---
_id: '7185'
abstract:
- lang: eng
  text: " Digital Educational Escape Rooms (DEERs) represent a compelling form of
    game-based learning that situates collaborative problem-solving at its core. Grounded
    in constructivist and collaborative learning principles, DEERs require teams to
    negotiate meaning, coordinate actions, and apply prior knowledge under time pressure,
    conditions that promote deeper cognitive engagement and knowledge consolidation.
    The game environment provides intrinsic motivation through narrative immersion
    and immediate feedback, while cooperative mechanics cultivate communication and
    shared responsibility. Systematic reviews confirm that DEERs foster teamwork,
    communication, and critical thinking, yet adoption remains limited because creating
    pedagogically sound DEERs demands both instructional design expertise and substantial
    technical skill. Existing authoring tools either sacrifice expressiveness for
    usability or require programming knowledge, leaving a significant gap for non-technical
    educators seeking to design rich, interactive learning experiences aligned with
    curricular goals. This work in progress paper presents the DEER-Wizard, a low-code
    authoring approach that guides educators through a multi-step configuration covering
    puzzle structure, narrative flow, and learning objectives. Each step is grounded
    in established DEER design principles, including narrative framing, interdependent
    puzzles, adaptive hint strategies, and structured debriefing, ensuring that pedagogical
    alignment is built into the authoring process rather than treated as an afterthought.
    A connected DEER-Generator converts the completed configuration into a playable
    game. The Wizard builds on the DEER-Toolkit embedded in a 2D multiplayer dungeon
    crawler with cooperative play and xAPI-based learning analytics that support formative
    assessment. Together, Wizard and Toolkit enable non-technical educators to design
    pedagogically aligned DEERs without programming expertise, directly addressing
    the power-usability dilemma identified in authoring tool research. The DEER-Wizard
    is a conceptual design with a prototype implementation in progress. A planned
    mixed-methods evaluation will examine usability for educators and learning outcomes
    for students in authentic higher education settings. The Wizard, the Toolkit,
    and the generated Escape Room Games are and will continue to be released as open-source
    software and open educational resources.\r\n                "
author:
- first_name: André
  full_name: Matutat, André
  id: '228871'
  last_name: Matutat
  orcid: 0009-0001-9362-7704
  orcid_put_code_url: https://api.orcid.org/v2.0/0009-0001-9362-7704/work/228736660
- first_name: Benjamin
  full_name: Franke, Benjamin
  id: '221028'
  last_name: Franke
- first_name: Niklas
  full_name: Schumann, Niklas
  id: '244257'
  last_name: Schumann
  orcid: 0009-0001-7718-6291
  orcid_put_code_url: https://api.orcid.org/v2.0/0009-0001-7718-6291/work/228736661
- first_name: Hannes
  full_name: Rüffer, Hannes
  id: '232411'
  last_name: Rüffer
- first_name: Birgit Christina
  full_name: George, Birgit Christina
  id: '212414'
  last_name: George
  orcid: 0009-0001-6148-9677
  orcid_put_code_url: https://api.orcid.org/v2.0/0009-0001-6148-9677/work/228736662
- first_name: Carsten
  full_name: Gips, Carsten
  id: '212649'
  last_name: Gips
  orcid: 0000-0002-4230-9060
  orcid_put_code_url: https://api.orcid.org/v2.0/0000-0002-4230-9060/work/228736664
citation:
  alphadin: '<span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Matutat, André</span> ; <span
    style="font-variant:small-caps;">Franke, Benjamin</span> ; <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Schumann,
    Niklas</span> ; <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">Rüffer, Hannes</span> ;
    <span style="font-variant:small-caps;">George, Birgit Christina</span> ; <span
    style="font-variant:small-caps;">Gips, Carsten</span>: Building Digital Educational
    Escape Rooms:  A Modular Toolkit with Low-Code Authoring Approach. In: <i>European
    Conference on Games Based Learning</i> Bd. 20, Academic Conferences and Publishing
    International Ltd (2026), Nr. 2'
  ama: Matutat A, Franke B, Schumann N, Rüffer H, George BC, Gips C. Building Digital
    Educational Escape Rooms:  A Modular Toolkit with Low-Code Authoring Approach.
