THREE teenage friends are heading to a swanky BAFTA awards ceremony after coming up with a novel video game idea.

Adam Mehta, Daniel Lee and Owen Hickman, all 18, have featured the unlikely combination of space pirates and a good brew in their idea for a game, which has now been shortlisted for a national award.

The game, Where’s My Tea?, takes the era of colonial Britain into outer space. Players have to defend their cargoes of tea in battles with space pirates and can increase their chances of successfully delivering their tea by modifying their space ship as they go and employing new alien crew members, each with their own playing style.

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Adam and Daniel, from Bradford, and Owen, from Leeds, all go to Elliott Hudson College in Leeds.

The trio developed their game design in their spare time and said it was a “real honour” to be shortlisted for the award.

In a joint statement, they said: “Games designing gives you free rein to let your imagination take you in any direction.

“The possibilities are endless and that’s what makes it so exciting.

“To have our games concepts recognised by an organisation like BAFTA is a real honour and has inspired us all to develop our design skills further.”

If they win the competition, a team of games industry experts will help them develop their concept into a fully playable game prototype.

BAFTA (The British Academy of Film and Television Arts ) run awards for the computer games industry as well as the world-famous ceremonies honouring the film and television industries.

Where’s My Tea? fought off tough competition from hundreds of entries across the UK to be shortlisted in the games concept (15 to 18) category of the BAFTA Young Game Designers awards.

The awards are now in their sixth year and give young people the chance to design and create their own game.

Previous entrants have gone on to attract commercial interest, as well as nominations at the British Academy Games Awards, BAFTA’s flagship ceremony for the games industry.

Nick Button-Brown, chairman of the BAFTA games committee, said: “Each year I’m truly inspired by the amazing games that we see and the talent, creativity and enthusiasm that all our entrants show.

“I never fail to be humbled by how much better their work is than what I could do at their age.

“The entrants to this competition will help to define the future of the games industry, and I for one look forward to seeing what they come up with and playing their games.”