Having that kind of broad scope knowledge of sounds is as important as the making and recording of them.”
the major things that pushed me towards applying... BAFTA can seem like a scary entity and intimidating, but my experience of being around people involved in BAFTA has been nothing like that. It’s been more real and down-to-earth than I could have imagined.” A game’s sound design is so important in not only telling its story but also engaging the player in the action, whatever the genre. Often audio works on a subliminal level, helping the player to imagine the scene without really fully noticing it. “There are lots of different ways to get from A to B,” remarks McCutcheon. “It’s partly about understanding the psychological side of getting to those points. It’s also about the different creative ways of doing things, associations people have with certain sounds and so on.
JOURNEYÔS END The ultimate goal of any games practitioner, no matter what level they are at, is to create something that is enjoyed by as many people as possible. Financial and critical success are always rewarding too, but it’s the quality of the games themselves that really matter and is the foundation that BAFTA’s Games Awards have been built upon. Creating art is rarely easy, and the journey to get there can be filled with unseen perils and seemingly insurmountable barriers, but as any creator (or, indeed, anyone who plays the games) will tell you, the end result can be life-changing. “The Games Awards was one of the best days of my life,” concludes Antoniades. “A lot of it was because of the team we had there – it was incredible to share it with the people I felt deserved it. Beyond that night, I didn’t know if anything would change, but everything has changed enormously. It’s opened up doors for us that I never thought possible. We have the respect of people in the wider world outside of games and that means we can work with organisations like Parliament or the NHS. I feel like it’s given us so much responsibility to make good on this opportunity to grow. It really is a wonderful gift.” •
Join BAFTA on your own journey. Visit: www.bafta.org/about/membership Opposite page: Rory McCutcheon with some of his fellow 2018 BAFTA scholars. This page, above: McCutcheon at the Scholarships reception at BAFTA 195. Right: Antoniades with three of Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice’s five BAFTAs
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