Software Engineering Perspectives in Computer Game Development

Featuring contributions from leading experts in software engineering, this edited book provides a comprehensive introduction to computer game software development. It is a complex, interdisciplinary field that relies on contributions from a wide variety of disciplines including arts and humanities, behavioural sciences, business, engineering, physical sciences, mathematics, etc. The book focuses on the emerging research at the intersection of game and software engineering communities. A brief history of game development is presented, which considers the shift from the development of rare games in isolated research environments in the 1950s to their ubiquitous presence in popular culture today. A summary is provided of the latest peer-reviewed research results in computer game development that have been reported at multiple levels of maturity (workshops, conferences, and journals). The core chapters of the book are devoted to sharing emerging research at the intersection of game development and software engineering. In addition, future research opportunities on new software engineering methods for games and serious educational games for software engineering education are highlighted. As an ideal reference for software engineers, developers, educators, and researchers, this book explores game development topics from software engineering and education perspectives.

Key Features:

• Includes contributions from leading academic experts in the community
• Presents a current collection of emerging research at the intersection of games and software engineering
• Considers the interdisciplinary field from two broad perspectives: software engineering methods for game development and serious games for software engineering education
• Provides a snapshot of the recent literature (i.e., 2015-2020) on game development from software engineering perspectives

Kendra M. L. Cooper is an Independent Scholar and Editor. Her research interests are in software and systems engineering (requirements engineering and architecture) and engineering education. These topics are explored within the context of game engineering. Dr. Cooper has an extensive publication, teaching, and service record. Current research topics include the modelling, analysis, and automated transformations of complex game systems using graph-based methods. The ontological foundations of serious educational games are also under investigation. She has co-edited the book Computer Games and Software Engineering published by CRC Press. Dr. Cooper has co-organized/organized ICSE Workshops on Games and Software Engineering (GAS 2012, GAS 2013, GAS 2015, and GAS 2016) and the CSEE&T Workshop on Essence in Education and Training (2020). She has served as a co-editor of three JSPE Special Issues on Software Engineering in Practice (2018, 2019, and 2020).