Implementing game requirements using design patterns

Abstract

Game mechanics are high‐level descriptions of common game requirements; however, they do not provide any guidance on their code implementation. Nevertheless, their implementation involves high volumes of essential complexity, which in turn leads to the introduction of accidental complexity (long methods, code repetition, etc.). A possible solution to this problem is to map game mechanics to design patterns, in order to provide template instantiations that handle structural complexity. The aim of this study is twofold: (a) introduce template instantiations of game mechanics with Gang of Four (GoF) patterns and (b) evaluate such mappings in terms of extendibility and reusability. To achieve these objectives, we developed an online repository of mappings between GoF patterns and game mechanics and conducted an experiment to explore the benefits of the mapping. The results of the study suggest that the implementation of game mechanics with GoF patterns is beneficial, because the time to extent the current implementation or reuse code chunks is not prolonged, whereas the implementations are less faulty. Finally, the suggested mapping will equip game mechanics with sample implementations (that adhere to good design principles—ensuring extendibility) that can be reused, acting as a starting point for source code development.

Design Patterns and Code Maintainability in Games: A Case Study

“…Game mechanics are the various actions, behaviors and control mechanisms afforded to a player within a game context [Hunicke et al 2004]. As game mechanics are often reoccurring among different games, recent studies [Nystrom 2014, Figueiredo 2015, Paschali et al 2021 attempt to relate game mechanics to DPs, in order to introduce template instantiations of game mechanics (for a summary, see Table 1).…”

“…The book Game Programming Patterns [Nystrom 2014] reviews the GoF design patterns in the context of games. The author highlights a subset of the Gof DPs as having the most potential in game development: Observer, Command, State, Prototype and Flyweight.…”

“…After an experiment with six teams, the results indicate the teams instructed about DPs produced code in less time and with better quality. In a recent study, [Paschali et al 2021] presents "GAME-DP Repository", an online repository of mappings between DPs and game mechanics. However, the repository is no longer available for consultation.…”

“…In addition, the creation of a profitable and competitive game may require many hours and thousands of lines of code, introducing significant complexity. Consequently, game developers must adopt specific software engineering practices to improve the structural quality of the game's assets, including its code [Paschali et al 2021].…”

“…However, in the context of game development, the subject has been underexplored. Recent work has investigated some of benefits that DPs may achieve in the development of digital games [Nystrom 2014, Figueiredo 2015, Barakat 2019, Paschali et al 2021. In spite of such efforts, to the best of our knowledge, there has not been a study that investigated how the implementation of game mechanics with DPs impact code maintainability.…”