Cowboys, ankle sprains, and keepers of quality: how is video game development different from software development?

Murphy-Hill, Emerson; Zimmermann, Thomas; Nagappan, Nachiappan

doi:10.1145/2568225.2568226

Cited by 133 publications

(155 citation statements)

References 32 publications

(25 reference statements)

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“…We did this based on game development practitioners' posts in professional blogging platforms. Our study complements the results from the empirical work of Murphy-Hill et al [6] in several ways. Our findings agree with these authors' results that play-testing happens in a way that is not assumed, described, and taught in SE and RE textbooks.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 78%

“…This study intends to look into this. Moreover, this study addresses the recently published observations of Murphy-Hill et al [6] that classic Computer Science (CS) schools do not teach play-testing and that in the game sector, professionally educated testers are often replaced by people who are complete strangers to the testing field. Investigating the play-testing phenomenon is therefore a worthwhile time investment as results from such research might have important research and teaching implications.…”

Section: Re For Games and The Role Of Play-testingmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…They could well be family members and friends of RE staff. This suggests, qualified testers are not part of the early requirements play-testing [6].…”

Section: Re For Games and The Role Of Play-testingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Empirical research on game testing practices is very recent (e.g. [6,7]). For this reason, as part of preparing this paper, in addition to SE and RE studies, we also looked at game design textbooks (e.g.…”

Section: Re For Games and The Role Of Play-testingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Play-Testing and Requirements Engineering: Implications for Research and Teaching

Daneva

2015

2015 IEEE/ACM 2nd International Workshop on Requirements Engineering and Testing

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In Requirements Engineering (RE) for large scale game systems, play-testing is an important activity that is used to validate requirements from players' perspective. Play-testers are not professionals that are involved in the process of RE. They are not professional testers, either. Yet, their feedback in terms of perceptions and experiences of the early prototypes of a game, have a decisive impact on what the RE-professionals do next in the RE process. This position paper presents a qualitative study that sought to discover who takes the role of play-testers and what kind of feedback play-testers generate in the early stages of RE for games. The case study responds to the observation that no textbook on RE or software engineering addresses play-testing as a phenomenon, and that classic Computer Science programs at universities teach testing techniques mostly in the context of embedded systems, hence students often are left with little opportunity to develop testing skills that build upon play-testing practices happening in the game development sector. The study therefore was aimed at identifying important implications that play-testing may have for research and teaching.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 78%

Section: Re For Games and The Role Of Play-testingmentioning

confidence: 93%

“…They could well be family members and friends of RE staff. This suggests, qualified testers are not part of the early requirements play-testing [6].…”

Section: Re For Games and The Role Of Play-testingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Re For Games and The Role Of Play-testingmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Play-Testing and Requirements Engineering: Implications for Research and Teaching

Daneva

2015

2015 IEEE/ACM 2nd International Workshop on Requirements Engineering and Testing

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“…In game production, the tool-chain used can be of pivotal importance (Murphy-Hill et al 2014). Companies create and use pieces of software that glues together the various tools used by different disciplines.…”

Section: Tools In Game Developmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

Prototyping Tools for Game Writers

2018

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A game is best evaluated by playing it and prototyping is therefore an important activity in game development. Game writers and narrative designers are responsible for the narrative structure of a game, which may have a varying degree of interactivity to it. The aim of this paper is to analyse the role of prototyping tools for game writers. There is a limited range of such tools available, of which Twine is one of the most established. Most of these tools have a text-based programming interface for modelling of game mechanics. This paper presents Deig-a prototyping tool for creating point-and-click adventure games. In Deig, game mechanics is modelled graphically using nodes from a set of primitives. We present an interview study where game writing students reflect on their experience of using Deig and Twine as prototyping tools. The result shows that both tools have their merits and complement each other. Deig was found to be intuitive for modelling of game mechanics, which lead students to create interactive narratives. Twine was found to be more useful for experimental writing. The conclusion of this work is that there is a need for a diverse set of prototyping tools to support game writing.

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What is a Minimum Viable (Video) Game?

Hyrynsalmi¹,

Klotins²,

Unterkalmsteiner³

et al. 2018

Lecture Notes in Computer Science

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The concept of 'Minimum Viable Product' (MVP) is largely adapted in the software industry as well as in academia. Minimum viable products are used to test hypotheses regarding the target audience, save resources from unnecessary development work and guide a company towards a stable business model. As the game industry is becoming an important business domain, it is not surprise that the concept has been adopted also in the game development. This study surveys how a Minimum Viable Game (MVG) is defined, what is reported in extant literature as well as present results from a small case study survey done to nine game development companies. The study shows that despite popularity of minimum viable games in the industrial fora, the presented views on the concept are diverged and there is lack of practical guidelines and research supporting game companies. This study points out research gaps in the area as well as calls for actions to further develop the concept and to define guidelines.

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Cowboys, ankle sprains, and keepers of quality: how is video game development different from software development?

Cited by 133 publications

References 32 publications

Play-Testing and Requirements Engineering: Implications for Research and Teaching

Play-Testing and Requirements Engineering: Implications for Research and Teaching

Prototyping Tools for Game Writers

What is a Minimum Viable (Video) Game?

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