15. – 16. March 2019 :: Seifenfabrik Graz
On 15-16 March 2019, the button Festival will return to Graz for 2 days of gaming culture.
This year with Game Dev Graz will organize many subevents and programme points:
- Talking Dev :: Talks from Game Dev Professionals (Friday evening 2nd floor, free entry)
- Meet’n’Play :: Local Game and Indie Game Exhibitions -Talk to Local Developers (all day in Game Dev Area)
- SAGA Award :: First Styrian Games Award will be presented at Button Festival!
Schedule:
Friday:
- 15:00 – 03:00 Meet’n’Play – Play local games! – loc::GAME DEV AREA
- 19:00 – 21:00 TALKING DEV EXTRA EVENT – loc::2nd floor!
Saturday:
- 10:00 – 22:00 Meet’n’ Play – Play local games! – loc::GAME DEV AREA
- 19:00 SAGA AWARDS – Main Stage
Talking Dev @ button 2019:
Special Event: Friday, 15.3. 19:00 – 21:00: TALKING DEVS
Free Entry!
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- 18:45 – Door opens.
- 19:00 – Official Opening
- 19:00 Klemens Franz: Storytelling in Analogue Games
- 19:45 Wolfgang Tschauko (SAGA Alumni): How the SAGA Award sparked my career
- 20:15 Hector Moran: Character Design Principles And The Modern Remote Work Opportunities
Speaker: Hector Moran
Hector is a Freelance Character Artist from Mexico living in Austria. He has been working in the graphics and video games industry for more than a decade, much of that time as Lead Artist, later as Head of Art, and later as Freelancer.
Speaker: Klemens Franz
“Storytelling in Analogue Games” What we can learn from new narrative trends in an old medium
Klemens Franz was born in Graz. He studied at the University of Applied Sciences, Graz „Information Management“ and at the University of Tampere, Finland „Digital Games Research and Design“. For six years he worked as an Assistant for New Media at the FH Joanneum. In 2007 he started illustrating and designing analogue games. Since then he has worked on more than 250 games. He’s married, has 5 children and lives in the south-east of Austria.
Speaker: Wolfgang Tschauko (VR Giants):
“How the SAGA Award sparked my Career”
Meet’n’Play:: Here is a list of games which will be showcased at the game exhibition @ button 2019:
Accidently Awesome presents Pixel Soldier
Have a look at the game here.
Wolfgang Tschauko presents VR Giants
VR Giants is a local coop VR game in which one VR player and on gamepad player work together. The VR player controls a giant and must protect and support the dwarf who is controlled by the gamepad player. To solve the puzzles good communication and teamwork is demanded.
Have a look at the game here.
Follow the Feathers presents Weaving Tides
Weaving Tides is an isometric singleplayer adventure for PC/Mac. Ride dragon-like creatures and use their ribbon tail to stitch up torn areas in a completely woven world. Tie down quirky mobs and pull the right strings to master puzzles while you’re on your quest to unravel the whereabouts of your parents. Currently in alpha, planned release in Q1 2020.
Have a look at the game here.
Rarebyte presents We are screwed!
Have a look at the game here.
Tunadragon Studios present Summonent
A F2P Trading Card Game ARPG. We combine the best of all worlds with an infinite amount of cards and some innovation in gameplay. No waiting around for your opponent to finish his turn.
SAGA Finalists:: These five games will be exhibited in the Game Dev area as well @ button 2019:
SAGA Award :: Second Styrian Games Award will be presented at Button Festival!
You can vote for the finalists to get the Audience Choice Award at the Game Dev area. The awards will be announced on Saturday at 20:00.
International Jury:
Ivan Buchta, Bohemia Interactive, Czech Republic
Tara J. Brannigan, 5CA, Netherlands
Saku Lehtinen, Remedy Entertainment, Finland
Sithe Ncube, Ubongo Game Lab, A MAZE Johannesburg, Zambia
Philomena Schwab, Stray Fawn Studio, Switzerland
Get to know the five SAGA finalists here:
Title: Hamlet’s Breed (playpublic)
Hamlet’s Breed is an AR Game where you meet real people which long time ago passed away, depending on your geo-location
“Death divides us, Hamlet’s Breed unites us. AR for the gone.”
