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08/26/2021 15:14

Let’s Play: Fourteen Prototypes for Museum Games

Christoph Herbort-von Loeper M.A. Kommunikation
Leibniz-Gemeinschaft

A MAZE. Museum Online Game Jam “A World in Motion” with Leibniz Research Museums brings out fourteen game ideas

In 48 hours in twelve countries, creatives from the independent game design scene developed 14 prototypes for online games with mentors from the Leibniz Research Museums. This "Game Jam" took place as part of the A MAZE. Festival/ Berlin 2021. The games can now be tested online.

Touch museum objects to reveal them in the "Museum of Touch", build a monster out of museum objects, or accompany the alien "Blob" through an abandoned mine in search of tools to repair its spaceship - this and other creative game ideas allow you to discover the Leibniz Research Museums and their objects in a completely different way.

Game developers from Brazil, Indonesia, Italy and nine other countries came together virtually for the A MAZE. Museum Online Game Jam. Within 48 hours, they created fourteen online game prototypes together with the Leibniz Research Museums. The special challenge was that the games had to establish a connection between the different museums and their objects from natural, cultural and technological history. According to participants, it was a fascinating, creative and extremely productive atmosphere. The Online Game Jam took place at the end of July in the run-up to A MAZE./ Berlin 2021, the 10th International Games and Playful Media Festival.

In an exchange with mentors from the Leibniz Research Museums, the jammers sought out objects from their digital 3D and 2D collections and incorporated them into their game worlds. The stories behind the sometimes bizarre apparatuses and animals are, for example, the key to finding out what the murder weapon might be in the game "Murder Mystery Collage." This gives the museum objects new meaning and appeal. On the Leibniz Research Museums website, you can discover the games in short teaser videos and try them out for yourself: https://www.leibniz-forschungsmuseen.de/en/projects/uebersicht-aktivitaeten/a-ma...

The Leibniz Research Museums are now eager to see which game ideas online audiences like most. You can test the games on the website of the Research Museums or directly via the following link and cast "likes" for your favorites until September 23:
https://padlet.com/leibnizgemeinschaft/MuseumOnlineGames

For developers at the Game Jam, creating a museum game was itself a form of play, - and a really engaging one at that, according to game designer and developer at Pixblicity in Utrecht Anna Dohy in her contribution to "Playful Museums", an event following the Game Jam at the A MAZE. Festival. “Playful Museums” is available online at the Leibniz Research Museums website: http://www.leibniz-forschungsmuseen.de/en/projects/talk-playful-museums

"The museums didn't know in advance whether we would be able to speak one language, but the open-mindedness with which we were met was incredible," reported Dominik von Roth, Game Jam mentor from the Germanisches Nationalmuseum Nuremberg and also a speaker at "Playful Museums".

"The common denominator is to let go a little and that's what we as museums are just learning," explained Diana Modarressi-Tehrani, Head of the Science Management at the Deutsches Bergbau-Museum Bochum during “Playful Museums”.
Museum staff will take the diverse impressions, new contacts and experiences from the Game Jam with them to better meet this challenge in the future.

Press and Public Relations Aktionsplan Leibniz Research Museums
Elisabeth Habisch
Tel.: +49 (0)30 / 20 60 49 – 655
mobile +49 173 / 39 34 537
habisch@leibniz-association.eu

Press Contact for the Leibniz Association
Christoph Herbort-von Loeper
Tel.: +49 (0)30 20 60 49 – 471
mobile +49 174 / 310 81 74
herbort@leibniz-association.eu

Eight Leibniz Research Museums – one Aktionsplan
Eight Leibniz Research Museums collect, investigate, and engage. Their collections and archives comprise well over 100 million objects and form the foundation for research into: the history of the earth and its biodiversity, the history of culture and technology, and preservation of scientific and cultural heritage. The Leibniz Research Museums are guided by the understanding that access to knowledge and factual information is the basis for critical thinking and is therefore fundamental to our society. The goal of the Aktionsplan is to promote conversation and discussion about the major global challenges of our time. The museums are not only showcases for collections and research institutes, they also accompany society on its ongoing path toward major transformative changes. In the Aktionsplan Leibniz Research Museums, they jointly develop innovative strategies, areas for action, and programs. Projects take place at the museums and innovative locations, in analogue and on digital media. A World in Motion is the theme of their collaborative projects with a focus on mobility / migration / movement in an interdisciplinary and international context. In addition, the museums in the Aktionsplan work on individual and joint projects in cooperation with external partners. The Aktionsplan Leibniz Research Museums is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the federal states in which the research museums are located, in accordance with a resolution of the Bundestag.
http://www.leibniz-forschungsmuseen.de/en

The Leibniz Association
The Leibniz Association connects 96 independent research institutions that range in focus from natural, engineering and environmental sciences to economics, spatial and social sciences and the humanities. Leibniz Institutes address issues of social, economic and ecological relevance.
They conduct basic and applied research, including in the interdisciplinary Leibniz Research Alliances, maintain scientific infrastructure, and provide research-based services. The Leibniz Association identifies focus areas for knowledge transfer, particularly with the Leibniz research museums. It advises and informs policymakers, science, industry and the general public.
Leibniz institutions collaborate intensively with universities – including in the form of Leibniz ScienceCampi – as well as with industry and other partners at home and abroad. They are subject to a transparent, independent evaluation procedure. Because of their importance for the country as a whole, the Leibniz Association Institutes are funded jointly by Germany’s central and regional governments. The Leibniz Institutes employ around 20,500 people, including 11,500 researchers. The financial volume amounts to 2 billion euros.
http://www.leibniz-association.eu

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Criteria of this press release:
Journalists, all interested persons
interdisciplinary
transregional, national
Miscellaneous scientific news/publications
English

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