Here is the official post regarding this years SAGA Winners from the Button Festival. You can check out all the pictures from the Button right here. We as Game Dev Graz would like to thank everyone for participating and congratulations to the winners!
Grand Price
Space Cowboy by ILIKESCIFI Games
Discover, explore, and survive a cozy pixel-art galaxy in your own tiny spaceship. Embrace the VANLIFE feeling by living in, repairing, upgrading, and managing your ship. The most minimalistic space simulation ever — in this universe!
Local Star Award powered by Fachgruppe UBIT Steiermark
Pale Coins by Lukas Irzl
Pale Coins is a hand-pixeled Action RPG where players explore the open kingdom of Grenmark with no quest markers and no handholding. Soulslike combat, branching quests, and loot-driven progression reward players who take risks and uncover secrets. Whether through clever builds or determination, progress is defined by the allies you make, weapons you find, and how you choose to fight your foes.
Roguefall is a fast-paced action rogue-lite about exploration, growth, and descent. Scavenge a world almost forgotten under the guidance of the Overseer, improving your build with every fall. Everything leads toward the final machine, whether you are meant to reach it or not.
** Grand Prize ** * Local Star Award powered by Fachgruppe UBIT Steiermark * * Audience Choice Award *
The StyriAn Games Awards – SAGA – give local indie game developers the opportunity to present their games and be rewarded. From all submissions, there will be five named finalists selected by a jury, that will be presenting their games at this years button Festival.
Deadlines:
January 16, Submission Deadline March 6th-7th, Award Ceremony @ button Festival
The Phil Gosch Award of Absurd Game Innovations honors the memory of Phil Gosch, who shaped the Austrian game development community with his humor, passion for experiments, and love for the weird, quirky, and creative. This year we award this prize for the first time. Learn more:
Journey into the ruthless open world of Pale Coins, an old-school fantasy RPG. Face punishing bosses, goblin-infested dungeons, and discover legendary weapons as you customize your champion and fight across Grenmark for the fabled Champion’s Coin.
Roguefall is an action rogue-lite following a lost player guided by the enigmatic Overseer to scavenge a world almost forgotten. Fight, explore, collect, and fall until you reach the final machine: 0VR5R.
Descend into a crumbling world filled with remnants of the past and watched over by curious wildlife and ancient constructs. Test your skills in procedurally generated dungeons made of meticulously hand-crafted rooms.
Venture deeper to uncover lost shops, gather ores and mysterious essences, awaken dormant machines, and dismantle wandering drones to gain an edge on your journey. Upgrade mysterious machines that grant permanent buffs. Equip five unique weapons, each with its own playstyle, and collect over 50 treasures with special effects. Modify treasures at ruined machines to tailor them to your strategy. Level up and spend points on attributes that suit your playstyle.
Face 0VR5R, the final machine, an intricately designed boss that will challenge your skill and strategy. What awaits after its defeat?
Currently I am working every free minute on a longtime project of mine, Space Cowboy! The game combines a top down space exploration game with procedurally generated platformer sequences on planets and space stations. Be the captain of your own pixel spaceship, discover new galaxies, trade, jump ‘n’ gun, fly space races, gamble in space saloons and be like a leaf on the wind… 😉 In short: It’s a pixel art spaceship in your pocket!
• A unique mix of top down space exploration, platformer & survival “lite” • Fly, Survive & Live in your own Pixel Spaceship • Collect a bunch of pixel spaceships • Listen to different space radio stations from Stoner Rock to Electro Folk • 100 percent SUPER – SCIFI – FANMADE
I wanted to create this game for 30 years. I think I had the basic idea with 12 years in 1994 or so. Highly inspired by Han Solo & Chewbacca of Star Wars. I wanted to play their adventures!
Pixel Art Space Exploration and “Living in your spaceship” Simulation
Weblab is a child-friendly puzzle game about building the internet! It was created in collaboration with Visuelles.xyz, Netidee and the technical museum of Vienna, where it is currently displayed. In 2026 it will also be released to the public as a standalone web version! Weblab aims to explain the footprint and infrastructure of the internet. With whimsical cutscenes and as little as possible text it is intended as an experience for the younger crowd; 7-12 years. Playfully explore what is necessary to keep our phones, cars, computers,… going in our little puzzle game and dive deeper into each individual part of the internet in our factbook.
Toni’s Turbo Tunnel is a fast-paced one-button shoot ’em up, where you either hit your shots or they come back to hit you. Compete for the best score in new challenges every day. Simple, quick and quite challenging.
Here are this year’s winners! Congratulations to the winners chosen by our jury and the audience!
Grand Prize
Electric Alps by Dirty Paws Studio
Electric Alps is a 2D puzzle game based on real-world electrical engineering. Explore the flow of electricity, design your circuitry, blow fuses and solve logic-based wiring problems. Power up your village and electrify the Alps, one circuit at a time.
Blockfusion is a deceptively simple puzzle game about fusing blocks with each other. With a new twist around every corner, how far can you go? All packaged in a premium mobile game with no predatory monetization.
What would happen if Castlevania: Symphony of the Night and Quake had a baby?
Explore a giant castle filled with monsters. Find new gear, weapons and powerups and fight to grow stronger. End the demon king’s reign and avenge your father.
We are once again organizing a site in Graz for the Global Game Jam this year. It will be held on January 24-26, hosted at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz), at Inffeldgasse 13, HS i8 and i9, 8010, Graz.
A game jam is an event that brings together game developers, designers, artists, and enthusiasts to create games from scratch in a limited time frame (usually 48 hours). Whether you’re a seasoned game developer or just passionate about gaming, a game jam offers an exciting opportunity to unleash your creativity, experiment with new ideas, and connect with like-minded individuals in a fun and inspiring environment. The goal is to create a game together with others, but due to the limited time frame, the goal is not necessarily a finished game, but the journey; to learn something new, to meet people to cooperate further in the future, and so on.