Title: WHAT WE LEAVE BEHIND
WHAT WE LEAVE BEHIND is a story-driven roguelike game with point-and-click adventure elements. The game is set in a fictional japanese city where time and space are out of balance. Thus, time only moves when the player moves and the characters and layout of the city change randomly everytime the player dies. To escape this violent place, the player has to either sneak around enemies or fight them by combining items to create chain reactions. Furthermore, all characters have their own branching dialogue and talking to them may result in them joining forces with the player. Characters will remember how the player treats them and interacting with their storylines will have an influence on the final ending of the game.
Title: Fantastic Fetus (Fantastic Humans)
Fantastic Fetus is a pregnancy simulator in a Tamagotchi style, where you are taking care of a pregnant woman and create your own dream fetus with SUPERPOWERS. You as a player will be able to create an enormous number of unique customised fetuses and unlock 6 different endings according to your decisions.
Fantastic Fetus is inspired by the Black Protest movement in Poland which was provoked by the new proposition of reproductions laws created in 2016 – the anti-abortion bill. Polish reproduction laws are next to Malta the strictest anti-abortion laws existing in the European Union. This game will let you experience a female perspective.
Title: Sikanda (Dyadic Games)
Sikanda is a 3D top-down Action-Adventure with RPG elements, inspired by famous Japanese SNES classics of the 90s. The game takes place on a fantasy island called “Galintrea” and tells the story of a young hero who incidentially found an ancient pendant named “Sikanda”. Throughout the adventure, the hero acquires several skills for “Sikanda” to transform it into powerful weapons and tools. All of them are invaluable instruments in order to fight their way through dungeons and encountering fierce enemies. As the very existence of the island gets threatened by a group of sinister strangers, the hero not only will have to accept that “Sikanda” is the only way to stop them but also that there is a connection between their world, the ancient relic and the hero’s own fate.
Title: Kemono Heroes (Mad Gear Games)
Join 3 friends in an arcade-platformer game like those you used to play in the arcade rooms. Every character has different abilities and there are different weapons to unlock and upgrade. You’ll also fight giant monsters at the end of each world, beat them and reach the final boss before the time goes up and the curse becomes permanent!
Get to know the five SAGA finalists of the previous year 2018. here: SAGA 2018
and also the finalists of 2017: SAGA 2017
The number of game releases is skyrocketing. As a result, reaching players and getting media, Youtube and streamer coverage is becoming simultaneously more important and more difficult. This is especially true for small teams with limited resources who must pick their PR battles wisely. This talk will pinpoint the most effective means of communicating with press and players, and will provide tools and tips for small teams and solo developers to apply to their games in order to be heard internationally.
homas Reisenegger works at the Brighton-based PR and consulting agency ICO Partners as a PR manager for games such as ‘League of Legends’, ‘Smite’, ‘Paladins’, ‘Endless Space 2’ and various indie games like ‘The Lion’s Song’ ‘Blackwood Crossing’, or ‘A Normal Lost Phone’. He also likes sharing tips of the fine art of PR by giving talks at events such as GDC, IndieCade Europe and Digital Taipei. In his free time, he enjoys going to gigs (a lot) and tries to be Scott Pilgrim (even more).
The developers of Uncanny Valley discuss how the game was a moderate success, even with their inexperienced development process of compromising ideas to release the game and marketing it with a zero budget.
nt titles. One of the titles, Uncanny Valley, was received with positive criticism and good sales on Steam and was later ported to Playstation 4, Vita and Xbox One. Currently he is working as a junior Game Designer at an Austrian company Bongfish, where he is developing an unannounced AAA game. In addition he is continuing his indie career by creating a new game called Jim the Dim Reaper.
