SOA applied: Engineering software as processing unit of a serious game

Abstract

A mechanistic model is an essential component of any simulation game. The development of such a model, including its elementary components, their relations and calculation rules, is a demanding, costly and fault-prone task. This task becomes even more complex if very realistic models are required, as it is mostly the case for serious games. Alternatively, proven simulation software can be integrated into the serious game, turning the game into an easy to use and motivating user interface, and the simulation program into a verified processing unit. In this article, we present a serious game dealing with water infrastructure planning, which interfaces to an engineering simulation software for necessary calculations. After motivating the combination of game and simulation software in this special case of water infrastructure planning, we focus on the characteristics of the software architecture and the development process. Data availability and data aggregation are identified as issues central to a successful implementation of the presented architecture. This case study thus reveals advantages and challenges of serious games employing service-oriented architectures (SOA).