Autumn holidays 2026 in Celle: for one week, Trift 32 was a game lab. At the Denk.Mal Game Jam, 13 young people aged 11 to 18 developed their own computer games, from the very first sketch to a finished game.
It all started with paper and pen. By the first afternoon the ideas had come so far that the groups moved on to the game software Unity, a day earlier than planned. On the second day the secret theme was revealed: Sophia Dorothea, the princess from Celle. At the Residenzmuseum in Celle Castle the participants gathered notes and photos for their characters, rooms and stories.
After that, three teams worked like small studios. Characters and scenery were drawn with felt pens on paper or on the iPad, and short workshops covered sound recording, animation and music. One team composed in GarageBand, one at the piano, and one put its sound together from a sound library. On Saturday everyone played the other teams’ games and noted what still needed fixing.
On Sunday, 18 October, the young people presented their three games: “Forbidden Love”, “Letter Escape” and “BUG Princess”. Around 70 guests tried them out, and every participant received a certificate and a T-shirt with motifs from the week. You can play all three in your browser now, on our games page.
The week was led by Katharina Gröschner, who directed the programme and taught animation, with Andreas Scherren for programming and music and Laura Malavé, who supported the teams in every area. A kitchen team kept everyone well fed all week long.
The Game Jam was funded by “Wir können Kunst” (BBK) as part of “Kultur macht stark. Bündnisse für Bildung”, a programme of the Federal Ministry of Education, Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth. Cooperation partners were Oberschule Westercelle and the Residenzmuseum in Celle Castle. Thanks also to the district of Celle for its support.
