On January 29, educators, pedagogical experts and other education professionals gathered for an inspiring program of keynotes, workshops and a games market during the 2025 edition of the Game Didactics Conference at HU University of Applied Sciences Utrecht, the Netherlands.
The Hilversum Hub of EPIC-WE was there, showcasing our research project on empowerment for young minds to actively shape European culture and their own futures through game-making. Let’s look back on an EPIC day!
The Games Market
The day kicked off with a visit to the Games Market, where a total of 310 participants wandered around looking for useful tools and insights to enrich their practice. At our EPIC-WE booth, many participants stopped by to learn more about how Cultural Game Jams can be used to empower young people. In particular, the educational professionals were interested in the building blocks of a game jam in order to start hosting game jams for their students at their schools. From Game Design 101 for social impact to brainstorming activities to get the creative thinking process started – we were able to provide participants with the necessary tools to get started.
In addition, we showcased two games made during the previous Game Jam:
- Archive Memory – a game in which you explore Sound & Vision’s archival material by theme, matching videos from the past to current events on the same topic.
- Make it…!!! – a game in which you shape your character’s life with moral choices and sanity points.
The games allowed the educators to envision possible outcomes of their game jams, showing what students are able to make in just a couple of days!
Anyone who was unable to pay a visit to our stand during the morning session had the opportunity to come back during lunch break. We feel blessed to have so many participants visiting our booth at the games market and feeding the discussion. Thanks to everyone who stepped by!
Workshop: Empowering Youth through Game-making
In the afternoon it was time for an interactive workshop, hosted by two educators from the EPIC-WE Hilversum Hub. The main focus of the session was:
- “Game Design 101” for social impact;
- Game design and game jams as a form of research;
- How to use cultural heritage material as inspiration for a game;
- Lessons learned by the EPIC-WE Hilversum Hub in designing and organizing multiple Cultural Game Jams for young people of different study backgrounds and ages;
- Building blocks for organizing your own Cultural Game Jam.
In addition, we confronted participants of our workshop with abrasive content by playing a round of the game Secret Hitler, allowing them to feel that a game can do more than purely entertain. The goal of Secret Hitler is to find and stop Hitler and a fascist takeover, but more important the game starts conversations and critical thinking of larger societal issues. A discussion arose on how EPIC-WE invites young people to make games like that, shaping European culture and showing participants of the workshop first hand of how games can be used to stimulate conversations between young people on societal issues.
We had a great day, on to the next conference!
