Bath student’s adventure video game wins national prize

A computer science student from the University of Bath has been named as one of the UK’s best student game developers.

Salmaan Zhang won an award in the Games with Purpose category at the Games Innovation Challenge 2024.

Mr Zhang submitted his game Guilt For Dreaming, an adventure that delves into the dreams and nightmares of the protagonist’s mind as they meet faces from their past and rekindle lost passions they once had.

He said the prize had “spurred me on” to become a professional developer.

The challenge asked students to create the “most innovative game” in just eight weeks.

Submitted entries were shortlisted and then judged by industry experts in several categories and against a number of criteria, including technical quality, look and feel, entertainment, innovation, social impact and marketability.

The winners are awarded a prize of £500.

Mr Zhang’s game stood out to the judges as it allowed players to embark on an inner journey through the dreams and nightmares of the past, reclaiming lost passions and saving themselves from a bleak future.

He said: “Guilt for Dreaming is a mostly nonviolent video game that explores themes of mental health, friendship and identity.

“I wanted to make a game that explored mental health in a more PG-friendly way as most games often approach it as a fairly heavy and dark subject matter.

“Balancing my time between studying, working on my dissertation and making the game was tricky, but it was great being able to use my programming skills to do something I really enjoy.”

Mr Zhang said he was now planning to begin another much larger game project and he hoped to turn his skill for game development into a career.

He said: “Game design is one of my lifelong passions and was one of the reasons I chose to study computer science.

“This prize has spurred me on to make my dream of becoming a professional games developer a reality.”