On October 7 and 8, we presented the project GALaQSci and it’s partners at Quantum Effects Fair in Stuttgart on future quantum technologies.
We are delighted that so much interest has been shown in the various areas of our project, from the underlying research to the didactic implementation and programming, as well as in our product, the game Qookies, itself. We would like to thank you for the interesting discussions on future quantum technologies, for your interest and for your feedback on our game Qookies!
Our project partners Munich Center for Quantum Science and Technology (MCQST) and Munich Quantum Valley (MQV) took part in the second DPG Fall Meeting ‘Quantum25’ from September 9 to 11, 2025. We had many interesting discussions about quantum science and technologies and, of course, our project GALaQSci.
On July 21, 2025, all of our GALaQSci team members gathered once again in Munich at the Chair of Physics Education at LMU to discuss the current status of the project.
Over the past six months, our main focus has been on developing and presenting our game Qookies, and preparing for the next study. To achieve this, we brought our NPC Yuki to life, added a central theme to the game’s background story and created lots of new levels to introduce you to quantum sensor technology. And now the next study is already waiting in the wings.
We also took part in many events such as other Quantum Tuesdays, the World of Quantum trade fair on quantum technologies, and an AI festival, where we presented Qookies. We are also planning to take part in various events over the next six months, where you can talk to us and try out our game.
This year, our project status meeting focused on further developing the background story for even more mystery and excitement while playing. All team members played diligently and gave feedback, regardless of their usual roles within the project. We were able to gather a lot of ideas and had constructive discussions, so we are now looking forward to starting work on the new missions full of motivation.
On July 19 and 20, an AI festival [German] took place in Heilbronn as an educational event where everyone had the opportunity to get to know more about artificial intelligence.
Fabian Schroth, one of our AI developers and owner of Quantum Gaming GmbH, was on site with a tent and of course had our game Qookies with him. The visitors, including many families with children, got to know Yuki, our non-player character, and enjoyed trying out our game. The fact that Yuki is based on an AI that learns as it plays and grows together with the players was a frequently discussed topic that met with great interest.
From June 24 to 27, 2025, we were at the World of Quantum fair 2025 at Messe München. We presented the GALaQSci project and, of course, our upcoming game “Qookies” at the joint booth of the “Quantum aktiv” projects [German] , funded by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR).
We had many exciting conversations with people from a variety of different backgrounds, so the topics at our booth were wide-ranging. These included questions about how we can turn such a complex topic into an appealing and intuitive game, where it should be used in the long term and the programming and functions of the AI, Yuki. We also explained the basic quantum mechanical concepts and the three planned quantum technologies of the game: quantum sensing, computing and communication. Of course, we supported our explanations with a demo version of Qookies.
Stefan Küchemann, the GALaQSci project manager, also presented the project and its goals to a broad audience at the BMFTR’s Quantum-Aktiv joint booth.
After an introduction to the topic of serious games and why they are important for quantum technologies given by our physics didactics expert Caroline Wehrmann, the visitors had the opportunity to try out the latest version of our game Qookies for two hours. We had many interesting conversations and a lot of fun.
This year’s spring meeting of the German Physical Society (DPG) of the Matter and Cosmos Section (SMuK) took place from March 31 to April 4, 2025 on the campus of Georg-August-Universität Göttingen. This conference was also used by the physics education departments of various universities to meet and exchange information about their research and projects.
In this context, Caroline Wehrmann, a didactician in our project, presented some results of the study contucted within GALaQSci. The focus of her presentation was on the effect of AI-controlled NPCs (non player characters) on cognitive load and learning effect of the players.
On February 22 and 23, the “Quantum Weekend” took place at the Deutsches Museum in Munich as part of the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology. In addition to a program of guided tours, lectures and live shows, our partners, the ‘Munich Center for Quantum Science and Technology’ (MQCST) and the ‘Munich Quantum Valley’ (MQV), were also represented to inform you about their various projects – and of course GALaQSci was not to be missed!
On December 6, 2024, all our team members met in Munich and used the whole day to recapitulate the current status of our GALaQSci project and plan the next steps.
In our first GALaQSci year, we have already achieved a number of milestones, such as the development of a prototype, the implementation of our first study, initial level designs and the creation of our own project website. We have also been able to use various opportunities to present our project to the general public, for example at FORSCHA, at the open day at the Garching research campus and at Quantum Tuesday at the Deutsches Museum, as well as in lectures and a panel discussion at the Quantum Effects trade fair in Stuttgart.
For the next phase of the project, we are focusing in particular on the further development of our game resQ (now Qookies) and a second study. To this end, we now need to work hard to create new levels, develop a captivating story and continue to attend various events. And, of course, we want to release a demo version for you as soon as possible.
