Six to Start's Smokescreen wins SXSW Best Game award

“We wanted to help teens learn about data issues through play, while exploring big ideas such as privacy and surveillance, Orwell and CCTV. The response to Smokescreen has been fantastic," Alice Taylor, commissioning editor at Channel 4 Education, which continues to prove that educational games can also be innovative, entertaining and original.

"Because our game puts players in a simulation situation, we can give them an experience that is both powerful and immersive, and that has lasting impact."

Effectively a mystery game, Smokescreen encourages its players to live life online on a fictional but fully equipped social network called White Smoke, and presents an impressive alternate reality where users can explore websites, search for clues, receive phone calls and chat on IM while tackling issues of trust and privacy.

Adrian Hon, executive producer and chief creative at Six to Start added: “Smokescreen is the world's first game about life online. Every time you hear about a teenager being hauled up at school because of their Facebook profile, or someone being conned out of their password on Twitter - that's what Smokescreen aims to explore. And because our game puts players in a simulation situation, we can give them an experience that is far more powerful and immersive than any other media. Winning an SXSW Web Award is a fantastic recognition of this.”

Smokescreen marks Six to Start’s third SXSW award in two years.

Click here to read Develop's in-depth look at Channel 4's drive to make educational gaming credible.