Mobile serious game design using user experience: Modeling of software product line variability

Abstract

In recent years, gamification has emerged as a new approach to increasing learner engagement. It covers a very wide range of games with very different purposes and with many fields of application. However, most of the gamification solutions proposed do not adopt the same modeling approach and little attention has been paid to mobile serious games (MSG) belonging to different pedagogical contexts. In order to overcome these difficulties, we have developed in this paper a generic model based on the Software Product Line (SPL) approach to manage the common and variable points of the MSG product set. We also focused on the User eXperience (UX) concept to study the aspects that most affect the player's experience in the context of MSGs. These aspects have been modeled in the form of features in the SPL Feature Model. MSG designers can use the model proposed during the development process, both to manage variability and to create an effective and fun learning environment.