Could people with mental health conditions one day use video games to help manage their symptoms? It is a question that Tameem Antoniades, creative director of UK games developer Ninja Theory, and Paul Fletcher, a psychiatrist at the University of Cambridge, aim to answer as part of The Insight Project. The pair previously collaborated on Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, a video game that has won accolades for its portrayal of the experience of psychosis. As they developed the game, they wondered whether video games could also be used to measure and modify people's mental distress, and have now begun prototyping games based on biometric signals. "Instead of using a game controller, we are using your physiology," says Antoniades.

Modern motion-capture systems are the product of a century of tinkering, innovation and computational advances. Mocap was born a lifetime before Gollum hit the big screen in The Lord of the Rings, and ages before the Cold War, Vietnam War or World War II. It was 1915, in the midst of the First World War, when animator Max Fleischer developed a technique called rotoscoping and laid the foundation for today's cutting-edge mocap technology. Rotoscoping was a primitive and time-consuming process, but it was a necessary starting point for the industry. In the rotoscope method, animators stood at a glass-topped desk and traced over a projected live-action film frame-by-frame, copying actors' or animals' actions directly onto a hand-drawn world.

Detroit: Become Human, the latest game from David Cage and Quantic Dream, releases this week on PlayStation 4. A story about humanity's future relationship with artificial intelligence, it aims to confront our feelings on empathy and how we treat those who are different to us. But Cage is not the only developer with thoughts on AI. Tameem Antoniades, chief creative director at Ninja Theory, finds the subject fascinating, and has a very different idea for how games could explore and make use of it. "I am interested in AI a lot, because finally we're breaking through," Antoniades tells us. "AI technology has basically been in the doldrums for 30 or 40 years with very little in the way of advancement, and finally we're getting really good results - eye-opening results. I think I'd like to explore where AI can go and use AI technology to build that experience."

The best games of the year have been revealed by Bafta. While Hellblade took the most awards over the academy's big awards night, the top prize went to Edith Finch. Action-adventure game Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, which focuses on the main character's battle with psychosis, won five Baftas at the industry awards. The game, which follows a Celtic warrior's struggle with the condition and was developed with input from neuroscientists, picked up the awards for artistic achievement, British game and game beyond entertainment. It also triumphed in the audio achievement category, while actress Melina Juergens won the performer award for her role as protagonist Senua.

Hellblade: Senua's Sacrifice, a dark mythological adventure that follows a young warrior suffering from psychosis, was the big winner at the 2018 Bafta video game awards on Thursday night at Tobacco Dock, London. The game, which was developed in conjunction with psychologists and neuroscientists to ensure its accurate depiction of mental illness, was nominated in nine categories and won for best British game, best performance, artistic achievement, audio achievement and a new category, games beyond entertainment, which celebrates new releases with a political or social message. Accepting the latter prize, psychologist Paul Fletcher, a professor of neuroscience at Cambridge University who worked closely with the game's Cambridge-based developer, Ninja Theory, said: "Mental illness is usually characterised by the fact that it's invisible. Working with Ninja Theory has shown me something valuable: games can aspire to and achieve a remarkable exploration of state of the mind and mental suffering." However, the night's biggest award, best game, also provided its biggest shock.

In a makeshift changing room filled with Disney Infinity figures, I strip down to my boxers and pull on a two-part Lycra suit. For years, movie and video game studios have used mocap to bring digital characters to life. A circular, plastic arm wraps around the front of her face, similar to orthodontic headgear, with an LED light strip and cameras fitted on the inside. The cinematics were crafted with motion capture technology developed by Weta Digital, a visual effects company in New Zealand co-owned by Peter Jackson.