BAFTA winning legend could be joining John Moores

A BAFTA winning hero could be studying at John Moores very soon. 

Jack Mills has been receiving a lot of attention in the press recently. He is one of the youngest people to win a BAFTA – for making a video game.

Surprisingly enough, the awards aren’t only presented to filmmakers and actors. Jack has been presented with a BAFTA Game Making Award as part of the Young Game Designers Awards Ceremony for his latest project Utopia of Rhythm.

The legend spoke to The Tab about his award-winning game and his hopes for the future, including student life at John Moores.

Avid gamer Jack Mills, 17, of Wavertree, felt “ecstatic” to have won the BAFTA. “I was also very surprised, as I only entered the competition as part of a project in my Creative Media BTEC.”

Jack with his creation

Utopia of Rhythm is a platform game where players must avoid traps and obstacles, which change level after level to the tempo of the background music.

It took Jack about two months to design and create Utopia of Rhythm. He worked on it in school – during both Creative Media lessons and his independent study periods: “This also includes concept art and evidence of ideas development, as well as other materials such as a production log. Creating the game itself was only a fraction of that time.”

There are multiple games that influenced the concept of his award-winning game. “In terms of gameplay, the wide array of rhythm games I enjoy such as osu!, Melody’s Escape, Guitar Hero, Beat Hazard and Rhythm Paradise were all factors in my decision to make the gameplay rhythm-based.”

The title is only a working title inspired by the existing game Rhythm Paradise. Jack said he’ll probably change the title if he takes the project any further.

Snazzy

The student wishes to visit Japan in the near future, as his favourite genre of game is Japanese Role Playing.

The teen’s favourite video game is Xenoblade Chronicles. He said: “It’s considered by many to be the pinnacle of the Japanese Role Playing Game genre. I would say that Atlus is one of my favourite publishers, as I’m a large fan of the Shin Megami Tensei franchise, especially the Persona games.”

As his prize, Jack gets to visit the homes of Google, Sony, and other successful companies but he’s keen to keep an open mind about where he wants to work after he graduates.

But it turns out he came up with another game idea a few months ago: “I don’t have a title for the game yet, but it involves playing the same level in two different time periods – modern day society and the cretaceous period – simultaneously, and being able to switch time periods at any time to exploit the differences between them and reach the end.”

Can I have a certificate too?

The almost-fresher has decided what and where he wants to complete further education. Jack would like to study Computer Games Development at LJMU after completing his current BTEC at The Studio School.

The Liverpool student has now finished Year 12 and will be firming LJMU when he formally applies to universities through UCAS next year.

When we asked why he wants to study at LJMU, he said: “I can’t afford to go to university away from home. LJMU is very convenient in this case as it is local and I won’t need to stay in accommodation.

“LJMU offers the exact course I would like to study, which few other universities offer. This course is a specialised subject I have always been interested in.”

As we expect, joining the gaming society is a priority for Jack, but he’s also considering joining the anime society as he’s a fan of having that on his monitor too.