Research Projects

At Cologne Game Lab the understanding of research includes classic theoretical and applied studies (R&D) as well as scientific publications and public events. Our expertise includes the following fields: Education & Training, Game & Media Studies, Health & Psychology, New Technology & Mixed Realities, Art & Design and Transmedia Storytelling.

Webinar Archive

Explore our collection of past webinars, featuring insightful discussions with game developers who are making a difference. Each webinar delves into the unique ways games can address and solve humanitarian issues, offering inspiration and knowledge to both developers and players. Past Webinars: Title: Game Development for Social Good Date: [Insert Date] Description: A conversation with […]

About Us

Introduction The Humanitarian Game Network is a pioneering project that brings together game developers who are passionate about creating games with a humanitarian purpose. Our goal is to highlight and support games that address critical social, environmental, and cultural issues, inspiring players to engage with these important topics. Our Mission: To bridge the gap between […]

Humanitarian Game Network

Introduction: Welcome to the Humanitarian Game Network, where we connect game developers dedicated to making a humanitarian impact. Explore our latest initiatives and join us in fostering positive change through gaming. What’s New: Upcoming webinar: Title: Empowering Change through Gameplay Date: [Insert Date] Description: Join us for our latest webinar featuring [Developer Name], the creator […]

EU Horizon project STRATEGIES kicks off

Last week saw the launch of the Horizon Europe-funded project STRATEGIES (Sustainable Transition for Europe’s Game Industries). The event took place at Utrecht University on the 17th and 18th of April, bringing together many of the colleagues from the NGOs, game companies, and universities that make up the STRATEGIES consortium. Over the course of four […]

ISEDA – Initiative against Domestic Violence

The ISEDA project (Innovative Solutions to Eliminate Domestic Abuse), coordinated by the Cologne Game Lab at the TH Köln – University of Applied Sciences, unites 15 partners from nine European countries to combat domestic violence (DV) through a comprehensive, enriched European approach. The project focuses on various strategies including training, awareness campaigns, education programs, and […]

Greening Games

The team of the Erasmus+ funded research project “Greening Games” has published its Education Report: http://greeningames.eu/greening-games-education-report/ The report maps out the green gaming research, related didactic offer and the initiatives of the games development sector. Based on interview and survey material, the analysis of selected literature and games industry’s outreach projects, it provides a comprehensive […]

MIRÓ – World of Monsters (2018)

About In 2018, the exhibition “MIRÓ -World of Monsters” was curated at Max Ernst Museum Brühl of the LVR. The accompanying catalogue included an Augmented Reality app, which for the first time allowed the complete spatial viewing of some of the artworks depicted in it. The app “Miró 2.0” was developed by the Cologne Game […]

Escher 2.0 (2016)

About The enigmatic and magic works of Maurits Cornelis Escher (1898–1972), one of the most significant dutch graphic artists of the 20th century, provide a very special visual experience. CGL teamed up with the Max Ernst Museum Brühl des LVR to develop Virtual Reality experiences for their exhibition on M.C. Escher (February 21 – May 22, 2016). […]

Virtual Bauhaus (2018-2019)

About On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the Bauhaus, the Cologne Game Lab has developed a VR application on behalf of the Goethe-Institut Boston, which enables a virtual tour through the Bauhaus building in Dessau. The “Virtual Bauhaus” exhibition is touring ten Goethe Institutes as well as museums and universities in North America, […]

PES (2016-2019)

About Prozedurale Erstellung von Spielelementen (PES) // Procedural Creation of Game Elements In a collaborative research project the Blue Byte Gmbh and the Cologne Game Lab (TH Köln) are researching the capabilities of procedurally generated game content and elements through new methods of automated creation. The result of “machine learning” concepts and new AI approaches, […]

Literalität des Spiel(en)s (2018-2019)

About The research project “Literacy of Games, Literacy of Play: Imparting Media Competence in the Field of Analogue, Digital and Hybrid Games” (German: Literalität des Spiel(en)s: Vermittlung von Medienkompetenz im Bereich analoger, digitaler & hybrider Spiele) aims at determining central theoretical foundations on the topic of games competence – i.e. the literacy of digital, analogue […]

GLARS (2016-2019)

About In the collaborative research project GLARS (Goal Based Learning in Alternate Reality Setting) the Cologne Game Lab, the Rheinische Fachhochschule Köln (RFH) and Rheinische Akademie Köln (RAK) are developing an education game for trainees in the field of biological technical assistants short BTA. The goal of the project is to translate curricular content into engaging game […]

EPPSA (2016-2019)

