Paper ID #32917

Serious Games in Engineering: The Current State, Trends, and Future

Javeed Kittur, Arizona State University, Polytechnic campus

Javeed Kittur is currently a doctoral student (Engineering Education Systems and Design) at Arizona State University, USA. He received a Bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering and a Master’s degree in Power Systems from India in 2011 and 2014 respectively. He has worked with Tata Consultancy Services as Assistant Systems Engineer from 2011-2012, India. He has worked as an Assistant Professor (2014 to 2018) in the department of Electrical and Electronics Engineering, KLE Technological University, India. He is a certified IUCEE International Engineering Educator. He was awarded the ’Ing.Paed.IGIP’ title at ICTIEE, 2018. Mr. Tahzinul Islam, York University

Tahzinul Islam obtained his B.Eng (Mechanical & Manufacturing Engineering) from Universiti Putra Malaysia, a research-intensive public university in Malaysia. He completed his year-long Bachelors’ re- search project on his own topic of ’Virtual Reality App to teach Psychomotor Skills to Engineering Design students’. He went on to pursue his M.Eng (Innovation & Engineering Design) at the same university, with the dissertation title of ’Innovative Concept Design of a waterjet propelled Flood Rescue Boat’. Currently, Tahzinul is enrolled at York University in the MASc. of Mechanical Engineering program, studying Solar Still Desalination.

c American Society for Engineering Education, 2021 Serious Games in Engineering – The Current State, Trends and Future

Abstract

Since its inception in the late 20th Century, computer graphics have improved exponentially and is improving even further in new avenues. While arcade games were early adopters of computer graphics, it was really in the 1990s, with the advent of the personal computer, that video games really started to gain traction. The video gaming industry started humbly with an online community of recreational developers. However, the internet bubble saw companies investing heavily in this new medium for games. Today, the video gaming industry is worth closer to $150 billion USD of yearly revenue, with well established practices, trends and new genres [1]. Furthermore, video games have delivered a wide variety of experiences, from interactive story telling, exploration, social games, puzzle games, virtual reality games, mobile games and so on.

The present paper seeks to provide a direct comparison of trends in the video gaming industry, and how it could be translated to Serious Games in Engineering Education. To this aim, 28 relevant studies which have reported games for teaching engineering courses within the past decade were investigated. These studies were obtained after extensive Scopus search queries and filtered manually according to 8 research questions. Key questions we seek to investigate are what genre of games are being employed, disciplines most often targeted for , assessment tools used to gather data on student learning within gamified settings, learning outcomes and attitudes towards game modules for students' engineering courses and as well as data analysis/collection methods.

The results indicated that computer engineering and mechanical engineering disciplines were most used in serious games in engineering education. Unique concepts/topics were addressed is all the 28 articles reviewed. Questionnaire and pre- and post-tests were the most preferred data collected tools. 20 out of 28 articles used convenience sampling as the sampling method and most articles used sample sizes less than 100. Most articles used descriptive analyses methods in analyzing the data. Simulation was reported as the most used game genres and web-based application game platforms was commonly used in serious games in engineering education.

Keywords: Engineering Education; Game-based learning; Serious Games; Video Games

Introduction

There are a lot of successful practices which have been adopted by the video gaming industry in recent years. These practices became apparent during the COVID19 pandemic, when many job sectors working remotely from home as well as students, stayed connected through social games, many of whom were not accustomed to online games [2]–[5]. To illustrate this, shortly after the pandemic started, MIT students took the initiative to build a virtual campus in Minecraft (a game now owned by Microsoft) [6], shown in Fig 1. This was done to facilitate interactions while students were not physically able to attend campus activities. Moreover, much of the real-world MIT campus was reconstructed purely from memory.

Fig 1. Virtual campus of MIT built by students in Minecraft [6]

In the realm of Serious Games, during the pandemic there were no real alternatives to facilitate such interactions. Some institutions used the Discord software, which has video and audio support in an intuitive interface, while most stuck to Zoom. Using Zoom for lessons presented its own set of problems. Most importantly, students did not feel comfortable turning on their cameras to reveal their in-home surroundings (even with the virtual background). A useful feature in Zoom is ‘Breakout’ rooms, which has obvious utility, however, switching between breakout rooms is not intuitive and similar to how breakout rooms are conducted in the real world. The feeling of brainstorming in breakout rooms while listening to other groups seems to provide motivation for each of the groups, while the instructor surveys and jumps between groups. In Zoom, however, instructors have widely noticed many groups staying quiet while the instructor is in the breakout room. One recent platform established in 2020 is Gather.town, which provides an alternative to Zoom in a videogame like 2D platform. The authors have briefly observed how much more students preferred a platform such as Gather.town to Zoom for events and classes.

