Button Festival 2017 Recap

Button Festival 2017 Recap

This year, the button: Festival of Gaming Culture took place from May 19 – 20, 2017 at Seifenfabrik Graz. For two days, this event provided the perfect opportunity to discover all aspects of digital and analog gaming culture – visitors could not only try out retro games, board games as well as the newest video and console games but also participate in cosplay competitions and e-sports tournaments and attend expert talks about game development.

As part of this year’s Button Festival,  the first Styrian Game Awards  (SAGA) sponsored by UBIT/WKO and Game Dev Graz were awarded. An international jury has chosen “Drone Swarm” from stillalive studios to be awarded with the grand prize of 1000 €. Moreover, all visitors of the button festival had the chance to play and vote from five selected finalists, out of which Goliath VR by Wolfgang Tschauko won the Audience Choice Award.

Additionally, Game Dev Graz was proud to host the “Talking Dev” series at the button festival, with invited talks from international experts in game development. On Saturday evening, Tadej Kupcic and Danilo Kapel from Cowardly Creations (AT/SLO) started off with their talk “Uncanny Valley – How not to make a game”, followed by Thomas Reisenegger from ICO Partners (UK) who talked about “Games PR for Small Studios: Little Money, Maximum Impact”.  This was concluded by an open discussion panel about “The Future of „Us“ ” with members from Game Development Graz.

All in all, the button festival 2017 once again was a huge success – it offered a lot of valuable experiences in gameplay, insights into game development and definitely showcased the broad variety and engagement of the local community.

We hope to see you next year at button festival 2018!

Header photo by Matthias Rauch, www.mrfoto.at

SAGA Award 2018

SAGA Award 2018

SAGA Award

(StyriAn Games Award)

We’re proud to announce that this year during Button Festival the second SAGA Awards will a total value of EUR 1500 sponsored by UBIT/WKO and Game Dev Graz will be awarded!

See the winners here: SAGA 2018 Winners

Here are the details:

** Grand Prize **
* Audience Choice Award *
* Local Star Award *

There will be five named finalists selected by an international jury for the Grand Prize. Finalists will be given free passes to the Button Festival and space at the festival to present their games. The Audience Choice Award will be voted at the Button Festival by the audience of the festival from the finalists. The Local Star Award will be awarded to the best game from developers from/living in Styria.

Submit your game pitches here: https://goo.gl/forms/LutDN2lgZABHjwHl1
The winners will be announced at the Button Festival.

Criteria: The competition is also open for entries in the prototyping stage, and finalists will be mainly judged based on their potential. Submissions must include a 2-3 minute pitch-video including gameplay of the game. Games must be in a playable stage for the Button Festival and presenting the game live at the button festival.

Open to all independent game developers worldwide. Award winners from previous years are not eligible for-resubmission.

Deadlines:

Feb 14, Submission Deadline
Feb 17, Finalists Announced

March 17, Award Ceremony @ Button Festival (16.-17 in Graz)

International Jury: 

Tara J. Brannigan, Flaregames, DE
Foaad Khosmoos, Global Game Jam, Cal Poly, US
Sithe Ncube, Ubongo Game Lab, A MAZE Johannesburg, Zambia
Dan Da Rocha, Toxic Games, UK
Philomena Schwab, Stray Fawn Studio, CH

Finalists 2018:

SAGA Finalists:: These five games will be exhibited in the Game Dev area as well @ button 2018:
SAGA Award :: Second Styrian Games Award will be presented at Button Festival!

Get to know the five SAGA finalists here: http://gamedevgraz.at/de/game-development-graz-button-festival-2018/


Get to know the five finalists here:

Title: Kemono Heroes  (Mad Gear Games) 

Tsukigami, the Moon God is mad at the inhabitants of the forest and has transformed all of them into stone. The 4 Animal Ninja Masters are the only ones that can fight against Tsukigami’s hordes of evil spirit minions to reach Mt Fuji and confront him in time to break his magic Spell.

