Development of a 3D immersive game for games and systems requirements capture

Requirements collection and elicitation is generally recognised as an abstract and complicated area with a reputation of being underdeveloped in computing and games development graduates. It is a necessary component of computing programmes on all sides of the curriculum including software engineering, information systems and games development. One highly problematic factor is the differences between general functional software and a serious game for educational purposes and while both can be classed as software, they have entirely different purposes. Games-based learning applications have been developed for teaching requirements collection where the focus has been on gathering requirements for a software system and this has proven to be effective in some respects. This paper will focus on the development of a 3D immersive serious game for gathering the requirements for a game for entertainment and for learning. The development of the game will be informed by the creation of a serious games’ development model taking into account: learning outcomes, pedagogical content integration, general content integration in relation to graphical assets for appropriate realism and immersion, scaffolding and support mechanisms and assessment integration in relation to assessment mechanisms. Case studies will be discussed for the 3D immersive game in relation to fitness for purpose in relation to an entertainment and a serious game and compared and contrasted. The developed game will be evaluated by subject matter experts to ascertain its levels of effectiveness for gathering requirements for an entertainment game and for a serious game.