In contrast, there were no real educational alternatives to facilitate such interactions, illustrating the current lack of Serious Games which students could use for their learning as well as to have fun with educational content. Thus, the authors have structured the present paper to demonstrate the potential of Serious Games. While Serious Games have been reported in the literature, there have been a lack of Serious games adopting new hardware, software and novel game elements, to secure the interest of students to use such a platform for long term usage.

Based on the findings from the literature, the authors strongly believe in developing a Multiplayer experience in an Open-World format, utilizing an Oculus Quest 2 (a recent Virtual Reality headset released by Facebook), and developed using Unreal Engine 5. The Serious Game takes place on an Island and incorporates Role-Playing aspects (i.e. primarily an RPG game), to place students in scenarios where they must farm to survive. Even after the pandemic passes, there are a plethora of benefits that Serious Games pose, summarized below:  Accessibility: the ease of sharing online links to enable anyone from around the world to play the Serious Game, regardless of their location, poses obvious benefits in terms of learning accessibility.  Primer before labs: Students may gain valuable insight into what they have to learn in labs by viewing the content set in the real world. By having such a primer, in contrast to having read lab manuals beforehand, students are able to more easily relate to the lab content.  Safety: Many experiments relevant to the curriculum are not accessible to students due to the unsafe nature of the experiment. Petroleum engineers and chemical engineers, especially, are affected by this.  Cost of equipment: In many faculties globally, there is simply not enough funding to support the instruments optimal for student learning.  Remote learning: Universities globally have realized the importance of enabling students from anywhere in the world to learn, despite physical distances. The Open University in the UK is a great example of this and has seen much success to date with over 100,000 students enrolled.

The authors bring up these points to highlight that, unlike the industry, serious games (games targeted primarily for education rather than entertainment) have been far behind in terms of progress even until today. To illustrate this point, we may observe trends during the COVID19 pandemic, where educators had to resort to Zoom for classes and even engineering labs. Platforms such as Zoom are a largely 2D platform with very limited modes of interaction. Many students even felt comfortable turning on webcams, with educators having to awkwardly deliver lessons to a room full of black screens. The video gaming industry during COVID19, however, boomed greatly in terms of online users and revenue, especially with release of 9th generation video game consoles (the PS5 and Xbox Series XlS). Several researchers have previously used Serious Games and investigated its effectiveness in knowledge transfer [7]–[12], largely finding positive results and students responding positively.

Developers of serious games still largely adhere to simple Simulation-based games, rendered with low-polygon 2D or 3D models, on a PC monitor with mouse and keyboard to deliver educational content. In order to lay the groundwork for a Serious Game set in an Open World, delivered by Virtual Reality, and developed in a high-fidelity game engine (Unreal Engine 5), the authors have conducted an extensive literature survey in this paper, and highlighted important software, hardware and trends in the video gaming industry which may readily be translated to Serious Games to deliver educational content. It is our hope that educators may adopt principles highlighted in order to develop successful Serious games.

Gamification in the Engineering Curriculum

The rise of gamified engineering education can be attributed to a great number of factors. Most notably, computing technology has advanced to a point where even a novice developer can pick up a game engine, such as Unreal Engine or Unity3D, learn it quickly with an online community and use readily available game assets (such as textures, character 3D models, environment 3D models, etc.) to rapidly set up a game according to the needs.

Modern game engines also enable development for a wide variety of consoles and Operating Systems. With a simple click, developers can even build games for Windows, Xbox, PlayStation, certain Virtual Reality headsets (such as the new Oculus Quest 2 and HTC Vive). In particular, virtual reality has shown a lot of promise in multiple fields from medical training, pilot training, engineering training and engineering education, to name a few. The ease of development for this technology, and the constant drop in affordable Virtual Reality headsets in recent years, push for a strong case in implementing more games in Virtual Reality. This stance is held by the authors of this paper, and the literature review presented is used to support the case that there needs to be a shift from simple web-based simulation games to virtual reality games in more genres.

Particularly with genres, the entertainment video gaming industry has openly explored a wide variety of unique game mechanics and game elements in genres ranging from Puzzle, RPG, Open World to Action and Adventure games [13]. The authors would also like to highlight some of these popular game genres, so that educational game developers may be inspired to diversify the type of educational games being developed. With the ease of development briefly mentioned above, engineering educators have still stuck to simple web-based simulation games, which have not fully harnessed the potential of (i) newer game engines, (ii) virtual reality hardware.