Schedule
Friday, January 24
17:00 Start and Theme Announcement; Team-Finding afterwards
~18:00 – 23:00 | working on the games
Saturday, January 25
08:00 – 23:00 | working on the games
Sunday, January 26
08:00 – 17:00 | working on the games
FAQ
Can I participate even if I have no prior experience making games? Yes! Absolutely. No worries ff this is your first time making games or joining a game jam. In fact, a game jam like this one is a great opportunity to get into game dev and work together with other people.
Can I come with a pre-made team? Yes! If you and your friends or other folks already come prepared that’s fine with us.
Can I make a game all by myself or do I have to join a team? Both is fine. We’re gonna have a brainstorming and teamfinding phase at the beginning to help people find a team they wanna join, but we’re not gonna force anyone to do so.
Here are this year’s winners! Congratulations to the winners chosen by our jury and the audience!
Grand Prize and Audience Choice Award
VR Giants by Risa Interactive
VR Giants is a local coop VR game in which one VR player and one gamepad player work together. The VR player controls a giant and must protect and support the tiny player who is controlled by the screen player. The tiny player can use the body of the giant as an extension of the level.
🥇🥈VR Giants won the SAGA Grand Price and the Audience Choice Award presented by @GameDevGraz at the @button_Festival in Graz last weekend. Thanks to the jury, all organizers and everyone who voted for VR Giants. 🥳 pic.twitter.com/dfdt5XwQVH
— VR Giants – 🎮 on Steam June 14th 🕹️ (@vrgiants) March 11, 2024
Local Star Award
Sisypush by Centi Games
Sisypush is a 1-bit puzzle game inspired by Sokoban games. Push rocks and other objects to clear the path to the final goal in each level! Play as Sisyphus from Ancient Greek mythology, who got punished to push a rock for eternity in the underworld after having cheated Death twice. While this game does not go on for eternity, you can play over 70 different levels with varying difficulties, each level having the goal of pushing the white rock into the goal tile.
🎉SISYPUSH WON @GameDevGraz 's SAGA LOCAL STAR AWARD!!!!🎉
We are once again organizing a site in Graz for the Global Game Jam this year. It will be held on January 26-28, hosted at Graz University of Technology (TU Graz), at Inffeldgasse 13, HS i8 and i9, 8010, Graz.
A game jam is an event that brings together game developers, designers, artists, and enthusiasts to create games from scratch in a limited time frame (usually 48 hours). Whether you’re a seasoned game developer or just passionate about gaming, a game jam offers an exciting opportunity to unleash your creativity, experiment with new ideas, and connect with like-minded individuals in a fun and inspiring environment. The goal is to create a game together with others, but due to the limited time frame, the goal is not necessarily a finished game, but the journey; to learn something new, to meet people to cooperate further in the future, and so on.
Schedule
Friday, January 26
17:00 Start and Theme Announcement; Team-Finding afterwards
~18:00 – 00:00 | working on the games
Saturday, January 27
09:00 – 00:00 | working on the games
Sunday, January 28
09:00 – 17:00 | working on the games
More detailed schedule coming soon…
FAQ
Can I participate even if I have no prior experience making games? Yes! Absolutely. No worries ff this is your first time making games or joining a game jam. In fact, a game jam like this one is a great opportunity to get into game dev and work together with other people.
Can I come with a pre-made team? Yes! If you and your friends or other folks already come prepared that’s fine with us.
Can I make a game all by myself or do I have to join a team? Both is fine. We’re gonna have a brainstorming and teamfinding phase at the beginning to help people find a team they wanna join, but we’re not gonna force anyone to do so.
Do I have to make a game for the jam or can I also bring my own and keep working on that one? Sure you can! While the jam will be focused on making new game from scratch we’re fine with you coming by and use the opportunity, being surrounded by people and all, to keep working on your own game.
It is with great sadness and heavy hearts that we write this letter to pay tribute and express our eternal gratitude to Philipp Gosch, our vice president and founding member of the association Game Development Graz and an integral part of the Austrian and international game development scene. But most importantly, to our dear friend, who was suddenly taken from our midst.
Phil was known for his contagious enthusiasm, multifaceted talents, extraordinarily kind heart, and his always fun attitude. Not only was he a foundational pillar of Game Dev Graz, but also a driving force behind bringing the community together, spreading knowledge, and organizing events like our local game jams and the Game Dev Days.
Phil was a skilled and experienced technical artist as well as a seasoned software developer. He was constantly striving for innovation, and his expertise seemingly had no boundaries, while also being eager and willing to share his knowledge with others.
Even more importantly however, beyond his professional achievements, he was an exceptional individual who enriched the lives of everyone who met him, from all around the world.
Phil’s departure leaves a deep void, and we are still in shock and mourning at this surreal loss. He was a core part of our community; ever helpful, diligent, and kind. Always ready to work hard and get things done for our shared vision, while always enjoying the little things along the way. Much laughter, many long project hours and drinks were shared with him over the years, fond memories that we’ll forever hold close to our hearts.
We will always remember his legacy, not only through the games and projects he shared with us, but first and foremost by how much he inspired all of us as a person and just being our friend. He touched the lives of so many, and his memory will be a source of inspiration to all of us.
In the end, there is so much more left to say as we are still lost for words.
You were one of us, Phil, and will forever be missed. We are grateful that we could spend time with you, get to know you, and see you accomplish great things. You left us too early, yet you also left us with so much.
We want to express our deepest condolences to the families and all those who have been touched by this loss. We console ourselves with the thought that Phil and Michi have shared the most beautiful time together in their last days as newlyweds, and we know that they will be remembered forever.
