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Model-Driven Methodology for Developing Serious Games in the Context of Software Engineering Education

Shaterian, Fatemeh | 2019

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  1. Type of Document: M.Sc. Thesis
  2. Language: Farsi
  3. Document No: 52362 (19)
  4. University: Sharif University of Technology
  5. Department: Computer Engineering
  6. Advisor(s): Ramsin, Raman
  7. Abstract:
  8. As software technology has advanced, many related industries, such as game development, have also evolved. Games are not solely used for enjoyment anymore, and their application has expanded to various domains, the most important of which is education. Serious games connect education and enjoyment by achieving pedagogical objectives through gaming. Experience has shown that using this approach for education can be more effective than traditional methods. Serious games have been applied to various areas of education, one of which is software engineering. Software engineering covers a wide span of knowledge, and a range of methods are required for the education to be effective, especially where practical aspects are concerned. By providing simulations of real-world environments that are specifically designed for educational purposes, serious games can adequately cover the practical aspects of software engineering. Thus, students who undergo this sort of education can obtain the skills considered essential for working in real environments. Compared to development of ordinary games, development of serious games requires additional effort for addressing the challenges of integrating the "serious" aspects with enjoyment aspects. A comprehensive and efficient methodology that is tailored to fit the specific characteristics of the educational domain would allow the developers to handle these challenges. The Model-Driven Development (MDD) approach can reduce the complexity of serious games development by automating parts of the process. Serious games have already been used in different areas of software engineering education, including project management, software development processes (such as SA/SD, RUP and Scrum), and software development process standards (such as ISO/IEC 12207); however, there are few methodologies for serious games development, most of which have not been designed for software engineering education; moreover, the need remains for a comprehensive model-driven methodology for serious-games development in the field of software engineering education.
    The aim of this research has been to propose a model-driven methodology for serious games development in the context of software process education, in which modeling levels and model transformation rules are precisely defined. To this aim, the basic concepts involved in designing the target methodology have first been gathered, examined and studied. The related works have been reviewed through a comprehensive study, spanning the ordinary and model-driven methodologies used for serious games development, including those used for software engineering education; as a result, the strengths and weaknesses of these methodologies have been identified. Based on the results of this review and the features expected from serious games in software engineering education, the target modeling framework and model-driven methodology have been defined. The proposed methodology has then been evaluated by applying five different categories of evaluation criteria (general, model-driven, transformation rules, modeling language, and serious game in the context of software process education). Furthermore, the proposed methodology has been empirically validated through application to a sample serious game development project in a real organization.
  9. Keywords:
  10. Methodology Engineering ; Model Driven Development ; Software Engineering Process Education ; Serious Game ; Models Transformation ; Software Development Methodology

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