In fact, the two aspects of game engines include (i) the game assets, and (ii) the programming which determines behavior of the assets within the game engine. The latter part has also become much easier to learn and implement. To illustrate this, game engines such as Unreal Engine utilize visual coding – meaning that code does not even have to be written, and pre-written code can be customized with an intuitive drag-and-drop interface. Most recently, Unreal Engine 5 is set to launch in the year of 2021, which promises even more intuitive interfaces and available assets on the EpicGames store (developer of Unreal Engine). The authors would also like to mention the free software Blender, which has a library of free assets that developers can use for modelling or even programming their Serious Games.

The present paper seeks to answer the overarching research question, ‘What are the trends in serious games in engineering education?’. The following sub-research questions were used for exploration and categorization of the articles under review. RQ1. What were the engineering disciplines used in the articles on serious games in engineering education? RQ2. What research designs were used in the articles on serious games in engineering education? RQ3. What were the topics/concepts used in the articles on serious games in engineering education? RQ4. What were the data collection tools/formats used in the articles on serious games in engineering education? RQ5. What were the sampling methods and sample sizes used in the articles on serious games in engineering education? RQ6. What were the game genre used in the articles on serious games in engineering education? RQ7. What were the data analysis methods used in the articles on serious games in engineering education? RQ8. What were the game platforms used in the articles on serious games in engineering education?

Literature

Game-Based Learning in Engineering and beyond Within the research community, there exist multiple terminology to describe educational games, without seemingly any particular set of preferred terminology. Researchers have referred to educational games as Serious Games [11], Game-based learning [14], Virtual Learning Environments (though these may be non-gamified) [15], Simulation games [16], Virtual Labs and Remote Labs [17] among others. Some confusion may arise since virtually any system could be gamified with game elements (discussed in the following sections). For consistency, the present paper will homogeneously refer to educational games as Serious Games. Furthermore, such Serious Games referred to here include board games and real-world puzzle games as well. The rationale for including the non-video format of Serious Games, is that practically any real-world experience can be translated to a digital format. In fact, clear definitions of Serious Games have distinguished it from Recreational Games from the entertainment industry. Connolly et al. [14] distinguishes serious games from traditional games in that the former seeks to educate, while the latter prioritizes entertainment.

The positive impacts of Serious Games have been well documented ever since the advent of the modern personal computer, however, a very renowned study by Connolly et al. [14] noted that the positive impacts, while acknowledged, is still lacking in coherence. Notable positive effects of Serious Games studied in prominent studies include boosts in creativity , entrepreneurship [18], soft skills [19], communication and interpersonal skills [20], satisfaction in learning [21] and student motivation [22]. Digital versions of Serious Games also benefit from various conveniences. Most notably, Digital Serious Games can easily incorporate online features, enabling users to join in from the web. Another important convenience worth mentioning is that, once set up, a Serious Game may readily replace a large amount of effort on part of the Instructor for a particular learning exercise, as repetitive information is presented to serious gamers as they progress naturally through the game. Lastly, Serious Games have been used extensively to train medical surgeons and pilots [23], given that failing in this format (more often called Simulators) poses no real-world threat.

Game Elements, Mechanics and Genres The key advantage of video games in transferring specific types of knowledge, result due to its highly interactive nature [24]. In other words, users are able to interact in a multitude of ways with a particular game, from engaging in dialogue with Non-Playable Characters (NPCs), animations which leave lasting impressions within the user’s mind, storylines to immerse the user into the mind of the game designer, and quests and side-quests which enable users to focus on relevant details of an over-arching storyline. Several papers have previously delved and categorized game elements previously [24]–[27]. For a preliminary idea on the topic, the authors would recommend the paper by Diaz-Ramirez [25], which details gamification as an entire discipline with more research done since 2018 than ever before with relevant search queries in Scopus. Furthermore, the study gamifies an Operations Research course, which should provide proper guidance for gamifying current educational experiences.

Notable positive aspects of the gaming community In order to best a particular game, gamers actively engage in online communities, watch YouTube tutorials and practice with other gamers online. Notably, Discord is a popular software among programmers and game developers, where they can even interact with one another from across the globe and successfully complete developing games without ever having met one another in real life. A successful example of such a studio is Moon Studios, who developed a game named Ori and the Blind Forest, later being incorporated under Microsoft’s Xbox Game Studios. The members of this studio had never met one another prior to finishing the game. Currently, they have a physical studio set up in Sweden.

