Thousands flocked to Adelaide's games super showcase as SAGE 2024 reveals inaugural award winners

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Thousands flocked to Adelaide’s games super showcase as SAGE 2024 reveals inaugural award winners

21 February 2024

More than 2000 people attended SAGE 2024 at the SAFC’s Adelaide Studios sound stages last weekend.

SAGE 2024 South Australian Game Exhibition announced the inaugural SAGE Awards on Friday night, at the half-way point of Adelaide’s biggest gathering of games studios and game enthusiasts. A staggering 2,000+ people attended the event at Adelaide Studios over the weekend to play and experience the best in South Australian-made video games, and meet the talented people behind them.

Presented by the South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC), SAGE is a super showcase of South Australia’s video game development sector, running for its second year in 2024 as the flagship event on the Adelaide Fringe Interactive program, with two major awards introduced this year.

The SAGE Award for Best in Exhibition, with a $2,000 prize from the SAFC, went to We Made A Thing Studios for their game Box Knight – a funny, silly and irreverent RPG roguelike action game in which you become office hero in a toxic workplace.

The SAGE Elevate Award, with a prize of $1,000 in legal services from SAGE partner and games industry specialist Cam Rogers Legal was awarded to Jonathon Anderson-Wills of Jonniemadeit for Uncle Unco, a single player game inspired by his 6 and 8-year-old niece and nephew, with a cute hand-drawn style.

Inaugural winners of the SAGE Award for Best in Exhibition, Tom Phillips and Jeremy Kelly-Bakker (centre) of We Made A Thing Studios with SAFC Games Development Strategy Executive Patrick Webb (left) and SAFC Head of Communications and Marketing Petra Starke (right). Photo by Matthew Kroker.

Inaugural winner of the SAGE Elevate Award, Jonathon Anderson-Wills (second from left) of Jonniemadeit with SAGE Elevate Sponsor Cam Rogers of Cam Rogers Legal (left), SAFC Games Development Strategy Executive Patrick Webb and SAFC Head of Communications and Marketing Petra Starke (right). Photo by Matthew Kroker.

Adelaide’s newest and most exciting video games expo more than doubled in size in 2024, with a two-day extended program showcasing South Australian games ingenuity and innovation from 32 local studios and developers, enhanced by a program of panel discussions featuring industry heavyweights.

“Attending SAGE made it very clear just how much talent is currently working in South Australia, not to mention the importance of strides currently being taken by the SAFC. SAGE 2024 should be considered a strong success!”
— GamesHub

Andrea Michaels MP, Minister for Arts said: “South Australia is home to incredible creative minds and our games sector is growing rapidly. It’s amazing that more than 2,000 people attended SAGE over the weekend and got to experience the innovation of local developers and learn how they too could enjoy a career in this exciting industry.

“I had the opportunity to play some of the games at SAGE and was blown away by the talent of our local game developers and I look forward to attending the event in 2025 when it will no doubt, be even bigger again.”

SAFC CEO Kate Croser said: “In only its second year the SAFC’s SAGE: SA Game Exhibition has confirmed its place as South Australia’s premier event for digital game developers, enthusiasts and everyone in between, with the expanded 2024 program attracting more than twice the number of attendees at last year’s inaugural event.

“The SAFC created SAGE to champion and connect SA game developers directly with their audiences – the gamers, fans and the next generation of game developers, as well as providing essential networking opportunities for the industry.

“The SAFC is proud to be the state’s ‘all screen agency’, supporting and funding local video game development and production as part of our support for all segments of the state’s screen industry. South Australia’s video game development and production sector is thriving, and the SAFC is committed to cementing the state’s reputation as a leading location for game development through initiatives such as our SA Video Game Development (VGD) Rebate and events like SAGE.

“Thank you to all our partners and sponsors who made SAGE bigger and better in 2024 and congratulations to the winners of the inaugural SAGE Awards.”

“The goal of transforming the South Australian capital into an exciting new hub of games development through investment and selective spotlighting is paying off.”
— Kotaku Australia

Check out the photos from the event below – all photos by Naomi Jellicoe.