A non-profit studio designing games that teach.
We design with subject matter experts and test with real learners.
Cognitika is a non-profit game studio based in Serbia, backed by multiple years of commercial game design experience.
We operate and maintain an assortment of specialists across different technologies, and we bring them together around whatever the learning calls for.
A traditional game hunts for a fun mechanic.
A teaching game starts with the exact skills people need to walk away with, and works backwards to find the right mechanic.
The learning is the way to win, not a gate between the fun parts.
Rules dictate behaviour while fun is just the outcome, no matter the format.
Whether we're building with a VR headset or cutting out a board game, four principles always apply to our process: feeling, core loop, rules, and playtesting.
How the learner is supposed to feel. With the learning goal fixed, we choose the experience we're aiming at, whether that's pressure, precision or curiosity, before designing a single mechanic.
Every game runs on a repeating cycle. A player acts, the rules respond and provide the feedback. We build the learning into that cycle, and iterate until it meets set goals.
Design the system, not the fun. We design the difficulty, what choices a learner can make, and what the outcome is. Fun is what emerges when someone interacts with the system in their own unique way.
Playtesting decides what works. We test with subject matter experts and real learners, and what really teaches goes to the final training product.
Design decides the technology, not the other way round.
These are the formats we build in most, and a technology is only ever a tool for meeting the learning goal. When a project needs something outside them, we gladly take it on.
Immersive, hands-on simulations for high-stakes skill building.
The most accessible device there is, lessons at the tip of a finger.
Deep, high-performance learning tools with easy browser access.
Tactile gameplay that builds social and critical thinking skills.
AI helps us explore new technologies & prototype faster. Every game that we make is designed, tested, and finished by a real person.
Tell us all about it and we will get right back to you.