In fact, the behaviors inspired by the need to complete a game have previously inspired a study on such positive aspects which may readily be translated to educational games. Steinkuehler & Duncan [28] investigated the mindset of Engineers playing learning games, conducting a comprehensive study based on the game World of Warcraft (WoW). The study provides a very useful result into how games incorporate habits which could also be translated to scientific habits benefitting users (Table 1). Some of these scientific habits include social knowledge construction, building on others’ ideas, usage of counterarguments, usage of data and evidence, understanding feedback, model based reasoning and mathematical computation, among others. In fact, most RPG games utilize some or all these scientific habits, making serious games an excellent medium for academic knowledge transfer, especially.

Methods

The studies chosen for the preliminary literature survey were filtered according to the following characteristics: (a) papers published between the years 2010 to 2020 (b) board games and real- world games were also included (c) search queries in Scopus were run for ‘Serious Games’ and ‘Engineering’ in ‘Article Title’ (d) due to the limited number of entries found and relevant papers after refining the selection criteria, a further search query of ‘Virtual Learning Environment’ and ‘Engineering’ in ‘Article Title’ was also executed (e) To filter irrelevant papers, the eight sub- research questions mentioned previously were used.

The authors were critical in choosing the articles for this study. The inclusion criteria were specifically focused on games in engineering education that include some sort of student learning, assessment of student learning, and/or game development leading to student learning. Studies using board game, puzzles, simulation, web-based, etc. were included, and studies without these elements related to technology in classroom and virtual labs were excluded. A few papers that appeared with the above search terms included papers of the following categories: virtual labs without games [29-31], technology in classroom [32-35], serious games with a focus on learning (the papers used in this study).

Based on the systematic search in the literature, 28 articles were used in this study to conduct the preliminary literature review of serious games in engineering education. The 28 articles were reviewed by both authors with an aim to find answers to the eight sub-research questions (listed previously). The formation of the eight research sub-questions was derived from the work by Goktas et al., [36] and Kara [37] which focus on engineering discipline, engineering topics, research design, data collection format, sampling methods and sampling sizes, data analysis methods, game genre, game platform used in the reviewed articles. The summary of the 28 reviewed articles is provided in Appendix A.

Results

In this section we provide answers to the eight sub-research questions described previously based on the synthesis of the 28 articles under review.

RQ1. What were the engineering disciplines used in the articles on serious games in engineering education? Table 1 shows the number and percentages of articles based on the engineering disciplines focused on the reviewed articles. Five out of 28 reviewed articles were from computer engineering discipline with a contribution of 17.9%. Engineering in general and mechanical engineering discipline accounted for 14.3% individually, and civil engineering discipline accounted for a total of 10.7%. From Table 2, it is evident that serious games in engineering education is spread across multiple diverse disciplines of engineering.

Table 1. Number and percentages of articles based on engineering discipline Discipline Number of articles Percentage (%) Computer Engineering 5 17.9 Engineering 4 14.3 Mechanical Engineering 4 14.3 Civil Engineering 3 10.7 Electronics Engineering 2 7.14 Electronics & Computer Engineering 2 7.14 Industrial Engineering 2 7.14 Computer and Industrial Engineering 1 3.57 Computer and Electrical Engineering 1 3.57 Agricultural Engineering 1 3.57 Aviation Engineering 1 3.57 Software Engineering 1 3.57 Chemical Engineering 1 3.57

RQ2. What research designs were used in the articles on serious games in engineering education? Table 2 shows the percentages of research designs used in the articles considered in the study. Most of the articles (71.43%) use quantitative research design in conducting investigation in studies on serious games in engineering education. 14.29% of the articles (i.e., 4 articles) used a mixed design that is, they used both quantitative and qualitative design methods in their study. Four other articles essentially focused on development of games as their design approach wherein they presented experiments to assess if the developed game served the desired purpose. Out of the 28 articles considered in this study, no study used qualitative methods as their only research design approach.

Table 2. Number and percentages of articles based on research designs Research Design Number of articles Percentage (%) Quantitative design 20 71.43 Mixed design 4 14.29 Game development 4 14.29 RQ3. What were the topics/concepts used in the articles on serious games in engineering education? Table 3 shows the different topics/concepts based on the engineering disciplines that were used in the articles. It is interesting to note that none of the topics/ appeared in more than one article and all the topics investigated in the considered articles were unique and different from one another. Three articles (one from electronics engineering, one from industrial engineering, and one from computer and industrial engineering) did not explicitly (or otherwise) indicate the topic under study.