About EPPSA is a research and development project that aims to investigate opportunities for cultural institutions in the use of location-based playful applications. Over the course of the project, the EPPSA consortium has created a series of individual showcases in collaboration with cultural institutions. The app Porta Praetoria C.C.A.A. created by CGL is oneof those showcases […]

Welten der Werkstoffe (2020)

About Welten der Werkstoffe (Worlds of Materials) is a point-and-click adventure game for students of various engineering courses and enthusiasts of materials science. The game presents players with fun challenges that require them to draw on their basic knowledge of materials engineering to solve. From the properties of different atomic structures to the iron-carbon diagram […]

Airtime VR (2017-2020)

About Airtime VR is the prototype for a virtual reality simulation that aims at supporting aspiring paragliding pilots in their practical learning of common flight routines. As a complimentary tool to their regular outdoor practice, the simulator introduces basic flight mechanics and playfully provides users with advanced topographical as well as aerial knowledge. An ongoing […]

VR-Time Travel (2021)

About “VR Time Travel” (VR-Zeitreise) is a virtual reality experience at the Deutsches Museum Nuremberg. It is an interactive VR experience for up to four players as a contextualizing final exhibit of the Zukunftsmuseum (Museum of the Future). The VR-Zeitreise (VR Time Travel) at the Deutsches Museum Nuremberg is an room-scale, shared-space virtual reality multiplayer […]

DiSpielGeo (2019-2021)

About Digital Games for Learning in Geography Education From pollution of the oceans to climate change to conflicts over resources – geography lessons deal with numerous societal challenges. In a successful lesson, students learn on the one hand to understand these topics better and to evaluate them critically. On the other hand, the lessons pursue the aim […]

Goethestrasse 56 (2021-2022)

Goethestrasse 56 – Learning German with Virtual Reality With the virtual reality learning environment Goethestrasse 56, a new approach to learning German at the A1 (beginner) level was realized in cooperation with the Goethe Institute Washington. The application, finalized at the end of 2021, allows primarily young users to immerse themselves in the everyday life […]

FemSTEAM Mysteries (2021-2022)

About FemSTEAM Mysteries – A Role-Model Game-Based Approach to Gender Equality in STEAM The Erasmus+ project “FemSTEAM Mysteries” is based on the values of gender equality and non-discrimination between men and women in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics (STEAM), creativity, and innovative entrepreneurship. Through the adoption of an innovative approach, that […]

Border Zone (2021-2023)

About Border Zone is an XR game app that takes visitors to Potsdam’s Park Babelsberg on a unique journey through the park’s multifaceted history at the time of German-German division. Using location-based XR technology, the project fuses past and present into a touching experience that brings lost or hidden traces of contemporary history back to […]

BUNG (2021-2022)

About BUNG – Developing nearly zero energy building skills through game-based learning The BUNG is an Eramus+ project with the aim of delivering knowledge, developing zero energy building skills, and encouraging energy-efficient behavior amongst building occupants through the development of an nZEB (nearly Zero Energy Building) learning game (BUNG game) that maximizes the learning effect […]

SOLVE (2019-2023)

About SOLVE – Development and pilot testing of an innovative game-based prevention intervention for adolescents with increased risk for substance misuse and dependencies. BackgroundIn this interdisciplinary project, psychologists from the German Institute for Addiction and Prevention Research (DISuP, Katholische Hochschule NRW, Cologne) in collaboration with game designers from the Cologne Game Lab (CGL, Technische Hochschule […]

ImTech4Ed (2021-2023)

About ImTech4Ed – Immersive Technologies for Education The Immersive Technologies for Education (ImTech4Ed) is an Erasmus+ project where researchers, educators, and game design students from Germany, Greece, and Cyprus contribute to design aspects of immersive solutions. ImTech4Ed aims at creating interdisciplinary and international collaboration among students, educators, and researchers from the participating disciplines in order […]

MILKI-PSY (2021-2023)

About Multimodal Immersive Learning with Artificial Intelligence for Psychomotor Skills A research consortium around the Cologne Game Lab at TH Köln is developing a learning environment with artificial intelligence to support the independent learning of psychomotor skills. The research project “Multimodal Immersive Learning with Artificial Intelligence for Psychomotor Skills” (MILKI-PSY) designs an innovative environment for […]

NOLI (2021-2023)

NOLI – Auf der Suche durch die Zeit is a non-linear narrative in and with digital media: Empirical reception study and development of a didactic storytelling concept for elementary school The research collaboration is based on the question of the extent to which the multimodal transformation of the literary landscape has changed the requirements for […]

Migrants’ Chronicles (2020-2023)

