We are a Creative Studio and Private Research Company

Let’s Create Something Together!

Research

We research serious games and their impacts on players for educational institutions, industry, and academia.

Creative Design

We create deep and meaningful experiences that focus on immersion, growth, and integration.

Training

We coach and conduct trainings on a wide range of topics, from team building, to conflict transformation.

Phoito: MIchaela Poledni
Photo: Michaela Poledni

We Make Learning and Growth Engaging and Fun

We have been doing this for a while, but most days we feel like we are just getting started! We deeply believe that playfulness has the power to shift shape, and change every part of the world we live in. From our schools, workplaces, communities, families, even to ourselves and our inner world. Come be playful and learn with us!

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Years of Playing
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Hours of Learning and Fun


Meet Our Evocateurs!


The three core team members on our team have a combined
design experience of over 8 decades. We have designed and run events on 4
continents, and with teams of a huge number of different nationalities. Our team is familiar with a
combined 9 languages, and are experienced with localization and cultural consultancy.
As researchers, the team has spent the last 15 years at the forefront of the
emerging academic field of Role-Playing Game Studies, and are recognized as frequent
contributors to the evolving discourse.


Kjell H. Hugaas (he/him)

Kjell Hedgard Hugaas is the CEO of Evocative Games, and in most cases the nuts and bolts in the daily running of the company. Kjell is a Northern Norwegian storyteller, game designer, organizer, writer, theorist, and trained actor. He has spent over 3 decades designing games for leisure, education, therapy, leadership, and other professional settings.

The last few years he has deepened his exploration into the transformative potential of games, and has proposed specific intentional game design practices that facilitate transformative effects. Kjell has trocesses of memetic bleed, procedural bleed, and identity bleed, and is the person behind the concepts of the bleed perception threshold, and bleed as a homeostasis recovery process. Another of his research interests is how games affect players’ attitudes towards mortality and death. He also holds degrees in Nature Science and Public Management.


Josephine Baird (she/her)

Josephine is a member of Evocative Games’ board. Her significant competence in a wide range of fields, makes Josephine our highly valued Jill of All Trades. She is currently also a Ph.D. candidate at Tampere University in Finland. She is a game designer and game design consultant, as well as a writer and visual artist. Her work often relates the intersection between games, identity, gender, and sexualities. Her research and recent publications present the theoretical and methodological basis for her thesis that role-playing games might provide a potent opportunity for people to explore their gender subjectivity in safer environments. Her current research will conclude with the design of a live action role-playing game that puts this theoretical work into practice.

She is also an actor, highly experienced and engaging public speaker, and co-host of the podcast It Is Complicated.
More information about our Josephine can be found at https://josephinebaird.com/.


Sarah L. Bowman (she/her)

Dr. Sarah Lynne Bowman chairs the EG board. She is a scholar, game designer, and event organizer. Her work at Evocative Games centers around game design and game research on specific projects.

She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Texas at Dallas in Arts and Humanities. Sarah has taught in the Humanities, English, and Communication. She formerly served as Coordinator for the Peace & Conflict Studies program at Austin Community College, where she teaches Humanities. She has co-edited a number of books, and currently edits for the International Journal of Role-Playing and Nordiclarp.org.

Bowman has co-organized several conferences, including Living Games (2014, 2016, 2018), Role-playing and Simulation and Education (2016, 2018), the Edu-Larp Conference (2025, 2026) and the Transformative Play Initiative Seminar (2022, 2025).

What can our team do for yours?

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Skill Building

Leadership, Conflict Transformation, Non-Violent Communication, and Facilitation are all critical skills in any team. We can custom make modules to teach these to your team through role-playing.

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Educational Games

What if learning was also fun? And not only that; What if you could learn better, more, and different things? We can custom make educational games for all your purposes.

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Culture Transformation

Nurturing and maintaining a healthy culture at work can be challenging. We use role-playing games to help teams transform conflicts and strengthen psychological safety in professional settings.

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Narrative Design

Whether you are telling the story of your brand, or you design a video games, narrative design is at the core of your message. We can help you write, or help you get past what might be holding your writing back.

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Psychological Safety

Cultivating and nurturing psychological safety is one of the key components in most successful teams. We build on decades of safety work in role-play settings to help you achieve this.

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Facilitation

The success of a change process is completely dependent on how it is facilitated. In addition to creating modules for you to build skills within your teams, we can also help you directly with facilitation.

Anonymous Participant
    Anonymous Participant

    Larp Participant

    “Thank you so very much! This was the first time I needed to make use of an off game room to deal with bleed during a larp and you made that such a chill, fun, safe experience. You’re wonderful to talk to, both in terms of emotional support and just for a good, interesting conversation, and also you’re just very cool.”

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      H

      Project Lead

      “You demonstrated comprehensive professionalism and the utmost empathy in integrating the various perspectives of those involved in the implementation of the conference and the work package. You always work reliably, with the utmost precision, and adhere perfectly to schedules.”

      Meghan Gardner
        Meghan Gardner

        Transformative Design Director

        “Kjell worked on our team of 10 designers from around the world on the development of a card game to teach the basics of design to middle schoolers for the Smithsonian museum of design. His expertise was invaluable in the development of the debrief section of the game as well as the game design mechanics. Working with Kjell is a delight with his thoughtful insights and patient understanding.”

        David W.
          David W.

          School Principal

          “For me the most important part was I think this is going to have a huge effect on our most vulnerable kids. I think this, giving them the permission to step outside of themselves, using the alibi, and be able to practice these things in a judgment free, risk free setting may give them that step up they need.”

          Let’s Get Started!

          Transformation requires bravery, commitment, and consistency to achieve the impact we desire. We have spent years figuring out how the power of play can be used to inspire pro-social and progressive transformation in people, teams, and organizations. Let us help you figure out what you and your team needs, and let’s start putting down the first building blocks of your future together.

          There are a million challenges in the world, and only a few thousand hours in a year, so we Let’s Get Started!

          Hours in a Year
          +
          Challenges to Solve

          Catch Up on Our Latest Updates

          Take Your First Step Towards Meaningful Transformation Today!

          Get In Touch

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          Evocative Games AB
          Vänge, Gotland, Sweden
          Kjell[@]evocativegames.eu