Table 3. Topics based on engineering disciplines used in the articles Discipline Topics Computer Engineering - Lifecyle processes and requirements engineering - Freshman programming courses - Software Quality - Software Engineering course - Introductory Programming Engineering - Energy policy issues - Engineering intuition and knowledge of statics - Problem-solving in engineering dynamics - Design process Mechanical Engineering - Thermodynamic properties of water - Materials Engineering - Concepts of engineering dynamics - Computer-aided design (CAD) & computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) Electronics Engineering - Principles of electric circuits - Not indicated Civil Engineering - Highway engineering - Risk management - Transportation engineering Industrial Engineering - Operations Research - Not indicated Electronics & Computer Engineering - Engineering Computing (fundamental course) - Pre-Calculus (specifically, Algebra) Computer and Industrial Engineering - Not indicated Computer and Electrical Engineering - Renewable energy sources Agricultural Engineering - Environmental awareness and protection Aviation Engineering - Aviation safety Software Engineering - Requirements collection and analysis Chemical Engineering - Organic reactions

RQ4. What were the data collection tools/formats used in the articles on serious games in engineering education? Table 4 shows the different data collection tools or format used in different articles based on the research design. Table 4 also presents the frequency and percentages of the data collection format. Based on the findings, questionnaire was the most used (53.6% or 15 times) data collection format in the quantitative research designs. Pre- and post-tests were the second most used data collection format in quantitative research studies on serious games in engineering education (14.3%). In mixed design studies, questionnaire was also the most used data collection approach (14.3%). Studies using game development as their research design used questionnaire and experiments as a format to collect data.

Table 4. Data collection format, frequency, and percentages Research Design Data collection format Frequency Percentage (%) Quantitative design - Questionnaire 15 53.6 - Pre- and post-tests 4 14.3 - Game play log files 1 3.57 - Grades 2 7.14 - In-game monitoring 3 10.7 - Quiz 1 3.57 - Feedback 3 10.7 Mixed design - Questionnaire 4 14.3 - Reflection reports 1 3.57 - Focus groups 1 3.57 - Game play log files 1 3.57 - Interviews 2 7.14 Game development - Questionnaire 2 7.14 - Experiments 3 10.7

RQ5. What were the sampling methods and sample sizes used in the articles on serious games in engineering education? Table 5 shows the different sampling methods used in the articles considered in the study. Most of the articles used convenience sampling (57.14%) as a method to select the sample for their studies from the population. One of the reasons that could possibly justify the higher percentage of convenience sampling is the fact that most of these studies used students from their courses as potential participants. Only two (7.14%) studies used random sampling technique and 10 articles (35.71%) did not indicate the sampling method used in the study. Table 6 shows the sample sizes range, frequency, and percentages of the considered articles. 19 articles (68%) use sample sizes in the range 15 to 100, five articles (17.9%) use sample sizes in the range 100 to 200, and two articles use sample sizes greater than or equal to 200.

Table 5. Number and percentages of articles based on sampling methods Sampling Methods Number of Articles Percentage (%) Convenience sampling 16 57.14 Random sampling 2 07.14 Not indicated 10 35.71

Table 6. Sample sizes frequency and percentages Sample sizes Frequency Percentage (%) 15-100 19 67.9 100-200 5 17.9 200 and more 2 7.14 Not indicated or not applicable 2 7.14

RQ6. What were the game genre used in the articles on serious games in engineering education? Table 7 shows the distribution of the different game genres used in the serious games in engineering education. Most of the studies use simulation as the game genre (21), and three articles used role-playing games. The game genres open world, action, puzzle and 2D platformer was used in one article each.

Table 7. Number and percentages of articles based on game genre Research Design Number of articles Percentage (%) Simulation 21 75.00 Role-playing game 3 10.71 Open world 1 3.572 Action 1 3.572 Puzzle 1 3.572 2D platformer 1 3.572

RQ7. What were the data analysis methods used in the articles on serious games in engineering education? Table 8 shows the different data analysis methods used in the articles considered in the study, with frequency of occurrence and percentages. Articles with descriptive analyses as the research methods mostly used percentages (46.4%), means (46.4%), and standard deviations (42.9%) as their data analysis methods. Graphs (25%) and frequencies (10.7%) were relatively less used data analysis methods in comparison with other methods. ANOVA/ANCOVA (21.4%) and t-tests (14.3%) were the most used data collection methods in the inferential analyses research methods. A few articles also used non-parametric tests, regressions, and factor analysis data analysis methods. Qualitative analyses research methods used descriptive analysis and content analysis as the data analysis methods.

