CREATIVE media students are helping to develop online games to spread safety messages to the digital generation.

Darlington College students are working with North-East web company Pixel Media Design targeting children aged five to 12.

One game, Pixel Run, takes young gamers on a four-level journey in the company of an avatar called Pixel, a husky dog in a suit. If he dies on his adventure, the player has to answer an internet safety question to have Pixel restored.

The first level takes a general look at internet safety with gamers tackling the issue of strangers ‘phishing’ for personal details. Level 3 looks at cookies and the dangers of the dark web.

Pixel is being developed by creative media, technology and production students.

“The games have a theme which will make the children more likely to listen to the messages,” said Ayla Wilkinson. “Danger is always going to approach the children so it is important that they learn how to handle it.”

Robert Proctor, Amber Stevenson and Ethan Craggs, are developing another game called Pixel Panic.

For Robert, the project is particularly poignant as his family was targeted by internet scammers.

“We were approached by a hacker claiming to be from Microsoft,” he said. “His story seemed plausible, his emails looked like Microsoft and it was only when he asked us to set up a PayPal account so he could give us a ‘refund’ that the alarm bells sounded.

“The contact downloaded a virus so we had to completely reset the computer and cancels credit cards.

"It was a close call.”