It is difficult to answer what we do EXACTLY. After all, we are involved in a lot of activities. Nevertheless, there is a common thread. Our keywords are always ‘playing’ and ‘learning’. Sometimes it is about ‘hardcore’ learning and receiving student credits when using one of our tools, at other time we focus more on entertainment. At Ijsfontein, we are very good at creating complex content by applying technique and design in the right way. You can contact us if you want us to create a serious game or gamified e-learning module. For example, for the training of staff or bringing about behaviour changes in patients.

We are also involved in the discussion about the role of technology and play in the public space. We develop many interactive installations for museums. We also excel in designing products for children. These products may range from a fun App for toddlers to an online platform aimed at making young people aware of sexual misconduct. Furthermore, for 18 years now we have been collaborating with Malmberg publishers. Together we digitalize and gamify teaching methods and discuss the role of play and digital learning in the classroom.

A game is especially suitable for changing behaviour and less for transferring knowledge. When playing a game, you learn by experience. During the first discussions with our client, we first fill out the Playful Learning Canvas. By filling out this canvas, the client’s questions are examined from different angles and we quickly discover if and how a game can contribute to achieving a certain goal. We also offer separate Canvas sessions, during which we determine whether a game would be a good solution and what type of game would suit the target audience and ultimate goal.

An interactive installation is often a combination of software, hardware and architecture. It is an interactive and physical object in a space. The interaction varies from pressing a button to jumping in front of a Kinect sensor. Interactive installations are often developed for museums or visitor centres, etc.

Some stories are best told in an interactive way. Therefore, exhibitions and other rooms with an informative function (public space, hospital, reception area) increasingly make use of interactivity. This is done by using interactive objects that are part of the exhibition, such as touch screens and/or objects that give people a personal ‘tour’ (think of an audio tour or multimedia tour). Collaboration between curators and content experts is always important in achieving a good result. Naturally, the costs vary greatly depending on the type of project. But to give a good indication, starting from €30,000 you can create an audio tour. In addition to an attractive application with content, interactive installations also require hardware that can withstand rough handling. For a small interactive installation, you should easily expect a cost of around €40,000. For larger interactive installations or complete exhibitions we work with budgets ranging from € 100,000 to more than 1 million.

Not all our products are digital, but most of them are. It is important to not always take the digital aspect as a starting point. Technology follows content. At IJsfontein we are extremely interested in innovative technologies and discovering how these can make a valuable contribution to achieving a goal.

On average, the development time is three to six months. If the game is very complex or many stakeholders are involved, we often begin with an analysis process during which we identify the problem and context. On the basis of the results we then create a prototype on paper, which we can use to test the product with the target group. Although this requires a lot of time at the start, our experience shows that this investment will easily pay for itself later.

That can vary greatly. It depends on the complexity of the content and the requirements with respect to technique and form. A multiplayer game for all devices costs more than a simple quiz App for the iPhone. But to give an indication, for €40,000 you can create a small-scale game. The costs of games that should conceptually, visually or technically offer more than the standard game concepts (medium-sized games) can easily be between € 80,000 and € 120,000. Because these projects often aim for innovation, we use prototypes to determine whether the games have the desired results. Part of the budget is reserved to refine the project on the basis of the test results. The larger games which we develop are often part of a learning project or are part of an isolated teaching method. These projects have a budget of hundreds of thousands to a million euros and are designed to guide players’ development for a longer period of time

A serious game is a complete game in which you step into another world. A world with different rules where you can freely experiment. With gamification, game principles are applied to real life.

In theory, there is no real difference. E-learning means electronic learning. A serious game is often digital, and can therefore be categorized as an e-learning product. In practice, there are however differences. With a serious game the behaviour of the player is the most important aspect. Serious games are developed by game designers. Game designers base their games on form and experience. E-learning products are often designed by educators who base their games more on content and instructional steps. Depending on your learning objectives, you can choose a more traditional e-learning product or a serious game. Naturally, in practice there are many products that are a mix of the two. In these cases we don’t speak of a game, but the user is nevertheless motivated by game mechanics to learn more or repeat the material. But be careful though: simply applying a few game mechanics is not a good idea. This often has no effect and sometimes even works counter-productively. Game design is an art in itself!

A serious game is a game with a greater purpose than mere entertainment. A serious game is often digital, however this is not a prerequisite.  The goals of serious games can be diverse. Here are some examples:

• Training games – when playing the game you learn a skill that you can use outside of the game
• Awareness games – after completing the game, you gain new insights
• Knowledge games – after completing the game, you have more knowledge about a specific subject
• Marketing games – after completing the game, you feel more connected to a brand/product
• Activation games – by playing these types of games, you behave differently outside of the game
• Recruitment games – after completing the game, you know whether an applicant is applicable for a job
• Research games – by playing these types of games, you generate data for researchers

Serious games are used in education, healthcare, business and many more fields.

Many of our games are made for a specific target group and are not intended for the general public. However, we can often demonstrate these games upon request. Also, a number of our games can be found online:

• Can you fix it
• Lekker goedkoop
• Keeskomma

You can experience our interactive installations at the following locations:

• Paleis het Loo
• Het Zaans Museum
• Het van Gogh Museum
• Waterlinie museum
• Museum Boijmans van Beuningen

Last but not least, a selection of our apps you can download in the app of google play store.

• Touch van gogh (appstore) en Touch van Gogh (playstore)
• Tumblies (app store)
• VVN (app store) en VVN (play store)
• Beter in bed (app store) of Beter in bed (play store)
• Bollo app (app store) of Bollo app (play store)