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!

1-4 local coop game
The game is different every single day of the year!
Lots of fun and action!
4 different characters with different abilities
Unlockable weapons & powers
5 worlds with 3 sub-stages each

     

Watch the pitch video here


Title: Asymmetric  (Klemens Strasser)

Asymmetric – Enhanced Edition is a heartwarming puzzle game coming to the Nintendo Switch later this year. Groopert and Groopine, two poor creatures, were trapped and torn apart. You have to reunite them by guiding them through labyrinths. Because the characters share a deep connection they can only move at the same time, but always in opposite directions.? In more then 70 levels, Groopert and Groopine must face off many obstacles – from holes to portals over speed pads. This includes obstacles never seen before in a previous version of Asymmetric. Also new is the addition of a local multiplayer mode. Two players are confronted with different levels – whoever can adapt to the different challenges faster wins. ??With an charming art style, challenging puzzles and a beautiful piano soundtrack, Asymmetric – Enhanced Edition will try to find its way into the the heart of many Switch players later this year.

     

Watch the pitch video here


Title: Path Out (Abdullah Karam / Causa Creations)

Path Out is a unique experience that is full of surprises, challenges and paradoxical humor. In this narrative adventure game , the Syrian refugee and artist Abdullah recalls life before the war, a family decision that led to his departure and the perilous journey from his hometown Hama to the Turkish border through the war-torn Aleppo province. Path Out is giving insight in this real-life adventure, on which Abdullah comments through youtube-style videos in the game.

      

Watch the pitch video here


Title: Once Upon a Nightmare (Manuel Metzger, Florin Metzler, Valentin Winkler, Patrick Zimmermann)

Once Upon a Nightmare is a story driven 2D-platformer with puzzle elements. Join a little girl on her journey through her nightmares. Feel the terror Emily experiences, as she is haunted by her fears, feel Emily’s courage, as she finds the strength to stand up to them and feel her relief, as she finally prevails over them.

      

Watch the pitch video here


Title: Pomg (Stuffed Wombat)

Pomg is a new take on one of the oldest video games.

You are the ball.
Trapped in an endless hell of being pushed around, you finally take matters into your own hands and try to escape.

This will not be an easy journey, but with the help of determination, reflexes and a single button, you at least have a chanche at freedom.

      

Watch the pitch video here



see also finalists 2017: http://gamedevgraz.at/de/saga17

Game Development Graz @ button 2017

Game Development Graz @ button 2017

19. – 20. May 2017 :: Seifenfabrik Graz

On 19-20 May 2017, 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 – Extra-Ticket necessary)
  • 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 – 22:00 TALKING DEV EXTRA EVENT – loc::2nd floor! 

Saturday:

  • 10:00 – 22:00 Meet’n’ Play – Play local games! – loc::GAME DEV AREA
  • 20:00 SAGA AWARDS – Main Stage 

 


 

 

Talking Dev @ button 2017:

Special Event: Friday, 19.5. 19:00 – 22:00: TALKING DEVS (extra registration) GameTalks_900x300

You need a button ticket + extra limited ticket for the talking dev event (3€)

Reserve a ticket now: tba

Schedule tba! 

    • 18:45 – Door opens.
    • 19:00 – Official Opening
    • 19:15 – Tadej Kupcic, Danilo Kapel (Cowardly Creations, AT/SLO): Uncanny Valley – How not to make a game
    • 20:15 – Thomas Reisenegger (ICO Partners, Brighton, UK): Games PR for Small Studios: Little Money, Maximum Impact
    • 21:15 – Discussion + Panel: Game Development Graz – The Future of “Us”.


Title: Thomas Reisenegger (ICO Partners, Brighton, UK): Games PR for Small Studios: Little Money, Maximum Impact

ICO-partners001The 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.

Tthomas_reisenegger_picturehomas 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).


