Game Studio Simulator: Integrating Industry Practice and Formative Individual Assessment in Collaborative Game Development Capstone Projects

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Title: Game Studio Simulator: Integrating Industry Practice and Formative Individual Assessment in Collaborative Game Development Capstone Projects
Language: English
Authors: Charlotte Pierce (ORCID 0000-0002-5534-464X), Clinton J. Woodward (ORCID 0000-0002-9432-8124), Andrew Trevillian (ORCID 0009-0004-2077-2232), Q. Tien Pham (ORCID 0009-0004-4882-7848)
Source: ACM Transactions on Computing Education. 2025 25(4).
Availability: Association for Computing Machinery. 1601 Broadway 10th Floor, New York, NY 10119. Tel: 800-342-6626; Tel: 212-626-0500; Fax: 212-944-1318; e-mail: acmhelp@acm.org; Web site: http://toce.acm.org/
Peer Reviewed: Y
Page Count: 27
Publication Date: 2025
Document Type: Journal Articles
Reports - Research
Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Computer Science Education, Programming, Design, Computer Games, Capstone Experiences, Interdisciplinary Approach, Cooperative Learning, Instructional Design, Communication (Thought Transfer), Evaluation Methods, Peer Relationship, Teacher Student Relationship
Geographic Terms: Australia
DOI: 10.1145/3764595
ISSN: 1946-6226
Abstract: Capstone courses, where students work on a large group project at the end of their degree, are common in computing. Many accreditation and industry bodies explicitly require or recommend them. Over the past two decades, capstone courses specifically focused on game development have become increasingly popular. Game development offers students the opportunity to express themselves creatively and learn to work with people from a variety of disciplines, such as programming, design, music, and art. In this article, we present the results of 10 years of iteration on a game development capstone course. This course is structured as a year-long collaboration between software engineering and game design students, but maintains separation between the disciplines in terms of supervision and assessment. Based on our experiments and observations, we provide recommendations for teaching practices, team structure, project timeline and assessment. In these, we focus on emulating and incorporating industry practices, maximising opportunities for formative feedback and maintaining authentic individual assessment. We have found that our most recent implementation has resulted in improved student satisfaction and learning outcomes compared to previous iterations.
Abstractor: As Provided
Entry Date: 2025
Accession Number: EJ1488822
Database: ERIC
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  Data: Game Studio Simulator: Integrating Industry Practice and Formative Individual Assessment in Collaborative Game Development Capstone Projects
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Charlotte+Pierce%22">Charlotte Pierce</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5534-464X">0000-0002-5534-464X</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Clinton+J%2E+Woodward%22">Clinton J. Woodward</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9432-8124">0000-0002-9432-8124</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Andrew+Trevillian%22">Andrew Trevillian</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0009-0004-2077-2232">0009-0004-2077-2232</externalLink>)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Q%2E+Tien+Pham%22">Q. Tien Pham</searchLink> (ORCID <externalLink term="https://orcid.org/0009-0004-4882-7848">0009-0004-4882-7848</externalLink>)
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  Data: <searchLink fieldCode="SO" term="%22ACM+Transactions+on+Computing+Education%22"><i>ACM Transactions on Computing Education</i></searchLink>. 2025 25(4).
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  Data: Association for Computing Machinery. 1601 Broadway 10th Floor, New York, NY 10119. Tel: 800-342-6626; Tel: 212-626-0500; Fax: 212-944-1318; e-mail: acmhelp@acm.org; Web site: http://toce.acm.org/
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  Data: Capstone courses, where students work on a large group project at the end of their degree, are common in computing. Many accreditation and industry bodies explicitly require or recommend them. Over the past two decades, capstone courses specifically focused on game development have become increasingly popular. Game development offers students the opportunity to express themselves creatively and learn to work with people from a variety of disciplines, such as programming, design, music, and art. In this article, we present the results of 10 years of iteration on a game development capstone course. This course is structured as a year-long collaboration between software engineering and game design students, but maintains separation between the disciplines in terms of supervision and assessment. Based on our experiments and observations, we provide recommendations for teaching practices, team structure, project timeline and assessment. In these, we focus on emulating and incorporating industry practices, maximising opportunities for formative feedback and maintaining authentic individual assessment. We have found that our most recent implementation has resulted in improved student satisfaction and learning outcomes compared to previous iterations.
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      – TitleFull: Game Studio Simulator: Integrating Industry Practice and Formative Individual Assessment in Collaborative Game Development Capstone Projects
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