Engagement and Perceived Applicability: Game Dev Story in Software Engineering

The integration of commercial off-the-shelf games into higher education curricula offers a promising avenue for increasing student motivation, yet its efficacy as a pedagogical tool remains contingent upon rigorous instructional design. An exploratory mixed-methods case study involving 26 students demonstrates that utilizing the simulation game Game Dev Story within a software engineering course successfully fosters high levels of engagement and positive attitudes toward learning. However, this heightened interest does not inherently guarantee the successful transfer of disciplinary knowledge, as students frequently report only moderate perceived learning outcomes and struggle to bridge the gap between abstract game mechanics and formal technical expectations.

The primary challenge identified is a misalignment between the game’s focus on project management and the broader, more technical requirements of a software engineering curriculum. While participants are capable of identifying connections between gameplay and professional practices—categorizing these into game-specific rules, general management strategies, and core engineering principles—they often find it difficult to articulate these insights in explicit academic terms. This suggests that the passive consumption of instructor-provided mappings is insufficient to facilitate deep cognitive processing or the practical application of game-based experiences to real-world software development.

To maximize the educational value of commercial games, they must be embedded within a robust instructional framework rather than treated as standalone activities. Effective implementation requires structured reflection periods and active learning strategies, such as having students construct their own mappings between game mechanics and course concepts. By shifting from passive engagement to intentional, learner-centered analysis, educators can better reconcile the tension between immersive gameplay and academic rigor, ensuring that student enthusiasm translates into tangible disciplinary competence.