Children in Need inspired videogame developed

Three schoolchildren have seen their idea for a new videogame spring to life in just 48 hours as part of a fund-raising effort for Children in Need.

More than 600 pupils in Birmingham pitched ideas for a game to programmers and designers working for Oxygen Accelerator in the city.

Amara Jenkins, aged seven, from Edgbaton, and 11-year-olds Ethan Morgan and Fred Tyseley from Bouneville were the eventual winners with coders taking both of their ideas to produce a title called Whack-A-Cake.

It is similar to the retro classic and arcade staple 'Whac-a-mole' and the board game 'Build a Better Burger'.

Produced by Oxygen which is based at the Birmingham Science Park in Aston, the game is now being sold via the web and on mobile phones, with all proceeds being donated to Children in Need.

Mark Hales, founder and principal of Oxygen Accelerator, said: "Aside from raising money for Children in Need, we wanted to inspire primary school children and let them know that creating computer games could be a potential career option for them a little later in life.

"The game is now online and all proceeds from sales will go straight to Children in Need."

Ethan said: "I can't believe how quickly they did it and now me and all my friends can play it."

The game is available via www.whackacake.com, the Android Market, Chrome Webstore and Openappmkt.