Description
Koboldgames is a Swiss based game developer for serious games and gamification, with a focus on customized solutions.
History
Early history and Journey of a Roach
2012-2013
Koboldgames GmbH was founded in 2012 by five game
design alumni from Zurich University of Arts: Mischa
Geiser, Yasemin Günay, Ralf Mauerhofer, Jasmin Widmer
and Binan Woll.
While still studying in 2011, the five Kobolds got a
publishing deal with the German adventure game
developer and publisher Daedalic for what later came to
be Journey of a Roach
. This finalised the decision to
establish a game development company at a time where a
game development scene was virtually nonexistent in
Switzerland.
Koboldgames received one of the first arts council
grants for game development in Switzerland for Journey
of a Roach. The game released on 4. November 2013 on
Steam, GoG, other online platforms and even as physical
copies in stores for Windows, Mac and Linux.
From garage kids to serious start-up business
2013-2015
After Journey of a Roach, the five Kobolds decided to
take a break from indie development and started focusing on
working for clients. They had already worked on several
serious game projects for the Zurich University of
Arts, featuring a wide range of themes including nutrition
information or arm rehabilitation exercises.
In spring of 2015, Koboldgames moved into the
Technopark Brugg. This not only improved the commute
for several Kobolds, it doubled the office space, added
meeting rooms and free coffee provided by the
Technopark Aargau.
Games for research
2015-2018
Later that year, the Kobolds were approached again by
Zurich University of Arts and researcher Anna
Martin-Niedecken to develop a fitness game for studies
about the Dual Flow. By implementing the Dual Flow
theory into the game, the resulting Plunder Planet
provides engaging motivation for exercising while being
also as effective as normal physical exercise.
By this time, Koboldgames got a taste for making games for research
projects. So, they teamed up with a research team from
several Swiss and German universities to create a game
for research about morality in business finance, the
Serious Moral Game
. This project continued evolving
into several different versions for different studies,
and accompanies Koboldgames to this day.
Two years after the conception of Plunder Planet, Anna
Martin-Niedecken returned with her newly founded
fitness company Sphery. This opened opportunities for
an exciting partnership, in which Koboldgames would
develop games for Sphery’s ExerCube, a fitness
equipment that would provide training based on the Dual
Flow.
The way forward
2018-
Next to these long term research projects, Koboldgames
is constantly developing more applied games for
customers, such as Allianz Suisse, Wasserversorgung
Zürich and Sonova, ranging from education game for
company employees, to geo-location history learning game,
and physiological training game for seniors.
Since 2018, there have been some changes within the Kobold team: Thanks to larger projects, Julian Schönbächler, Melody Flora Zimmer and Marc Shaw joined to support us. Co-founder Mischa Geiser left Koboldgames to take on new challenges. However, he remains on the Koboldgames board.
In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic did not leave Koboldgames entirely unscathed. Thanks to the existing work of security expert Eleanore Young, it was no problem to immediately switch to home office from a technical aspect. In the end, the Kobolds faced even this obstacle with confidence and motivation and were quickly back on track. The leap that digitalisation made during this time became a great opportunity.
From summer 2021 onwards, the team again tackled and successfully completed several large gaming projects for Red Bull as well as Denner. In addition, Koboldgames is now more involved in the area of consulting and in the form of training/courses on game development topics. In finance, Marc Shaw was followed by Fabi Feuerhuber and in the summer of 2022, co-founder Jasmin went other ways but remains in the role of co-owner.
The Kobolds look forward to the next challenges with enthusiasm, creativity and teamwork.
Koboldgames is looking forward to the next challenges with enthusiasm,
creativity and teamwork, and are eager for new and exciting projects.
(Last Update: 24.01.2023, by Ralf Mauerhofer)
