Interdisciplinary Work Made Playable and Experiential at Immersive Media Day

The Immersive Media Day on July 8, 2026, began at 3:00 p.m. for visitors. Spread across three seminar rooms and the foyer, visitors were able to try out all nine projects and experience art and storytelling in an immersive way. The range of projects is wide: from cultural stories brought to life through food to a game featuring a coin that’s searching for other coin enthusiasts in a dystopian world.

The day began earlier for the course organizers and the students. At 9:30 a.m., the project presentations for Immersive Storytelling: Games and Immersive Arts began in two HFF theaters for a select audience. The presentations took advantage of the possibilities offered by a movie theater, such as various lighting settings. The students presented their projects in a captivating and engaging manner, getting right to the point.

Students from TUM, HFF, and, for the first time this year, the Munich University of Applied Sciences are collaborating on creating video games with the goal of telling an immersive story. In the first part of the seminar, they develop a plan for their game within one and a half weeks, with support and input from external instructors. Marcus Klöppel provided the students with input and the basics of game design and storyworlds throughout the entire block course. Simone Mändl provided input on the visual coherence of a game, and Hauke van Göns helped the students with the presentation of their first pitch.

During the second phase of the course, additional workshops were held to further explore interdisciplinary work. In the motion capture workshop, David Emmenlauer oversaw the technical aspects, and Franzi Frey brought the teams’ characters to life by acting in a motion capture suit. Jennifer Lufau introduced the students to the topic of Sensitivity Reading. Jan Godde worked with the teams over a total of six days to record and edit voice recordings and sound effects.

The course was accompanied by additional evening events. Luis Guggenberger and Thomas “RoamingOwl” provided insights into the role of a creative vision during an evening event with Chrysa Bika. In addition, two events took place as part of the “Expert Talks and Pretzels” series, organized by Jennifer F. Donovan, Ivette Schmidt, and Lena Fischer. One was on level design with Dijana “Dini” Martinovic and Jens Bolanz, and another was a talk on sound and voice acting featuring Julia Bencker, Lara Schmidt, and Alec Shea.

The course was organized and held in 2026 as part of its fifth iteration. Lena Pauli and Tim Ungermann, with support from Anne Treuheit, Joyce Abou-Zeid, and Leonhard Schmid, organized the course on behalf of the HFF. Lena Fischer and Moritz Schlögell organized the course on behalf of the CreatiF Center. Chrysa Bika, Daniel Dyrda, Martin Schacherbauer, and Prof. Johanna Pirker, with support from Yixuan Cui, organized the course on behalf of TUM.

Four universities collaborated on this course: the HFF, the Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich (LMU), the Munich University of Music and Performing Arts (HMTM), and TUM. Students and faculty from all four universities worked in an interdisciplinary manner and, drawing on their diverse educational backgrounds and knowledge, created interactive and immersive art exhibitions. The projects were first presented to the public during Immersive Media Day, and were then exhibited again at the HFF on July 22 and 23.

The Immersive Arts course began with a block course, during which the students formed teams. In addition, the block course introduced students to the concept of art and provided them with tools for bringing immersive and interactive art to life. Throughout the semester, the students developed their projects both independently and with guidance from the instructors. Regular meetings between teams and instructors ensured that students could receive feedback and ask questions about their projects.

The course was organized by Chrysa Bika (TUM), Pauline Leininger (HFF and TUM), Quirin Müller (HFF and HMTM), Christoph J. Weber (HFF and LMU), Prof. Johanna Pirker (TUM), and Prof. Sylvia Rothe (HFF).