Playing History

Play
with history(s)

Strichzeichnung einer leuchtenden Glühbirne. Das Gewinde zeigt eine Stiftspitze

CREATE

We develop and realize game ideas - analog, digital or performative. As experts in serious games and gamification, we are in touch with the latest trends and will engage your target audience.

TEACH

For us, games are about more than just play. We know how complex topics can be depicted in a playful way and are confident that we are able to tell the story of your content and processes in a playful way.

CONSULTING

As experts in the field of gaming we give speeches at conferences, publish and consult. We help companies, museums and institutions when it comes to communicating content in a playful way.

Current projects

Our main focus is communicating historical, as well as critical, political and scientific matters through games. Find a small selection of past projects below.

Rätselräume

Diversity, tolerance, respect

Friedrich Ebert

German history of democracy

Deutschlandmuseum

Immersive Experience

Im Kopf von Schmidt-Rottluff

Playful art education

ToleranzRäume

New perspectives on tolerance

Eiszeitwelten Key Visual quadratisch mit Schriftzug, Mammut, Rentier, Wisent und Schneehuhn

Ice Age Worlds

A game as museum expansion

Spielerische Installationen im Landesmuseum Zürich

Zum Geburtstag viel Recht

Playful installation in the museum

Herbst 89 - Auf den Straßen von Leipzig. Installation und Webanwendung alls historische Visual Novel für das Deutsche historische Museum.

Autumn 89

Peaceful revolution in the museum

Hidden Codes

Mobile game about radicalization on the net

Spuren auf Papier

Investigating Nazi murders of the sick

You want to realize your own serious game or gamification idea? Or convey complex matters in an engaging and motivating way, but don't know how? Then we are the right partner for you! We are happy to support you with your individual project.
In doing so, we are not limited to a specific media format, though our focus is on playful interaction - spanning analog, digital, performative or mixed reality.

From Idea to Reality

Playing History considers itself an expert when it comes to games, playful interactions and their impacts. Our project partners, meanwhile, bring their expertise in terms of content. We therefore work closely with our partners during the development phase of every project.

Game Design Thinking Workshop

The practical workshop provides a basic understanding of game design. The general conditions of the project are clarified.

Analysis & Concept Phase

Through an iterative and collaborative process, we develop a game idea, which fits your individual framework, and goals.

Implementation & Collaborations

Our projects are strongly content-driven. Therefore, we work closely with you as thematic experts all the way through the implementation phase.

Functional- & Content Testing

Through regular testing with the target group, we ensure that the final product is motivating and that its use is easy and enjoyable.

Our experts

In addition to our core team, we draw on a large network of game-savvy creatives with expertise in design, illustration, development, pedagogy and project management for our serious games and gamification projects. This allows us to cover the entire development process - from idea creation to the final production.

Our experts

Neben unseren festen Mitarbeiter*innen greifen wir bei unseren Projekten auf ein großes Netzwerk von spielaffinen Kreativen aus den Bereichen Design, Illustration, Development, Pädagogik und Projektmanagement zurück. So können wir den gesamten Entwicklungsprozess abdecken - von der Ideenentwicklung bis zur Produktion.

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Outstanding quality

We embody quality, diversity and openness. What we do, we do with full commitment and conviction. The nominations and awards our productions receive give us an additional sense of pride.

Thea Award Outstanding Achievement Playing History

Nominierung für den "Tommi Deutscher Kindersoftwarepreis"

Deutscher Computerspielpreis Playing History Bestes Serious Game

Smart Hero Award Nominierung in der Kategorie: Spezialpreis für Innovation im Digitalen Engagement

BAP-Preis für politische Bildung Platz 1

children-in-museum-award-preis-playing-history

AMaze First Step Award in der Kategorie: Immersion & Gameplay

Outstanding quality

Wir stehen für Qualität, Diversität und Weltoffenheit. Was wir tun, tun wir mit ganzem Einsatz und aus voller Überzeugen. Die Nominierungen und Auszeichnungen unserer Produktionen erfüllt uns mit zusätzlichem Stolz.

Nominierung für den Deutschen Computerspielpreis in der Kategorie: Bestes Serious Game

Sonderpreis der bpb "25 Jahre Mauerfall: Erinnern und gestalten"

Not convinced yet? These project partners are!

We have already developed individual solutions with and for these project partners.