About The Migrants’ Chronicles-project is a serious game teaching migration from Luxembourg to America around 1892. The team of the Cologne Game Lab (TH Köln) is responsible for the game, while the Faculty of Humanities Education and Social Sciences of the Luxembourg University and the Humanities Center of Carleton College is responsible for the content […]

ARUB (2022-2023)

Augmented Reality (AR) in inter-company training We have teamed up with BZB (Bildungszentren des Baugewerbes e.V.) who have initiated the project “ARUB” funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) via the Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training (BIBB) as part of the special program “ÜBS Digitalisierung”. ARUB stands for “Augmented Reality […]

somafest

SomaFest (2023-2024)

SomaFest is a 7-day festival with a public exhibition, specialist workshops, and industry meet-ups to explore full-body engagement as the future of XR. It took first place in August 2023 at Cologne Game Lab! SomaFest 2023 is over but you can already save the date for next year´s event: We will be back September 16-22, 2024. For […]

Fear//Anxiety (2021-2024)

About In this project, virtual reality is used as a method to investigate the fundamental differences between anxiety and fear. The objective is to gain new biological insights into these two primary emotions and to derive therapeutical measures for the treatment of anxiety disorders, panic attacks, and phobias. Anxiety and fear arise in a confrontation […]

HyTea (2022-2024)

About HyTea – Model for Hybrid Teaching Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems can provide automatic, personalized and real-time feedback to learners in distance learning settings when a human expert is unavailable. AI feedback has the potential to be always available and can allow learners to practice deliberately and repeatedly at their own pace. Embedding AI feedback […]

The Antura Initiative (2016-2024)

About The Antura Initiative is an applied research program investigating the use of games for children’s education and psychosocial well-being. The approach utilised by the initiative deploys free, open-source, solutions based on mobile gaming technology. The Antura Initiative targets children between the ages of five and twelve, with a particular focus on ones having limited […]

Games Technology Network (2021-2024)

About Four universities in North Rhine-Westphalia have joined forces to establish the Games Technology Network (GTN). The Cologne Game Lab and the Institute for Information, Media and Electrical Engineering of TH Köln – University of Applied Sciences have teamed up with Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences (coordination), RWTH Aachen University and Düsseldorf University of Applied […]

MASDIGU (2022-2024)

About Materialgestütztes argumentierendes Schreiben mit digitalen Medien im sprachsensiblen Geographieunterricht: Entwicklung eines digitalen Adventurespiels zu einem Raumnutzungskonflikt in Köln (MASDIGU) // Material-supported argumentative writing with digital media in language-sensitive geography lessons: development of a digital adventure game on a spatial-use conflict in Cologne The interdisciplinary project MASDIGU focuses on the potential of digital games for […]

Greening Games (2021-2024)

Greening Games Building Higher Education Resources for Sustainable Video Game Production, Design and Critical Game Studies (Principal Investigator & Project Coordinator) Within the framework of the “Greening Games” project, we will develop, test and distribute flagship didactic materials addressing the interdisciplinary nature of green digital gaming. These will be tested in selected higher education programs […]

ISEDA (2022-2025)

About The ISEDA project (Innovative Solutions to Eliminate Domestic Abuse) aims to produce, test, evaluate, and upscale innovative solutions against domestic violence and abuse in Europe. Its consortium, coordinated by the Cologne Game Lab from the TH Köln – University of Applied Sciences brings together 15 partners from nine different countries. This joint research project […]

VR4VET (2022-2025)

VR4VET: Virtual reality in career guidance and counseling While COVID 19 has brought the need for digitization into even sharper focus, the pandemic also contributed to rising youth unemployment: More than 3 million young people in Europe between the ages of 15 and 24 are currently unable to find a job; the number of people […]

PREMIERE (2023-2027)

Co-creation for innovation – Preparing multi-actor projects All across Europe, rural areas are facing major social, economic, and environmental concerns and challenges. Innovative solutions are needed to help farmers, foresters, and other rural businesses or initiatives to meet the expectations of wider society, whilst at the same time running their own successful businesses and working […]

STRATEGIES (2024-2028)

STRATEGIES — Sustainable Transition for Europe’s Game Industries — is a Horizon Europe funded project that supports Europe’s game industries in realising their potential as drivers of sustainable innovation, contributing to achieving the goals of the European Green Deal and delivering an economy that works for people. The Project: Europe’s game developers are a vital […]

SomaFest

SomaFest is a 7-day festival with a public exhibition, specialist workshops, and industry meet-ups to explore full-body engagement as the future of XR. It took first place in August 2023 at Cologne Game Lab! SomaFest 2023 is over but you can already save the date for next year´s event: We will be back September 16-22, 2024. For […]