 

Title: Tadej Kupcic, Danilo Kapel (Cowardly Creations, AT/SLO): Uncanny Valley – How not to make a game

CompanyLogoThe 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.

Tadej Kupcic started in the industry by forming an independent company, where he worked as a programmer and game designer on self published independeBioPicTadejKupcicnt 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.

BioPicDaniloKapelDanilo 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

 

 


Meet’n’Play:: Here is a list of games which will be showcased at the game exhibition @ button 2017:

 

Team Phoenix presents Phoenix
‘Find each other, stick together, survive it all!’ describes the core principles of Phoenix. Our unique setup enables VR-Players to not only experience a game themselves, but share their experiences with non-VR-Players. Only if the VR-Player does not neglect their duty of helping their fellow PC-Players and only if the PC-Players decide to work together, can they outrun their demise.

Screenshot 2017-05-11 08.21.34 Screenshot 2017-05-11 08.18.08 Screenshot 2017-05-11 08.16.30

Watch the game trailer here.


doorfortyfour presents MarZ Rising

MarZ Rising is a tactical base defense game, in which the fight against the undead decides about life on Mars. Real Time Strategy meets Tower Defense. Build your martian base and defend it from the evil.  The player guides his crew through 20 breathtaking missions and slowly tracks down the mystery of the undead. Meanwhile, the gameplay challenges the creativity and responsiveness of the player.

marzrising MarZRising-screenshot4 MarZRising-screenshot5

Watch the game trailer here.


Lost in the Garden presents LIGHTFIELD

LIGHTFIELD is a crossover between classical arcade racing and free flying. It’s like wall running with a space ship, like a hyperfuturistic and omnidirectional version of parkour. A racing game with no predefined roads, no invisible walls or guide rails.

Lightfield_17 Lightfield_14 Lightfield_2

Watch the game trailer here.


Long Haired Llamas presents Project L.L.A.M.A. 

This game (formerly known as AiRena)  is a fast paced local multiplayer party game. 2-4 players can battle each other. The ultimate goal of this instant kill game is to be the first to reach 10 kills through head jumps or items. Gather your friends in front of a screen just like in the good old console times.

airena airena2 airena3

Watch the game trailer here.


Rarebyte presents PIN Racer

PIN Racer is a futuristic multiplayer hoverboard racing game for 2-4 players providing fast-paced racing action using REAL hoverboards!

pin_racer_rarebyte rarebyte_pinracer_vidscreen rarebyte_pinracer2jpg

Watch the game trailer here.


Bongfish GmbH presents Smurfs’ Village

The evil wizard Gargamel and his ever present cat companion, Azrael, have finally found the Smurfs’ village and have scattered our lovable blue friends far and wide throughout the enchanted forest. Come along with familiar friends, like Papa Smurf, Smurfette, Brainy, Jokey, Greedy and the rest of the smurf family, as they guide you on a family fun adventure to build a new forest village for the Smurfs to call home.

bongfish2 bongfish3 SmurfsVillage_CustomThumbnail_600x403

Watch the game trailer here.

 

 

 


SAGA Finalists:: These five games will be exhibited in the Game Dev area as well @ button 2017:

SAGA Award :: First 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 20:00. Get to know the five SAGA finalists here:

Title: A Hole New World (Mad Gear Games) 

The city is being invaded by monsters from the Upside Down World! You, the Potion Master, must defeat evil all alone, with no tutorials or “Easy Mode” to assist you. You’ll have to rely on the help of Fäy, your companion fairy, and your potions! Jump and shoot like they did in the good ol’ NES days. Fight enemies in your world and in the Upside Down World! Defeat gigantic bosses and acquire their powers!