Stiftung Neanderthal Museum

During the collaboration with the Neanderthal Museum, our partners at Playing History did not simply produce a game - thanks to their extraordinary commitment and the heart and soul that went into the project, Ice Age Worlds became much more than what we had originally planned. Thanks to the productive and fun cooperation, we were able to realise a mobile game that perfectly combines research and fun.

Rick Springer Research Associate, Project Management "Ice Age Worlds"

Deutschlandmuseum

Playing History ist der Ansprechpartner für didaktische Spiele in historischen Museen! Ich schätze die Arbeit von Michael Geithner und Martin Thiele-Schwez schon seit 10 Jahren und konnte mich auch bei der Einrichtung des Deutschlandmuseums auf das Team verlassen. Playing History hat mit enormer Kreativität, Leidenschaft und Professionalität zahlreiche Installationen umgesetzt, die zu den Highlights des Deutschlandmuseums gehören. Vielen Dank dafür und bis zum nächsten gemeinsamen Projekt!

Robert Rückel - Director

Deutsches Historisches Museum

In museums, conveying history through gamification is a very popular topic. During the implementation of our serious game on the so-called Peaceful Revolution of 1989, Playing History did an excellent job and demonstrated a great deal of creativity. I found the continuous coordination and the very reliable support of the project by the Playing History team particularly enriching. Thus, "Autumn 89" also meets the high content-related demands of our museum.

Elisabeth Breitkopf-Bruckschen - Project Management "Autumn 89 - On the Streets of Leipzig"

IASS Potsdam

Playing History accompanied us creatively and constructively from idea to realization. We had never developed a game before and found the perfect partners in the wonderful colleagues at Playing History. "Torfitz - The simulation game on structural change" gives us the opportunity to explore challenges from the field of science in a playful way in very different contexts. This allows us to combine participation, education and fun in a way that we as scientists are not able to achieve.

Dr. Johannes Stämmler - Spokesperson "Democracy and Sustainability"

NACOA e.V.

Playing History's mindset that all topics can be realized in a playful way was an important key to getting our proposal implemented. This approach, but especially the lightness that Playing History brought to the development process again and again, made it possible to combine the teaching of important and simultaneously difficult topics with playfulness and fun. Where we might sometimes see practice based barriers, Playing History has found elegant solutions. It was a very fruitful collaboration that resulted in the creation of a great game!

Hanna Rosebrock - Project Manager Fluffi Klub

DDR Museum

The DDR Museum is connected to Playing History through our longstanding collaboration in the field of playful history education. Over time, we have realized various projects together, all of which won teachers and students over with their special and playful way of teaching history. Through their careful attention to detail and creative approach, Playing History succeeds in reproducing history in an entertaining and yet scientifically sound way.

Gordon Freiherr von Godin - Director

Gedenkkreis Wehnen e.V.

The collaboration with Playing History was a great benefit for us as a memorial site. Together we were able to optimally link our specific subject matter with illustration and game design. Playing History took our wishes and goals very seriously and invested a lot of time in our project. On top of this, the joint development phase was a lot of fun interpersonally as well.

Hannah Sandstede - Historikerin & Projektleitung "Spuren auf Papier"

Bildungsstätte Anne Frank

The cooperation with Playing History was and is enriching for us. We profited enormously from their expertise. The mutual willingness to learn, and design from and with each other - all during a pandemic where face-to-face meetings were not possible while still creating a connection that led to such a great product as our mobile game "Hidden Codes" was truly something special.

Céline Wendelgaß - Educational Consultant and Project Coordinator "Hidden Codes"

iRights.Lab

Together with Playing History we developed our prototype "rebelcatz" around the theme of hate speech. The mutually appreciative collaboration was not only effective and purposeful, but also a lot of fun. The professional expertise enriched us in many ways and helped us reach a professional product. Playing History brought a high degree of sensitivity to socio-political issues such as discrimination, which is particularly important in the development of contemporary digital game formats for teenagers and young adults.

Dr. Wiebke Glässer - Management

Testimonial Portrait Elisabeth Breitkopf-Bruckschen; Copyright: Thomas Bruns

Porträt von Dr. Johannes Stämmler von IASS Potsdam

Testimonial Bild Gordon Freiherr von Godin

News

On Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn we regularly report on our projects, current events as well as trends in the fields of #playfulearning and #gamification. Follow us!