Meet the Leeds teen who is a BAFTA gaming competition finalist - all while studying for GCSEs

A Leeds teenager has been named as a finalist in a prestigious competition for young game designers across the UK.

Tanisi Rawat, 15, has been named as a finalist of the BAFTA’s Young Game Designers competition in the Game Concept 15-18 category where teenagers across the nation are invited to submit an original and thought-out idea for a video game.

Her game Aasuri challenges players to become workers at a café where their task is to serve angels upon their descension during the end of the world.

When creating the game concept, Tanisi was inspired by her love of horror movies from around the world.

“The whole idea of horror is for the audience to imagine themselves in that situation - that’s what hooks them in and the value that games provide is that they involve the audience.” Tanisi told the Yorkshire Evening Post.

Aasuri is set in the Himalayas, and Tanisi felt that it was important to ensure authentic Himalayan representation is embedded within every aspect of the game.

Tanisi said: “I wanted to incorporate Himalayan identity into the characters so they wear clothing from the region, and the food is Nepali and Indian.

“I’ve never seen that in media before so I thought it was quite interesting to put forward.”

The judging panels who selected this year’s finalists out of hundreds of entries represent some of the world’s most successful games companies, including IO Interactive and TT Games.

For Tanisi, reaching this year’s final of the BAFTA Young Game Designers Competition isn’t her first taste of success.

In fact, last year the teenager won the Game Concept 10-14 category for The Undead, a horror game concept where players wander a zombie-infested world and embark on a quest to find their missing family.

As winners saw their games showcased at the Science Museum in London, the Science and Industry Museum in Manchester, and the National Science and Media Museum in Bradford, winning gave Tanisi a huge confidence boost to share her creative ideas.

“It was nerve-wracking seeing it on the page for BAFTA because I’m not used to posting my art online,” Tanisi said.

“I felt shy about showcasing my art before.”

This year’s winners of the BAFTA Young Game Designers Competition will be announced on June 18 in a ceremony streamed live on the BAFTAs YouTube channel.

Winning entries will be judged on their design and suitability for their chosen platform, with the aim of encouraging participants into games careers, and making the industry more accessible to young talent.