 035-world    005-icy     madgear-logo

Watch the pitch video here


Title: Subwords (Klemens Strasser)

Subwords is a fun mix between a trivia and a word game for iOS. Words are split into fragments and you have to put them back together. To make it easier, the words always correspond to a specific topic. There are 30 topics available, which range from animals to video game series and even greek history. The game features two different game modes: Classic and challenge. In classic, you simply have to put all words back together until no fragments are left. Challenge mode on the other hand gives you three minutes to find as many words as possible, while new fragments constantly appear on the screen. Subwords also gives you the possibility to challenge your friends online via GameCenter or locally using a single iPad.

subwords-multiplayer subwords1 icon-subwords

Watch the pitch video here


Title: Drone Swarm (stillalive studios)

In Drone Swarm you control a swarm of thousands of drones to obliterate your enemies. You are the captain of the only human deep-space vessel tasked to find New Earth. Explore an unknown part of the galaxy filled with different aliens, dangers and opportunities. Establish first contact and use every means you deem necessary to save mankind. It’s your choice! Beware though! The swarm has it’s own will… The game is taking the player on a journey into the dark. His choices have direct impact on the game world and since the universe isn’t black or white, they always have a downside. The easy choice will take the player down a dark spiral to losing his human moral and becoming the most feared warrior of a secret alien mind.

Drone Swarm 270x220 Drone Swarm Mothership    saslogo

Watch the pitch video here


Title: Goliath VR (Wolfgang Tschauko)

Goliath VR is a local multi player game that makes use of one player’s real physical body to extend the level for the other player to explore. The two players are named Goliath and David and the playing experience for each of the players is completely different. Goliath controls a real time created body representation by moving his own body. David is controlled with mouse and keyboard like in any Jump&Run game. The displayed body of Goliath can be used by David as an extension of the level. Goliath can help David to cross abysses or reach higher platforms. David is highly vulnerable to fire and other dangers so Goliath must help to protect David by warding off fireballs or lava streams. Both are locked up in a lava cave, and only by working together and collecting coins and keys they can manage to open the final door to freedom.

GoliathVRAmazeCut_7 GoliathVRAmazeCut_2 goliath

Watch the pitch video here


Title: Pixel Soldier (Accidently Awesome Studios)

Pixel Soldier is a GameBoy-styled fast-paced Run ‘n’ Gun. Shoot and dash your way through various stages and fight frantic bosses. Pixel Soldier started as a submission for GameBoy Jam 5 in 2016 and has been in development since then. We aim to bring it to mobile as the GameBoy controls lend itself perfectly for mobile devices.

screen_1491039127.9 screen_1491039009.89 screen_1491038654.84

Watch the pitch video here

 

GameDev Days Graz 2016

GameDev Days Graz 2016

Game Dev Days Graz is a community event for everyone who is interested in game development: connecting industry, indie, academia and research! 🙂
Organized by GameDev Graz this event is taking place for the first time ever in August 2016 in Graz/Austria!

The event is free to attend, but the number of places is limited and advance registration is required.

Game Dev Days Graz 2016

Sat 27 Aug 2016 09:30-18:00

Lecture Theatre i7,
Graz University of Technology,
Inffeldgasse 25d, 1st floor,
8010 Graz

Sun 28 Aug 2016 Social event: Wine tasting tour (details tba)

Details: gddg.gamedevgraz.at  

#gddg16

EYA Game Jam 2016

EYA Game Jam 2016

On April 14-16, the EYA Game Jam will take place at FH Joanneum in Graz.

EYA_GameJam_Poster

GameDevDays powered by Game Development Graz @ button 2016

GameDevDays powered by Game Development Graz @ button 2016

1. – 2. April 2016 :: Seifenfabrik Graz

 

On 1-2 April 2016, the button Festival will return to Graz for 2 days of gaming culture.

This year with Game Dev Days organized by Game Development Graz:

  • Meet’n’Play :: Local Indie Exhibitions -Talk to Local Developers
  • Indie Insights :: Get insights in the game development process (+ daily dev-run: Friday & Saturday at 16:00 at Game Development Graz booth)
  • Special Event :: Dev-Talks (Extra-Ticket, please write a mail to contact@gamedevgraz.at)


Program: 

Meet’n’Play:: Local Indie Exhibitions: Friday & Saturday

Meet and talk to local developers and play their games! Find them in the Game Dev Graz area!