    <i>European Conference on Games Based Learning</i>. 2026;20(2). doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.34190/ecgbl.20.2.5434">10.34190/ecgbl.20.2.5434</a>
  apa: Matutat, A., Franke, B., Schumann, N., Rüffer, H., George, B. C., &#38; Gips,
    C. (2026). Building Digital Educational Escape Rooms:  A Modular Toolkit with
    Low-Code Authoring Approach. <i>European Conference on Games Based Learning</i>,
    <i>20</i>(2). <a href="https://doi.org/10.34190/ecgbl.20.2.5434">https://doi.org/10.34190/ecgbl.20.2.5434</a>
  bibtex: '@article{Matutat_Franke_Schumann_Rüffer_George_Gips_2026, title={Building
    Digital Educational Escape Rooms:  A Modular Toolkit with Low-Code Authoring Approach},
    volume={20}, DOI={<a href="https://doi.org/10.34190/ecgbl.20.2.5434">10.34190/ecgbl.20.2.5434</a>},
    number={2}, journal={European Conference on Games Based Learning}, publisher={Academic
    Conferences and Publishing International Ltd}, author={Matutat, André and Franke,
    Benjamin and Schumann, Niklas and Rüffer, Hannes and George, Birgit Christina
    and Gips, Carsten}, year={2026} }'
  chicago: Matutat, André, Benjamin Franke, Niklas Schumann, Hannes Rüffer, Birgit
    Christina George, and Carsten Gips. “Building Digital Educational Escape Rooms: 
    A Modular Toolkit with Low-Code Authoring Approach.” <i>European Conference on
    Games Based Learning</i> 20, no. 2 (2026). <a href="https://doi.org/10.34190/ecgbl.20.2.5434">https://doi.org/10.34190/ecgbl.20.2.5434</a>.
  ieee: A. Matutat, B. Franke, N. Schumann, H. Rüffer, B. C. George, and C. Gips,
    “Building Digital Educational Escape Rooms:  A Modular Toolkit with Low-Code Authoring
    Approach,” <i>European Conference on Games Based Learning</i>, vol. 20, no. 2,
    2026.
  mla: Matutat, André, et al. “Building Digital Educational Escape Rooms:  A Modular
    Toolkit with Low-Code Authoring Approach.” <i>European Conference on Games Based
    Learning</i>, vol. 20, no. 2, Academic Conferences and Publishing International
    Ltd, 2026, doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.34190/ecgbl.20.2.5434">10.34190/ecgbl.20.2.5434</a>.
  short: A. Matutat, B. Franke, N. Schumann, H. Rüffer, B.C. George, C. Gips, European
    Conference on Games Based Learning 20 (2026).
conference:
  end_date: 02.10.2026
  location: Darmstadt
  name: European Conference on Games Based Learning
  start_date: 30.09.2026
date_created: 2026-09-29T10:10:29Z
date_updated: 2026-10-05T08:00:22Z
doi: 10.34190/ecgbl.20.2.5434
intvolume: '        20'
issue: '2'
language:
- iso: eng
publication: European Conference on Games Based Learning
publication_identifier:
  eisbn:
  - 978-1-917204-95-8
  eissn:
  - 2049-100X
  isbn:
  - ' 978-1-917204-96-5'
  issn:
  - 2049-0992
publication_status: published
publisher: Academic Conferences and Publishing International Ltd
status: public
title: 'Building Digital Educational Escape Rooms:  A Modular Toolkit with Low-Code
  Authoring Approach'
type: journal_article
user_id: '261203'
volume: 20
year: '2026'
...