Abstract
[Context/motivation] Game development is characterized by a high level of creativity when compared to other fields of software development. Games cover a multitude of themes and genres, and represent a heterogeneous group of different products with varying requirements and business goals. [Question/problem] Requirements engineering (RE) should be relevant to game development, but is this true and if it is, how does game industry apply RE in practice? [Principal ideas/Results] We interviewed 27 software professionals in seven organizations to understand how requirements engineering is applied in game developing organizations. The results suggest that in game development business practicalities and drive for “fun” dominate the areas associated with requirements engineering. Additionally, game development organizations apply approaches and methods that are comparable to requirements engineering and requirement management, but do not consciously apply common RE practices. [Contribution] This paper extends our understanding of requirements engineering in video game development and contributes to the requirements engineering body of knowledge.
Access provided by Autonomous University of Puebla. Download to read the full chapter text
Chapter PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Tschang, T.: When Does an Idea Become an Innovation? The Role of Individual and Group Creativity in Videogame Design. Presented at the DRUID Conference (2003)
Hirsch, P.M.: Processing Fads and Fashions: An Organization-Set Analysis of Cultural Industry Systems. American Journal of Sociology 77, 639–659 (1972)
Lampel, J., Shamsie, J.: Critical Push: Strategies for Creating Momentum in the Motion Picture Industry. Journal of Management 26, 233–257 (2000)
Lampel, J., Lant, T., Shamsie, J.: Balancing Act: Learning from Organizing Practices in Cultural Industries. Organization Science 11, 263–269 (2000)
Callele, D., Neufeld, E., Schneider, K.: Requirements engineering and the creative process in the video game industry. In: 13th IEEE International Conference on Requirements Engineering, pp. 240–250 (2005)
Draper, S.W.: Analysing fun as a candidate software requirement. Personal Technologies 3, 117–122 (1999)
Callele, D., Neufeld, E., Schneider, K.: Emotional Requirements in Video Games. In: 14th IEEE International Conference on Requirements Engineering, pp. 299–302. IEEE (2006)
Callele, D., Neufeld, E., Schneider, K.: An Introduction to Experience Requirements. In: 18th IEEE International Conference on Requirements Engineering, pp. 395–396 (2010)
Kanode, C.M., Haddad, H.M.: Software Engineering Challenges in Game Development. In: 6th International Conference on Information Technology: New Generations, pp. 260–265. IEEE Computer Society, Washington, DC (2009)
Feiler, P.H., Humphrey, W.S.: Software process development and enactment: concepts and definitions. In: 2nd International Conference on the Continuous Software Process Improvement, pp. 28–40 (1993)
Curtis, B., Kellner, M.I., Over, J.: Process modeling. Communications of the ACM 35, 75–90 (1992)
Harjani, D.-R., Queille, J.-P.: A process model for the maintenance of large space systems software. Presented at the The International Conference on Software Maintenance (1992)
Charmaz, K.: Constructing Grounded Theory: A Practical Guide through Qualitative Analysis. Sage Publications (2010)
Suddaby, R.: From the Editors: What Grounded Theory is Not. Academy of Management Journal 49, 633–642 (2006)
Corbin, J., Strauss, A.: Grounded Theory Research: Procedures, Canons, and Evaluative Criteria. Qualitative Sociology 13, 3–21 (1990)
Strauss, A., Corbin, J.: Basics of Qualitative Research: Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory. SAGE Publications (2008)
Paré, G., Elam, J.J.: Using case study research to build theories of IT implementation. Presented at the International Conference on Information Systems and Qualitative Research, London, UK (1997)
Kasurinen, J., Taipale, O., Vanhanen, J., Smolander, K.: Exploring perceived quality in software organizations. In: 5th International Conference on Research Challenges in Information Science (RCIS), pp. 1–12 (2011)
The commission of the European Communities: Commission recommendation concerning the definition of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (2003)
Robson, C.: Real World Research - A Resource for Social Scientists and Practitioner-Researchers. Blackwell Publishing, Malden (2002)
Onwuegbuzie, A.J., Leech, N.L.: Validity and Qualitative Research: An Oxymoron? Quality & Quantity 41, 233–249 (2006)
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
About this paper
Cite this paper
Kasurinen, J., Maglyas, A., Smolander, K. (2014). Is Requirements Engineering Useless in Game Development?. In: Salinesi, C., van de Weerd, I. (eds) Requirements Engineering: Foundation for Software Quality. REFSQ 2014. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 8396. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05843-6_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-05843-6_1
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-05842-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-05843-6
eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)