How hacking Austria into Video Games could work
The Beginning — What’s Being Hacked?
In the IT industry, particularly in the field of IT security, there is a method called “code injection,” where a snippet of code is inserted into a system in such a way that unexpected and unwanted actions are executed. The code runs, and just like that, you’re in — the system is breached.
Based on the concept of “hacking,” a new event format has emerged: the “Hackathon.” This competition format usually lasts 24 or 48 hours, where different teams tackle various challenges, trying to solve existing problems with new ideas and a lot of programming. Prototypes like apps and services are developed, showcasing innovative ways to address difficult issues. It’s a creative format where, instead of systems being hacked, problems are.
This summer, such a hackathon took place in the Austrian Alps: the Codenugget Summer Hackathon at the Trattnerhütte — Tenneralm, Bad Vigaun, near the Schlenken in Salzburg.
The Challenge
When game developers create a game, they need more than just ideas and talent; they also require high-quality content. This content includes not only the story and texts but also assets, which are characters, images, backgrounds, accessories for heroes, and music. Many of these assets can be purchased online, some for free, but most are paid.
In the Unreal Asset Store, over 52,000 assets are available for game developers, with most of them only accessible for a fee. Free content is rare.
How can a country like Austria be injected into a video game?
In a reality where everything costs something, there’s little competition when something is free. The Unreal Marketplace has only about 1,000 free assets, with the crazy number of just over 100 free props. So, if a game developer needs a jug for their game and searches among the free assets, there’s no competition — it simply doesn’t exist for free in this store.
A New Reality: Imagine a game developer looking for a temple and finding a high-quality, free asset — it suddenly becomes very appealing to use that temple in their game. This is exactly the idea behind the “Korean Heritage Service,” which offers many culturally significant Korean objects for free use by developers, injecting Korean culture into video games because it’s attractive for developers to use these assets.
This was also the idea behind the Codenugget Summer Hackathon: to spend a weekend producing high-quality content and making it freely available to developers worldwide to bring more “Austria” into video games. A simple idea with big challenges, as it turned out.
The Hackathon
Seventeen experts from Austria, the USA, Japan, the Czech Republic, and Germany gathered at the Trattnerhütte — Tenneralm, well taken care of by the innkeeper Heidi Steinberger, to work intensively on Austrian content. Broadband internet was provided via Starlink, and various hardware allowed for different experiments.
In small teams, the participants ventured into the mountains, caves, and local areas to scan interesting elements. Besides 3D models, 360-degree images, and spatial videos were also produced, and there was intense experimentation with digital assets.
In the end, the results were presented to a panel of experts, and a winning team was chosen — the freshly mixed team of Martin Wagner, Christian Bauer, and James Mills made the best impression.
The Work Begins — with a Surprise
To make the multitude of assets (over 40) truly usable, post-production was necessary — the assets were optimized and prepared for video games. Simultaneously, the “Know Your Customer” process with the company Unreal began, which required various approvals and information.
When the moment of uploading finally arrived, we learned that free content can only be made available after confirmation from the Unreal team — naturally, this is also why there are so few free assets in the stores. Currently, we can only offer our assets to developers for a fee, putting us in competition with over 50,000 other items.
We’re Working on It
Since we are “just” a hackathon and official channels (f.e. the Austrian Tourism Board) were not yet involved, we see an opportunity for Austria to gain the same rights as Korea, allowing Austrian content to be offered free of charge to game developers. Our goal is to make the topic more official to gain that right.
It would be truly amazing and crazy if in a future Witcher game, an Austrian ceramic jug from the Trattnerhütte will be used in the tavern when the Witcher enjoys his well-deserved drink after a long monster hunt.
Until then, you can check out and download the assets on Sketchfab:
https://sketchfab.com/asset-engage-technology
