EMPAMOS – a treasure trove for game development
APEX Ideenschmiede is using new kinds of AI assistants to design more enthralling board games
By Peter Budig
An exciting development: EMPAMOS® (“Empirical Analysis of Motivating Game Design Elements”), developed from tens of thousands of board game mechanics, has now gone full circle to become a tool for board game designers. This is the focus of a collaboration between research group lead Professor Dr Thomas Voit, the game designers at APEX Ideenschmiede and publisher Martin Mader (MM-Spiele).
Dust Race release set for SPIEL in Essen in October
The latest board game from APEX Ideenschmiede is called Dust Race – Press Start. It’s no coincidence that this sounds like a combination of a physical board game and a racing video game. “While this is an analogue board game, there are intentional similarities with the games from the digital worlds of the eighties and nineties. The game mimics the digital racetrack of that era and, just like back then on the screen, only the action at the front of the race is on the table. The rest is systematically dismantled and if you’re left standing there, you’re out,” says Andreas Dobrindt-Ostner from the APEX Ideenschmiede team, summarising the game idea. “The references are direct and intentional. They are deliberately meant to be humorous and recognisable,” adds Martina Dobrindt, a trained graphic designer responsible mainly for the layout. EMPAMOS elements were applied when developing the game mechanics, and all of the parties involved agree that they have significantly improved the quality of the game.
Typical game behaviour improves motivation
The paths of science are not always predictable. Business information scientist Prof Dr Thomas Voit, Dean of the Nuremberg Institute of Technology Georg Simon Ohm, and his interdisciplinary research group have now discovered this. Their ‘baby’ EMPAMOS® was developed from board game analyses. The Ohm team analysed 50,000 pieces of empirical data from the game collection of the German Games Archive in Nuremberg. They worked out the typical game elements that motivate human behaviour. From this, they developed the motivation cards that form the centrepiece of the EMPAMOS® toolbox. Anyone who uses them can shape motivation. EMPAMOS has been used successfully in companies, museums, universities and in socio-educational work (for example in drug help centres). EMPAMOS® is only now being used for the invention of new board games, which was not originally planned. EMPAMOS® is only now being used for the invention of new board games, which was not originally planned.
Professor Dr Thomas Voit got talking with husband and wife Andreas Dobrindt-Ostner and Martina Dobrindt at the Spielwarenmesse. They are part of the team at APEX Ideenschmiede, a group of freelance game developers.
Games from the APEX Ideenschmiede
Already available from Apex Ideenschmiede:
The Scroll of Secrets – a collaborative, hidden object puzzle game for 1–4 people that involves solving exciting riddles while on a fantastic adventure. www.topp-kreativ.de
Path of Elements – a competitive, tile-based puzzle game for 2–4 people who are dependent on the benevolence of the summoned elemental spirits to take the path of elements to victory. www.magellanverlag.de
New from Apex Ideenschmiede:
Dust Race – a competitive racing game for 2–6 people – will be released in early October 2024. Almost anything goes in this breakneck race with a constantly changing track, and the individual teams may use any means at their disposal to make it onto the podium. www.mm-spiele.de
Using research to craft a truly enjoyable play experience
Martina Dobrindt explains what is gained by applying the method: “The EMPAMOS cards can help to visualise the abstract mechanics when creating games.” And the effect goes further than that, according to Professor Voit: “Anger, joy, boredom – emotions are visualised.” Martina Dobrindt continues: “Specifically, we are using the tools to design more appealing game mechanics.”
This is significant – EMPAMOS is modelled on games and in turn is now being used to help make games more enjoyable. As the APEX developers work from various locations, EMPAMOS has proven its worth in communication within the team. “The cards reveal more than an emotional ‘I don’t like it’ or ‘I’m finding this boring now’”, explains Andreas. According to Voit, EMPAMOS allows for analysis that is fully independent of any game designer’s particular way of thinking. This suits the APEX Ideenschmiede development philosophy: “Inventing games as a team creates entirely different dynamics than doing so individually. EMPAMOS helps us by giving us a language for conveying complex matters in a really clear and simple way that every one of us can understand and that is very specifically based on the game mechanics. We have come up with new ways of breaking down games. This means we can isolate motivating elements and show which relationships in the mechanics of a game idea work together,” explains Andreas.
Dust Race: quality management and misfit analysis
Specifically, the EMPAMOS motivation cards were used to optimise the game that will now be released on the market as Dust Race – Press Start. Andreas explains: “We found out that the rules were unclear in several areas. Game performance was not sufficiently assessable or was too complicated and success in the game was not as clearly identifiable as it needed to be.” Martina adds: “Using the EMPAMOS cards, we were able to precisely determine where there was lack of clarity in the game mechanics and thus make improvements. Through the adjustments, both the level of immersion and the elements of surprise were improved, the game play was structured and the rules were set out in effective and concrete terms.” Such steps in game optimisation during the development phase are tedious and familiar aspects for board game designers. The EMPAMOS insights provided new AI possibilities that make this process easier.
Game to be released by MM-Spiele in autumn
The publisher that has now developed Dust Race further to the point where it is ready to hit the market is a good fit for APEX Ideenschmiede. Martin Mader of the newly founded MM-Spiele publishing company is actually an engineer who successfully sold robots for the automotive industry. But he could not escape the special appeal of the board game industry and almost opened a game store. Then a competitor beat him to it. Now he is a publisher with a good understanding of the special way in which APEX Ideenschmiede works. This turned out to be the case after the International Game Inventors' Fair 2023, where the publisher became aware of APEX. As Martina is a graphic designer, APEX is happy to provide the game idea, game story and design ideas. As a young publisher, MM-Spiele is sufficiently flexible for this kind of teamwork.
International Game Inventors' Convention at Spielwarenmesse 2025
At the International Game Inventors' Fair, national and international professionals meet game designers at the Exhibition Centre Nuremberg. Spielwarenmesse and Bayerisches Spielearchiv Haar e. V. are organising the next network meeting for game authors on the Friday of the fair, 31 January 2025.
Further Information on the Game Inventors' Convention for all those who want to present game ideas or are looking for the next hit for their publishing programme.
About the author:
Peter Budig studied Protestant theology, history and political science. He worked as a freelance journalist, headed up the editorial department of a large advertising paper in Nuremberg for ten years and was the editor of Nuremberg’s Abendzeitung newspaper. He has been freelancing again since 2014 as a journalist, book author and copywriter. Storytelling is absolutely his favourite form.
