Programming Serious Games as a Master Course: Feasible or Not?

Abstract

Background. Higher education on simulation & gaming has a long history with several master degrees offered by Universities worldwide. Currently, the popularity of Serious Games (SGs) has resulted in an increased interest on relevant master degrees. Despite the large number of master degrees on games in general, the literature on designing and evaluating relevant courses in higher education is rather limited. Aim. This article aims at contributing on the field of SGs higher education by reporting on the design and evaluation of a graduate course on ‘SGs Programming’. The course aims at providing students a holistic overview of SGs design, development and evaluation in a single course offered at a master degree that is not dedicated to simulation & gaming. The main goal of the pilot study presented was to investigate whether the proposed course can fulfill its objectives, as well as to draw conclusions on the design and deployment of the course that would be of interest to educators in the field of SGs. Method. In order to evaluate the course in terms of students’ satisfaction and outcomes a specially designed questionnaire was filled in and analyzed, along with students’ performance in their artifacts and final exams. Results. The results of the questionnaire combined with students’ performance show that the course fulfilled its goals in a high degree. Conclusions. Teaching SGs design and programming in a single master course is feasible by applying an iterative, project-based and microworld approach, utilizing both educational and professional tools and programming languages.