Mad Gear Games presentingmadgeargames A Hole New World:
Mad Gear Games is born out of a group of Go players who met in tournaments and discovered they also shared the passion for old good pixelated games. While developing their first game in 2014 they made A Hole New World for Ludum Dare 30, got a quite good reception (got to be 50th out of 1000 in overall scores) and decided to make the game bigger and better. We like games like Megaman, Ghouls ‘n Ghosts and Castlevania and we are trying to bring the classic and instant fun style of games back. Awesome pixel art, chiptune music and great playability nonstop!

logoA 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.

– Unique gameplay mechanic that will let you play like never before. Upside down!
– 48 different colors and Ultra High 240p resolution!
– 5 sound channels orchestration.
– Challenging Bosses.
– Multiple Weapons and super powers to gain.
– Several different endings.
– Nintendo classic looks, today’s gameplay!

Rarebyte is an established and ambitious game development company from Austria, mainly focused on creating games that are highly 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.

Elementary Minute is a trivia game, where you will be ElementaryMinuteLogoconfronted 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. The game has to modes: Classic and Rush. The first one gives you one minute to get as many answers correct as possible. If you get one wrong, you loose a couple of seconds Playing Rush puts you to a stress test. Here, you get only 5 seconds per question and four lifes. While a correct answer gives you a point, a wrong one takes away one life. Elementary Minute is already released for iPhone, iPad and Apple Watch and was awarded with the Apple Design Award at the WWDC 2015.

Asymmetric is a puzzle game for iOS. AsymmetricLogoYou 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.



Indie Insights and Play-Time:: Friday & Saturday

This happens at the Game Dev Graz Booth:

  • Play-time“: Play local early but brilliant games! Developers will present their earliest prototypes in two hour slots. Make sure to play all of them!
  • Development Insights“: Learn about the game development process and talk to the Game Dev Graz team. Once a day the Game Development Graz team will present the entire development process and cover specific topics for each field.

Schedule:

Friday:

  • 15:00 – 16:00 PLAY: The great Journey of Paperman && Geo Heroes
  • 16:00 – 18:00 Development Insights
  • 18:00 – 19:00 PLAY: The great Journey of Paperman && Geo Heroes && Monsterkill! + Tooth Attack
  • 19:00 – 22:00 SPECIAL EVENT DEV TALKs (s.u.)
  • 23:00 – 03:00  PLAY: The JAM GAME && Monsterkill

Saturday:

  • 10:00 – 12:00 PLAY & CREATE: Pocket Code && The great Journey of Paperman
  • 12:00 – 14:00 PLAY: Don’t bug me
  • 14:00 – 16:00 PLAY: The great Journey of Paperman
  • 16:00 – 18:00 Development Insights
  • 18:00 – 20:00 PLAY: The JAM GAME, The great Journey of Paperman, Monsterkill! + Tooth Attack
  • 20:00 – 22:00 PLAY: Creepy Castle (Fangen!)

papermanThe 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”.

Geo Heroes is a medieval-fantasy adventure on our Earth. Turn on your GPS on your mvisitenkarte_frontobile 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

promo_titlePocket 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.

Creepy Castle is a stunning creepy catch game for two players. It is a traditional local multi-^71071EB70CACC68CA80AAA078CDDB00048822410A9F8FF0888^pimgpsh_fullsize_distrplayer for two players playing with a splitscreen. You need to find and catch the other player in this creepy castle

 

 

 



Special Event: Friday, 1.4. 19:00 – 22:00: Dev-Talks (extra registration)

You need a button ticket (VVK: 12€/15€ on-site) + extra limited ticket for the special event (2€)

Reserve a ticket now: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/gamedevdays-talk-tickets-24251825864 :: GAME DEV SPECIAL:: button-VVK ticket  + talk registration for only 12€; you can get your tickets now at TU Graz or at the button festival (only with Eventbrite registration!).