Table 8. Data analysis methods frequency and percentages Research Methods Data analysis methods Frequency Percentage (%) Descriptive analyses - Percentages 13 46.4 - Means 13 46.4 - Standard deviations 12 42.9 - Graphs 7 25.0 - Frequencies 3 10.7 Inferential analyses - ANOVA/ANCOVA 6 21.4 - T-tests 4 14.3 - Non-parametric tests 4 14.3 - Regressions 1 3.57 - Factor analysis 1 3.57 Qualitative analyses - Descriptive analysis 4 14.3 - Content analysis 3 10.7

RQ8. What were the game platforms used in the articles on serious games in engineering education? Frequency of the game platforms used in serious games in engineering education is shown in Table 9. Most of the considered articles (22 out of 28 articles) use the web-based application as the game platform. Three studies used virtual reality as the game platform, and real-world, board games and mobile games was reported in one article each.

Table 9. Number and percentages of articles based on game platforms Research Design Number of articles % Web-based 22 78.57 Virtual reality 3 10.71 Real-world 1 3.572 Board games 1 3.572 Mobile games 1 3.572

Discussions

This study aimed at conducting a preliminary literature review of serious games in engineering education considering articles published from 2010 to 2021. In this study we investigated eight research questions. The first RQ focused on the engineering disciplines used in serious games in engineering education and results indicated that computer engineering, engineering, and mechanical engineering were the top three engineering disciplines used. This finding aligns with the study investigating implementation of games to teach undergraduate engineering students [20]. Bodnar et al. [20] reported that computer engineering and mechanical engineering disciplines are among the most used in serious games in engineering education and serious games are spread across the diverse fields of engineering. The second RQ determined the different research designs used in serious games in engineering education. More than half of the articles (71.43%) used quantitative methods as the preferred research designs in their studies. Quantitative research designs have shown dominance in the field of serious games related articles published in the literature [14], [38], [39]–[41].

The third RQ investigated the engineering topics/concepts used in serious games in engineering education. As the engineering disciplines in serious games implementation were diverse as evidenced through the findings of RQ1, the engineering topics used in the articles were unique and different from one another. The fourth RQ aimed at understanding the most used data collection tools/formats in serious games in engineering education. Questionnaire and pre-and post tests were among the most used in the considered articles. A similar finding was reported by Calderón and Ruiz [42] and Arici et al. [41] that questionnaires and tests were commonly in serious games.

The fifth RQ was focused on exploring the sampling methods and sampling sizes used in serious games in engineering education. The findings revealed that convenience sampling was the most preferred sampling method and most studies used sample sizes not exceeding 100. It makes sense that convenience sampling was most preferred sampling method as it allows for easy access to research sites to collect data. The sixth RQ was associated with the game genres used in serious games in engineering education. Based on the findings, simulation genre emerged as the most preferred genres in serious games in engineering education among others (role-playing game, open world, action, puzzle, and 2D platformer). Cheng et al. [40] in a review study reported that role- playing game was most preferred and then simulation and puzzle were cited as commonly used game genres.

The seventh RQ was related to data analysis methods used in serious games in engineering education. Percentages, means, and standard deviations were most used in the descriptive analyses, ANOVA/ANCOVA was most preferred analysis method in inferential analyses. These findings are like that reported by Kara [37]. The eighth RQ was related to the game platforms used in serious games in engineering education. The findings revealed the web-based applications were the most used game platforms. This finding aligns with the findings published in the literature which highlight the dominance of computer games in studies related to serious games [14], [39], [40], [42]. Only one article reported the use of mobile games as the preferred platform and this finding is interesting as most students in the recent time have access to smart phones and this looks like an area to further explore and understand the reasons for using or not using smart phones in serious games in engineering education.

The authors would also like the note some of the key differences in the nature of engineering fields, contrasted to other fields – such as Liberal Arts, Medical and Social Sciences. Most notably, engineering is very hands-on, requiring a specific set of problem-solving skills. This poses a gap in the literature, as there are limited studies gauging how well immersive Serious Games can teach such hands-on skills. In this regard, the manufacturing industry has been quick to adopt virtual reality technologies for training their personnel and operators [43]. The medical field has also experimented with Simulators relaying psychomotor skills to surgeons; however, the authors of this paper would like to note major differences in the format of Simulators to Serious Games. While Simulation Games exist, they have not been extensively studied and developed. A recommendation could be made to experiment with the capability of Simulation Games to relay hands-on skills.

