Best in Class Award 2025: Prizes Awarded for the Best Game Engineering Projects of the Academic Year

On January 16, 2025, 17 students from the Game Engineering specialization of the Master’s program in Artificial Intelligence Engineering took part in the Best in Class Award 2025, presenting their projects to a high-profile jury of 15. Both jury members and alumni were able to test the developed games at five interactive stations.

„I3ergsteiger“ was named the best game

The high quality of the submitted projects was also reflected in the intensive preparation phase, which included two playtesting events with students from the TGM and the Hertha Firnberg Schools, organized by Benedikt Salzbrunn.

The best game was “I3ergsteiger”, in which players go on an adventurous journey through the mountains of Austria. Other innovative projects also generated enthusiasm: In TechBreach, players had to escape from a research facility controlled by a hostile AI, while in Liskara they explored a magical world through trade and quests. The action-packed AtticAdventures, which revolves around a toy revolution in a chaotic attic, impressed with its creative gameplay and lovingly designed environment. And in the real-time strategy game ImMune, also shown on this day, players control the human immune system to protect organs from invading viruses and bacteria, strategically adapting to unidirectional blood flows and deploying customizable units.

Alumni Homecoming: Graduates in Dialog with Students

Alumni Homecoming also took place at the same time as the award: graduates were given the opportunity to get to know current projects in the Game Engineering specialization. Many alumni took the opportunity to test the games and exchange experiences with current students.

Together with the students, Bernhard Knapp, head of the Master’s program in AI Engineering, and Alexander Nimmervoll, responsible for the game specialization in the Master AI, were enthusiastic about the successful event. This event once again demonstrated the high standard of education at the UAS Technikum Wien and the innovative strength of students in the field of game engineering.

Further Links:

Master’s program in AI Engineering

Inspiring look into the future of artificial intelligence and game engineering (2024)

From eye-tracking calculators to AI action video games: Master AI Showcase Evening (2023)

Diverse game ideas: game engineering students presented their final projects (2022)

Picture Gallery:

Here is an overview of all the game projects from the current year:

Projects 2025

Game projects from the Master’s program in AI Engineering.

I3ergsteiger

Team: Marcus Chvatal, Jan Loos

Supervisor: Julian Breddy

Description: I3ergsteiger is a mountain climbing game where players explore the various mountains Austria has to offer. They play through handcrafted levels, collecting beautiful flowers, meeting lovely locals and finding their own way to the peak. Players face a fun challenge while mastering the slingshot movement mechanic to reach the top of the leaderboard. In its introductory level, I3ergsteiger convinces with its charm and showcases what to expect from this game in the future.

TechBreach

Team: Lukas Fabian, Christian Geßner, Nadia Hofer, Arthur Klammer
Supervisor: Christoph Quas
Description: TechBreach is a first-person action horror game set in a futuristic research facility controlled by a malevolent AI. The player must escape the facility while evading the AI, Aurora, and its cyborg minions. The game emphasizes strategic module installation, allowing players to modify their abilities and weapons at the cost of vulnerability. Developed using Unreal Engine 5, TechBreach combines exploration, combat, and a narrative exploring themes of identity and technology, culminating in a unique gameplay experience.

ImMune

Team: Raphael Dohnalek, Alexander Puchinger, Daniel Schild, Benedikt Weber
Supervisor: Markus Petz
Description: The real-time strategy game ImMune was developed as part of the AI-Engineering program and allows players to control the human immune system to protect organs from invaders like viruses and bacteria. In addition to classic strategy mechanics, the game offers innovative elements such as unidirectional bloodstreams and customizable units. Development followed an agile approach with multi-week sprints, utilizing planning tools like Azure DevOps. The focus was on implementing core features, balancing, and bug fixing. The result is a playable demo that showcases the game’s potential and the team’s successful collaboration.

Liskara: Seeds of Exploration

Team: Michael Domanek, Carina Schmidt, Andre Schneider, Bernhard Weidinger
Supervisor: Kayali Fares
Description: “Liskara: Seeds of Exploration” is a PC game blending farming, dungeon crawling, and RPG elements. Players take on the role of Liska, a young 0 fox stranded in a magical forest during a storm. The game combines relaxing farming with challenging dungeons. Players can trade with and complete quests for the various animal villagers. Through the omission of currency and focus on trade and quest rewards, „Liskara” stands out from similar titles, offering a distinctive and engaging gameplay experience.

AtticAdventures

Team: Elmin Smajlovic, Patrick Steiner, Markus Winkler
Supervisor: Jürgen Konrad
Description: The game is a 3D action platformer set in an attic full of forgotten and discarded things. A tyrannical ruler rules with an iron fist, separating all toys into warehouses based on their type. Our wooden hero is separated from his friends and sets out to free them from the clutches of the tyrant. During the adventure, the hero discovers new toy parts that expand his abilities in a modular way, allowing him to explore new areas and defeat stronger enemies. In the end, the hero consists of parts of different “toy types” and uses the power and help of all the friends he has made to defeat the evil that reigns in the attic. The game emphasizes the theme of collective strength and unity, and highlights the fact that it is our differences that make us strong.