Vykintas Každailis with his team wins two BAFTA awards
The Butterflyers team, made up of five programmers and artists, picked up "Ones to Watch" prize at the BAFTA Videogames Awards Ceremony in London, and also the Best Game prize at the BAFTA Scotland New Talent Awards in Glasgow for their game‘Shrunk’– an imaginative and unusual fantasy in which the player is reduced to the size of a salt shaker to battle against Dr Shockalot to rescue the Kleinoscope– a device which reduces the world around you at will. Butterflyers’ team leader Vykintas Každailis, son of the well known Lithuanian artist Arvydas Každailis, said:“We’re overwhelmed, but so happy. The competition was so tough and the other teams were just brilliant. To win one BAFTA is very special, but to win two in one night is just fantastic."
Vykintas was present in London with team-mates Andrew Macdonald, Jacek Wernikowski, Stuart Kemp, and Michael Cummings to receive the“Ones to Watch” BAFTA, while close friend Iain Smith attended the BAFTA Scotland event in Glasgow to receive the Best Game trophy on The Butterflyers’ behalf.
There was a surprising twist to the London ceremony, because winning team member Andrew Macdonald had in fact designed the“Ones to Watch” trophy three years ago when the award was first established.
“To be nominated for the Ones to Watch award and receive recognition in front of the leading lights of the international computer games industry is a fantastic accolade for our students. It is also great news for Abertay and for the city of Dundee, because its clearly states to an international audience that this city is a source of some of the brightest and most exciting new talent to emerge in the computer games industry.
The BAFTA Ones to Watch award was set up in association with Dare to Be Digital in 2006 to celebrate new talent and innovation in the video games industry. Each year, the three winning teams from Abertay’s Dare to be Digital competition become the sole nominees for the BAFTA.
The BAFTA Scotland New Talent Awards is a competition designed for new creative screen industry talent, living and working in Scotland. The awards celebrate new talent in the Scottish industry, highlighting the future talent of Scottish Film, TV and digital.