Furthermore, engineering is design-oriented, thereby benefitting greatly from advancements in Computer Graphics. A popular example is CAD software such as Solidworks and Autodesk Inventor, which even have ray-tracing support for more realistic views. The authors would like to see Design-oriented games combining the freedom of designing as in CAD software, along with game elements. Such a genre of games is commonly called ‘Sandbox’ games, like Minecraft. Games with a wide range of design options have not yet been developed or studied to the knowledge of the authors. Some examples of game elements successful in the video gaming industry which may readily be translated to Serious Games are discussed in the following section.

The scope for utilizing game mechanics and gaming accessories from the video game industry. The video game industry has experimented extensively over the past few decades to market their games. Even more recently, games are being released which have even defined entire genres. A popular example of this is the Dark Souls and Bloodborne franchises, which is so unique that it is often classified as the ‘Soulsborne’ or ‘Souls-like’ genre. The difficulty of this game demands that players can memorize entire maps of a game level along with the Enemies the players must defeat. Moreover, the players also must memorize the mechanics and movements of the Enemies and prepare their levels and stats to deal with the Enemies accordingly.

The authors would like to mention some prominent games with beneficial features which can readily be translated to Serious Games.  The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is an Open-World Puzzle and Action/ which allows players a very expansive method of tackling a game, solving puzzles and exploring its Open World. In fact, the freedoms the player has in this game are so massive that players have reported spending hundreds of hours finding new ways of beating the game and levels.  Minecraft is a popular , bought by Microsoft and one of the highest grossing games on Mobile and other platforms. The freedom afforded to players to build and interact with objects in simple square shapes in a Sandbox format, is a feature which readily be translated for educational purpose. In fact, during the 2020 pandemic, students from MIT rebuilt the campus in Minecraft and enabled player lounges for interaction in a virtual setting which is also familiar to the users. Important social interactions could be observed in such Sandbox games in which players build and visit other players-built worlds.  SecondLife is a great example of a game which places an importance on player creativity and interaction. The freedom to simulate an alternate life with other players is a feature which Serious Games can readily benefit from.  Microsoft is perhaps one of the most renowned PC games, but the 2020/2021 release is by far the most technologically impressive. This game is a simulator which enables players to command planes to complete aerial missions. The most impressive trait of this game is that real-world Terrain data captured from satellites are used, so the players could even explore their own houses with a plane aerially. The Flight Simulator games are excellent examples of exploring the real world through a simulator.  Red Dead Redemption 2 showcased how games can relay a strong sense.  God of War (2018) is an with strong RPG elements. In fact, this heavily story- based game taking place in the Norse Mythological region of Midgard enable the player to experience Norse Mythology firsthand as the main character Kratos, who is the acting Greek God of War. Games such as these showcase how even complicated mythological details, we may have studied in History of Ancient Civilizations can be readily learned by experiencing it first-hand as one of the mythological characters.  The Assassin’s Creed Franchise is another great example of a game which is built around exploring Historical elements, such as Jerusalem in the Middle Ages, Italy during the Renaissance, Ancient Rome, Ancient Egypt, and most recently, Vikings in the Middle Ages. The games in this series are heavily focused around exploration in an open world and interaction with story and Non-Playable Characters (NPCs). Ultimately, this game has provided players with a deep knowledge of various historical elements.  Forza Horizon is an excellent example of a game focusing on the skill of one’s driving using a Controller. The player assumes the role of a racer with Social Media influence in an Open World setting. The player even has their own house and repertoire of cars, each with their own unique designs and characteristics, such as better mobility or control. This game is an excellent example of how complicated mechanics and controls, such as driving, could be made fun, easy and skill-based just with the usage of a controller. The game itself is highly focused on immersive and realistic real-world elements to immerse players into the role of an aspiring racer.  Overwatch is a team-based tactical shooter, which showcases important aspects such as teamwork and cooperation. This popular game places importance on player interaction, and the authors see much valuable game elements, such as rewards, matchmaking and player interaction which may be useful to implement in Serious Games. Currently, the authors have not noted multiplayer and team-based tactical features in any of the Serious Games surveyed.  Tell Me Why is a heavily story-based game feature multiple dialogue and action options, each leading to a different telling of the story. This game showcases how different scenarios can encourage players to engage more seriously with the game, as their actions have an impact on the world.  Runescape is another successful Medieval based, Massively Multiplayer Online Role- Playing Game (MMORPG) game heavily based around exploration, socializing and adventure. A Screenshot of a player in Runescape engaging in the Archaeology skill is shown in Fig 2. With over 50,000 online players at any given moment as of 2021, this game has done a great job on facilitating an in-game economy set around skills, such as Fishing, Farming, Archaeology, Construction, Invention, Woodcutting, Cooking, Fletching, Hunting, and Crafting, to name a few. Players interact with one another to level up such skills, and in the process, learn a lot about these skills as to relate to even in the real world. For example, the Archaeology skills have players learn to use many tools such as mattocks which real-world archaeologists use to dig up soil samples and analyze them to learn about history.

