Compete against friends to build enclosures for the animals, feed them and heal their illnesses to earn coins which can be used to buy new magical animals in a range of colours.

Our game is a simulation of a real-life cooking experience. Using VR controllers allows the player to interact with the game. They will see what is happening right before their eyes; hence, they will feel part of the game, making the experience memorable.

An open world cooking simulation game where you develop your cooking repertoire and build an empire.

Play in story mode and multiplayer mode, starting from a humble stall in your home country before creating a food empire. Buy ingredients required to sustain your store and build a reputation by satisfying customers. Open new stores by making deals with investors and maintain a workforce by managing salaries. In multiplayer, interact with other players and compete in weekly events to win awards. Players can also invite one another to come and work in their restaurants for bonuses.

Along the way, you meet all kinds of monsters that may help you with your journey. If you get their friendship high enough, you can also get exclusive dialogue that tells you about your characters' pasts.

A 15 year old girl jumps into a portal under her bed to save her brother and girlfriend, and in the portal she meets all kinds of interesting monsters.

A 3D point and click adventure game, you play as a young girl named Isla who, along with her girlfriend Maria, ventures into a portal under her bed to save her brother Matthew. Meet interesting characters and explore five varied environments as you track down the psychotic queen and set Matthew free.

785 million people in the world do not have clean water close to their home. I think that’s really bad and I wanted to make a game that makes people aware of this problem, and how to fix it.

Pipeline is a problem solving game with the aim of teaching players about the global issue of water poverty, and what can be done to help communities who don't have access to clean water.

In Pipeline you will help a virtual community to flourish by turning dirty water into clean drinkable water. A pipe represents a simplified version of all the water available to the community, it is the focus point of the game. The water running through the pipe starts off very dirty and full of germs. People are drinking the water, but they get sick. Your job is to improve the water supply and make people well. You earn tokens whenever somebody takes a drink – the healthier they are after drinking the water, the more tokens you get.

Rewind is a game to help people understand the stages of grief so they are more prepared to help somebody who is going through this and to understand how they feel.

When the player enters the game, they are greeted with a purple themed 3D landscape, with a man simply called ‘Dad’ following them and helping them with tasks. After this tutorial level is done, 'dad' will simply disappear and the player is placed back in the same level with slight alterations. The game appearance and colour scheme changes with each level, representing the stages of grief and hopefully giving people an insight on how grief works and to understand how someone feels whist they are going through grief.

The game is made of many missions. You don't have to do the missions in order but there are five seasons of 10 missions. You have to complete a season to move to the next season.

A free-roaming survival game where you collect resources to grow strong enough to save the island of WaffleBurger from the Queen of Instectoids - the Sandworm awoken by undersea drilling.

A third person action game with a comic book art style, Save WaffleBurger allows you to create your own character as an ex oil-rig worker to try and stop Sandworm's reign of terror! The story begins after the Sandworm is awakened from undersea drilling.

With WaffleBurger now covered in sand, you must survive and try to return the Queen to her Insectoid home.

Eight million tonnes of plastic waste goes into the ocean every year and your goal is to remove as much of this plastic waste from the sea as possible.

Plastic pollution is the most hazardous pollution on earth and our seas are in danger. In Seas of Salvation the player has to remove as much plastic from the sea as possible to help save the planet and rescue marine life along the way.

The player starts as a diver with scuba diving gear and a knife to cut animals out of plastic waste. When you have collected enough plastic for the level you are on you can recycle the plastic and upgrade to better equipment and boats to collect more plastic and reach higher targets. Along the way you will be saving sea life, collecting sea bucks to spend in the item store and learning how your actions are saving the planet.

In the day you will be mostly safe and at this time it’s best to collect resources and maintain the burrow. Throughout the night, foxes will be searching for their dinner, meaning you will either have to fight them or stay inside the burrow!

A young but courageous hare called Spud defends the other woodland animals against devious foxes.

Spud in Dew-Fall Wood is a 3rd person point and click adventure with a day and night cycle. There are different achievements to collect in the game, including: surviving the first night, building a burrow, collecting food and medicines, healing other animals, and training them to create a powerful army. When you collect these achievements you will get acorns with which you can then buy skins and other cosmetics.

The majority of the game is spent in the banks, solving puzzles and avoiding guards to reach the vaults. But this is harder than it seems.

Separated from his parents at a young age taken in by The Boss for a life of crime, Javier robs banks all around the metropolis of Camville to pay off a ransom for his parents.

The most unique aspect of Surveillance: Sabotaged is the camera. The player views the game in third person exclusively via CCTV footage, meaning the whole world is black and white. The camera behaves as any CCTV camera would. It remains static, screwed into place in the wall. The player can manually rotate it on its hinges and switch between cameras as you move between rooms in each bank, but it will never float around in the air to follow them.