Schedule changed! 

  • 19:00 – Start
  • 19:30 – Son of Nor Post Mortem :: Alexander Grenus, stillalive studios
  • 20:15 – Carreer Path in Digital Art :: Hector Moran
  • 21:00 – Long road to ruin – and how to take a detour :: Christian Weinmüllner, Head of Crafty Studios

 

  • Long road to ruin – and how to take a detour :: Christian Weinmüllner, Head of Crafty Studios 
  • Have you ever wanted to get into „Making Games“ by founding your own game studio? Starting off into the glorious realm of living your dream and creating games with your own team, free from external constraints, “making your own thing”? But aside from the glorious work on optimizing user experiences, creating high end models and improving on visual quality, there is also a “dark side” in doing so: Business plans, contract negotiations, paying bills and wages and in the end, earning your next meal. This talk will try to give you a glimpse into what you are actually getting yourself into, preparing you for the confrontation with terms like “recoupability”, “double-tax agreement” and “stegosaurus tail”.
  • Short Bio: Christian Weinmüllner has been coding for more than two dozen years. After completing the HTL Kaindorf/Sulm and trying to study IT in Vienna, he founded Crafty Studios in 2006 together with his long term friend Ronald Haider and has been one half of the studio lead ever since.
  • Crafty Studios: Crafty Studios first set out to make browserbased games, was one of the first studios to implement “free to play” in browsergames. They transitioned into the boxed market in 2013 with their debut title “Realms of Arkania – Blade of Destiny HD”, remake of a german RPG of 1992. Currently Crafty Studios is working on the successor “Startrail HD”.

logo freisteller rgb 300 dpi


  • Career Path in Digital Art :: Hector Moran, freelance artist
  • I this talk Hector will cover some of the turning points of his career and talk about some of the different options and resources to forge a career path in digital art in relation to video game graphics, toys, collectibles and some of the areas where both of these meet through technologies like 3D printing.
  • Short BioHector Moran is a digital artist from Mexico based in Vienna. He is a freelancer for video games, collectibles, toys and other graphic fields. As part time teacherhe has taught digital sculpture for over five years.  He has over a decade of experience making graphics; a large portion of that time as Lead Artist and Head of Art at European game studios. Some of the video game projects he has contributed to include League of Legends, Saints Row, Overlord, Asterix and Friends, and Skyrama. Some of his 3D-print-related projects include Kingdom Death and Mega Man The Board Game. His clients include Hasbro Inc, Schleich, Soda Pop Miniatures, Nocturna Models, and many others.  He has also recently started venturing into creating his own original collectible mini figures starting with Black Betty and is working hard at creating his own intellectual properties.
  • MiniCollage Sun300

  • Son of Nor Post Mortem :: Alexander Grenus, stillalive studios 
  • Alexander Grenus will give you in this post mortem an overview of the development of the action adventure Son of Nor. He will talk about what went well, what went wrong and give you some tips to not make the same mistakes.
  • Short BioAlexander got involved with game development in 2002. In 2007 he released his first game. Currently he is working for stillalive studios, as project manager and designer. In 2015 the studio released their first game Son of Nor on Steam.
  • stillaliveWe are an ambitions game development team that got together in early 2010 in Innsbruck (Austria). Over the years we mastered the distributed nature of our team and since 2015 there even is an office in Innsbruck housing half of members. We focus on exciting core games for PC/Mac/Linux, and have experience with Unity, Steam, VR, Eyetracking, BCI and much more.
  • Futurezone Award 2014             SAS Logo (for bright backgrounds)


 

Interview by Ö1

Interview by Ö1

A few of our members were interviewed by the Austrian radio station Ö1 with topics ranging from the game development process in general, to events like game jams, and the local gamedev community.

You can listen to a recording of the broadcast here (german): http://oe1.orf.at/programm/427525