How can crisis preparedness be taught in an engaging and game-based way? This question is at the heart of the serious game Krisopolis, which emergenCITY will present at GameDays 2026 at TU Darmstadt on September 28 and 29, 2026.

GameDays 2026 focuses on the topics of health, resilience, and smart cities. Building on the roundtable discussion “Spillover Effects from Games Research” at the gamescom congress, the event explores the potential of serious games as well as the challenges faced particularly by small development studios and startups. Various thematic sessions will examine how serious games can be used, for example, in the fields of smart cities and healthcare. A panel discussion on the future of serious games, the presentation of the Serious Games Award by the Vereinigung von Freunden der TU Darmstadt e.V., and two workshops round off the program.

As part of the session “Serious Games for Resilience” on Monday, September 28, at 2:00 p.m., emergenCITY staff member Nadja Thiessen will present Krisopolis, a serious game for crisis preparedness. Players enter the fictional city of Krisopolis, which is repeatedly hit by crises such as power outages, lockdowns, and storms. To make it through, players must keep an eye on their avatar’s supplies, well-being, and social connections. The key is developing a smart preparedness strategy at the beginning of each round. The game was developed together with students from TU Darmstadt as part of the emergenCITY Serious Games mission.

The same session will also feature contributions on digital twins and geospatial data for resilience by Eva Klien from Fraunhofer IGD, as well as insights from the DiReX Application and Transfer Center into the role of serious games in digital resilience. These contributions will be presented by Joachim Schulze, Head of the Real-World Labs, and Michèle Knodt, Director of DiReX.

Anyone who would like to try Krisopolis in person and talk to Nadja Thiessen can do so at the Serious Games Marketplace during the lunch break on both days of the event.

The event will take place at TU Darmstadt, Rundeturmstr. 10, 64283 Darmstadt. Further information, the full program, and registration details can be found on the GameDays website. More information about Krisopolis is available at krisopolis.de.

About GameDays

Since 2005, the Serious Games Group at the Department of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology (etit) has organized GameDays as a Science Meets Business event focusing on serious games. The event takes place annually and includes presentations as well as an exhibition featuring hands-on games. Research and industry partners are warmly invited to present their new games and prototypes. Interested young people, including university students as well as school students, can attend the event free of charge.