New 'games professor' Johanna Pirker at TUM opens her first DemoDay with a bang: Josh Sawyer from Obsidian held the keynote about working in small teams in front of a full hall of students. The DemoDay, organised by David Plecher, pitches students' theses, projects and game jam games every semester.
The organising team of 27th DemoDay TUM, the keynote speaker and a prominent streamer: Among them Johanna Pirker (center front), David Plecher (second from left), Josh Sawyer (center back) and Maurice Weber (third from left) (GamesMarket)
Yesterday at the Technical University Munich (TUM), the 27th DemoDay of the Computer Science Department has taken place. Every semester, the students of the department are presenting their games projects and game jam prototypes as well as AI and XR research from the last semester there in “One Minute Madness” rounds, pitching the game to an audience of fellow students, professors and industry professionals from the region like Irox Games, streamer and journalist Maurice Weber and GamesMarket.
Josh Sawyer, Creative Director of Obsidian, flew in from California to hold the keynote and encourage students to make games (GamesMarket)
The winter semester 2025/26’s demo day also marks the first time new TUM Professor for N-Dimensional User Experience Johanna Pirker has co-organised the demo day, together with David Plecher and the team from the chair for Extended Reality. And Pirker has started her event work in Munich with a bang: For the first time, the demo day featured a keynote before the presentations. Josh Sawyer, Creative Director of Obsidian Games, flew in from the USA to to present an hour of tips and experiences about working in a small game dev team, adapted from his experience leading the small internal Pentiment development team from 2019 to 2022.
The core team of the day as well as the keynote speaker, from left: David Plecher, Josh Sawyer, Johanna Pirker, Chrysa Bika and Sven Liedtke
Sawyer then stayed for the networking part in the mathematics department’s foyer, where all 45 games and experiences from the students were playable.
Every student had one minute and one slide to present their game or project (GamesMarket)
Here are all the projects presented at the 27th DemoDay and their respective study course or project state:
Echo's Call, Geschichtswelten
Escape Pod 6, Geschichtswelten
Legacy of Magic, Geschichtswelten
Bimpfingers, Concept Art & Game Design
Move more, Eat less, Concept Art und Game Design
Mrs Frog Can't Swim, Interaktion Methoden und Geräte
Canyon of Sages, Interaktion Methoden und Geräte
Jakob Fritsch Interaktion Methoden und Geräte
RAGE: the game, Interaktion Methoden und Geräte
Card Run, Interaktion Methoden und Geräte
Clockwork Castle, Interaktionsmethoden und Geräte
It ́s me Demil!, Bachelor Thesis
Gaze Estimation in VR, Bachelor Thesis
The use of VR to showcase the Column of Marcus Aurelius, Bachelor's Thesis
Target Practice, Bachelor's Thesis
Language Island, Guided research
Z1 Simulator, Master Thesis
Controlling a Humanoid Robot in Clinical Care Workflows, Master's thesis
