A COMPUTER game development company based in East Linton has marked its 10th birthday by lifting a video games BAFTA.

4J Studios, which is based both in the county village and in Dundee, was celebrating last Thursday after clinching a 2015 British Academy Games Award at a glitzy ceremony in London, hosted by comedian Rufus Hound.

The company, which employs 18 people, lifted the Games: Family in 2015 award for Minecraft: Console Editions.

Paddy Burns, chief technology officer, was delighted to lift the award.

He told the Courier: “It was quite a surprise because we were up against quite a few good games in that category.

“We were hoping for the best but were pretty sure either Mario Kart 8 or The LEGO Movie Videogame were going to get it.

“So we were quite surprised when Minecraft was read out.” Minecraft allows players to build a 3D world using cubes and, unusually for a modern game, uses basic, blocky-type graphics.

The game has sold more than 30 million copies across the globe.

Since being released on the X-Box 360 three years ago, it has never dropped out of the top 10 in the computer game sales charts and still sits proudly at number four.

As well as The LEGO Movie Videogame and Mario Kart 8, it beat off competition from the teams behind LittleBigPlanet 3, Skylanders Trap Team and Twelve a Dozen to lift the award in London last Thursday night.

The awards were being streamed live on Twitch but the online feed went down just as Paddy took to the stage, only to then return as he wrapped up his speech.

He said: “We thanked Mojang, whose game it is, for trusting us to put it on consoles, and thanked Microsoft, Sony and the 4J team. We also thanked our partners for putting up with us because there have been some long hours.” 4J Studios was formed 10 years ago shortly after Paddy moved into East Linton.

He previously worked for VIS Entertainment, in Edinburgh, when the publisher which owned VIS went into administration.

Together with Chris van der Kuyl and Frank Arnot, he bought back the assets of the previous VIS studio in Dundee and set up 4J Studios.

Since then, the company has grown to employ half a dozen people in East Linton, with a further 12 in Dundee.

Paddy explained that East Linton had proven an ideal location, with improved broadband convincing him the business had a long-term future in the village.

He added: “My commute in the morning is about 30 seconds.

“When there have been problems in America or Japan, no matter the time, I can go and get it fixed without having to travel into Edinburgh.

“It does not feel like 10 years, though, it feels about two and a half.” And he hopes to expand the business further as he looks to attract a dozen more computer programmers to keep up with the demand of the multi-million-selling game.

He added: “I could do with it growing down here up to about 20 people.”