Ulrich Götz

Zurich University of the Arts
 https://gamedesign.zhdk.ch/

Ulrich Götz, (* 1971), is professor at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK), and heads the ZHdK Subject Area in Game Design since 2004. He was trained as an architect at the Berlin University of the Arts and the Escola Técnica Superior D’Arquitectura in Barcelona. He discusses comparable strategies of spatial design in architecture and game spaces in his research publications, public and university lectures. He argues that a lack of deeper understanding of architecture (from the perspective of game designers) and of game spaces (from the perspective of architects) is precisely what leads to the spatial constructions that lack architectural qualities in virtual spaces, and that fail to make proper use of the virtual world’s possibilities in real space. Over the years, Ulrich Götz has built up extensive experience in research and development of serious & applied games, during numerous cooperations with partners from medical, therapeutical, educational and economic contexts. His university teaching focuses on the analysis and design of game mechanics, game concepts, motivation design, serious & applied games, as well as spatial design in virtual environments.

Selected Publications:

  • Götz, U. (2019). From Asteroids to Architectoids. Close Encounters between Architecture and Game Design. In: Architectonics of Game Spaces. The Spatial Logic of the Virtual and Its Meaning for the Real, pp. 201-214. transcript: Bielefeld.
  • Götz, U. (2018). Rules Shape Spaces, Spaces Shape Rules. In: Suter, B. / Kocher, M. / Bauer, R. (eds.). Games and Rules. Game Mechanics for the „Magic Circle“, pp. 259-265. transcript: Bielefeld.
  • Götz, U., (2018). Zugänge zu Zwischengängen – Konstruktion eines räumlichen Modells. In: Adamovsky, N. (Ed.): Digitale Moderne – Die Modellwelten von Matthias Zimmermann, pp. 230-249, Hirmer Verlag: München.
  • Novak, D., Sigrist, R., Gerig, N.J., Wyss, D., Bauer, R., Götz, U., Riener, R. (2018). Benchmarking Brain-Computer Interfaces Outside the Laboratory: The Cybathlon 2016. Frontiers of Neuroscience. 11:756. DOI: 10.3389/fnins.2017.00756
  • Martin-Niedecken, A.L., Bauer, R., Mauerhofer, R. & Götz, U. (2015). RehabConnex – A Middleware for the Flexible Connection of Multimodal Game Applications with Input Devices used in Movement Therapy and Physical Exercising. In: Proceedings of the 2015 IEEE Conference on Computational Intelligence and Games (CIG), pp. 496-502, IEEE Xplore Digital Library. ISBN 978-1-4799-8621-7 (Print). DOI 10.1109/CIG.2015.7317671.

All Sessions by Ulrich Götz

  • 20. Nov | Summit Day

    The Summit Day will feature talks, project presentations, panel discussions, and workshops.

  • 16:15  - 16:45
    The gaming industry dedicates entire research departments to the development of its scenarios, which are based on examples from architecture and urban planning. But even though the industry spends millions on exploring realistic qualities, most elaborate productions merely offer a montage of selected, formal fragments, which may be indebted to a composition of the real, but which fail to stage its inner logic. At the same time, amazingly few game productions dedicate themselves to their own research on spatial qualities in the virtual. The architectural perspective, on the other hand, shows increasing interest in game design, but neglects to even perceive the sets of rules that exist there. However, without this prerequisite it is impossible to reveal the relationship between functional conditions and spatial order in game spaces. Architecture and urban planning are becoming aware of game engines and of augmented or virtual realities, but they mostly use such technologies for illustrations with glossy renderings. Compared to architectural designs from decades ago, such contributions are far from opening themselves to narrative and utopian qualities. The frequently assumed proximity between architectural spaces in reality and their virtual counterparts in video games is based on false assumptions. It is grounded on a selective and superficial discussion, which overlooks the thematic core of the other discipline, while the graphic output obscures the potential of virtual reality as a fantastic medium. Misinterpretations and misunderstandings, but also creative lethargies define the image that the developers of real and virtual space have of one another. At the same time, the results of photorealistic representations are so impressive that they become guiding images in the discussion of how space can even be depicted at all. A strange hybrid arises from the use of functionless bits and pieces of the respective other discipline: if real constructions are called “architecture,” these results could instead be described as “architectoids”. The talk references the publication “Architectonics of Game Spaces. The Spatial Logic of the Virtual and Its Meaning for the Real.”, edited by Andri Gerber and Ulrich Götz.
    20. Nov | Game Development Summit: Strange Worlds – About Spatial Experiences in Digital Games
    Where
    Cinema Lecture Hall

  • 17:15  - 18:00
    Panel Discussion
    20. Nov | Game Development Summit: Strange Worlds – About Spatial Experiences in Digital Games
    Where
    Cinema Lecture Hall




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Ulrich Götz