Danilo Kapel is a Slovenian based composer and sound designer, known for his work on the indie survival horror game Uncanny Valley by Cowardly Creations and Kresnik, an award winning series of short films based on Slavic mythology. He is currently shaping the soundscape and music of Cowardly Creations next project, Jim the Dim Reaper
A Hole New World: A Hole New World is a 2D platform arcade game with NES aesthetics and today’s playability. Play as the Potion Master and his companion Fäy through different worlds in their quest to send all the demons back to their own dimension as they gain new powers and discover the ultimate fate of their lives.
hly entertaining, well-designed and outstanding due to their smart gameplay. The people behind the company originally met as a team of enthusiastic game programmers and artists back in 1999, officially forming the company in 2006, after having gained a lot of experience from both contract work and realization of their own ideas. The first game, Waterstorm, a submarine multiplayer shooter, was released in early 2008. Additionally, Rarebyte was contracted to lead the Macintosh port of the backcountry snowboarding game Drop Point: Alaska, which was released in February 2008. Furthermore, the company has also been developing games for coin-operated touchscreen entertainment machines as well as technology for recent video game consoles. With 10 years in the gaming industry and 25+ titles released we are a reliable partner for game development on all major platforms.
confronted with statements regarding to topics like Math, Geographie or Famous People. It is up to you to distinguish whether these statements are correct or incorrect by swiping up or down. 
You play as Groopert and Groopine, two poor creatures who where trapped and torn apart. You have to help them escape by navigating them through different stages of a labyrinth via swiping. Since they are deeply connected, they always move at the same time, but contrary to each other. This doesn’t seem like a problem at first, but gets pretty tricky when obstacles like stones, holes, portals or accelerator-pads come into play. The game is currently in development and will be released this year for iPhone, iPad and Apple TV.
The great Journey of Paperman is a 2D puzzle adventure game, where you play Paperman and want to get back home. This game was made for the lecture “Game Design and Development” at Graz University of Technology, considering the diversifier “hatespeech”.
obile device and start your adventure. Choose your class and walk through your city…and yes, YOU have to walk :-). But take care, your environment has changed: skeletons, vampires, mighty dragons and many other creatures are now in the near. Your hero can battle against those in tactical turn-based battles and receive epic loot. Level-up and learn new abilities with your character to beat the final boss. More features: tactical turn-based battles, user-generated content, resources, boss-fights, crafting system
Pocket Code is a free Android app that allows you to create your own game apps in a visual, “LEGO-style” programming environment. Pocket Code is inspired by MIT’s Scratch but independently developed and entirely running on smartphones and tablets – no Laptop or PC whatsoever is needed to create or execute your games. With Pocket Code you can super easily create games, animations, or music videos, taking advantage of multi-touch, built-in sensors such as face detection or inclination sensors, and the full display resolution of your device. It also allows wirelessly controlling external hardware such as Arduino boards, Lego Mindstorms robots, or Parrot’s AR.Drone. Pocket Code allows you to download programs that others have made and upload programs to the Web, all under free open source licenses to foster learning, sharing, and remixing. Thus Pocket Code encourages tinkering and allows you to iteratively and cooperatively create your own apps, either alone or together with your friends. And your own first app can be running in less than one minute!
The JAM GAME: JELLY. ACTION. MADNESS. Jump in and start running! It’s only you, your friend and loads of jelly. Who can stay on the table the longest? In this fast-paced arcade game for two players on one tablet, each player controls a jar of jam and must try to be the last one on the breakfast table. Collect fruits, leave slippery jam trails, and push the other player’s jar over the edge. Lovingly crafted with hand-drawn graphics and joyous music, this is a game for all ages, providing short rounds of fun.
Don’t bug me is a local multiplayer racing game. Up to 5 people gather around one keyboard at the same time and try to be just that little bit faster than the other 4. The game is fast paced and funnily confusing when all the players try to hit keys arranged far too close to the opponents keys and fight for their space and rank in the bug race. In the game you choose a bug and try to reach the goal by pressing the key displayed for your bug to make it run faster.
player for two players playing with a splitscreen. You need to find and catch the other player in this creepy castle