Fig 2. Screenshot of a player in Runescape engaging in the Archaeology skill

In a very general sense, the authors have noted a recent trend of adding RPG elements to games which would not ordinarily fall within the RPG genre. This is because RPG elements such as levels, skill trees, experience points, currency and dialogue options allow players to experience the game on a much deeper level. An example of a skill tree within God of War (2018) is presented below (Fig 3). The skill tree enables the player to learn and execute new moves based on experience points earned during the game. Skill trees are excellent RPG elements of allowing the player to learn moves at their own pace instead of having all the moves pre-learned and the player discover with tutorials or by themselves. They are also motivational in that players must invest time and in-game currency or points to unlock them. The currency and experience points are displayed at the top-right in the Fig 3. Other RPG elements such as , armors, map, codex, and resources allow players to immerse themselves deeper into the game at their own leisure. In fact, this method of information display is very promising and can be readily applied to in- classroom activities. Segmenting pieces of information behind cleverly designed interfaces is an aspect that educational game developers should utilize as it has not done to the same level as in the video gaming industry.

Fig 3. Screenshot of the Skill Tree implemented in God of War (2018)

One last important point to mention is that studies have not fully harnessed the Accessories and Hardware used commonly in the video gaming industry. The authors could not note a single study using hardware such as the Nintendo Wii remotes, Nintendo Switch controllers, Xbox Controllers or PlayStation DualShock controllers. In fact, the most advanced controller is perhaps the Nintendo Switch Joy-Con, which has built-in speakers and advanced haptic feedback to make the player feel more immersed in the games.

Fig 4. Patent for the PlayStation Dual Sense controller with a real-world image beside

More recently, PlayStation released the Dual Sense Controller, which boasts haptic feedback which could make the player feel different terrain, such as ground, concrete, or water (Fig 4). Furthermore, the controller has a speaker to engage in online content, as well as a microphone which players can blow into or record content. The triggers on the controller feature adaptive haptic triggers, which exert resistance to the trigger push which can be programmed according to the game. This way, items and equipment could be felt differently by players based on the haptic feedback felt as triggers are pushed. The controller also features a touchpad which can used to type with fingers. Lastly, the controller also has a gyroscope, and so the players could orient the controller to engage with game content. The authors see tremendous potential in developing Serious Games using Software Development Kits (SDK) for the PlayStation Dual Sense controller, which is also reasonably priced at $59.99 USD.

There are also very limited studies which have developed and assessed serious games in Virtual Reality. While studies have reported using Virtual Reality in their games, the methods used to develop and assess Virtual Reality environments is still in its infancy with only a handful of studies available [15], [44]–[47]. The Oculus Quest 2 released in late 2020 is, to the opinion of the authors, the first real affordable Virtual Reality headset. Unlike Google Cardboard, which is perhaps the cheapest entry into Virtual Reality using a mobile, the Oculus Quest 2 priced at $399.99 USD, is an all-in-one Virtual Reality system, which developers can develop for using Unity3D or Unreal Engine. In the coming years, Facebook and other large companies are expected to make the entry into Virtual Reality even cheaper, posing a definite benefit for the translation of future Serious Games into Virtual Reality.

In the opinion of the authors, the game engines used to develop serious games in the past couple of years are outdated and much behind the graphical capability if the serious games were developed in more modern game engines. The sole recommendation of the authors is to utilize Unreal Engine, which has a definite focus on visual programming and realistic environments. To showcase the visuals from some of the graphics-focused serious games found in the literature survey, see Fig 5. We may observe how realistic classrooms and lab environments could be explored virtually. The next step would be to add more immersive game elements to increase effectiveness of this medium.

Fig 5. Examples of labs in Virtual learning environments found from preliminary literature survey

Future Work

The authors would like to recommend and have plans to explore the following gaps identified from the preliminary literature survey:  A more comprehensive and up to date systematic literature review of Serious Games in Engineering, with a focus on papers with heavy game elements  A detailed look at Assessment strategy development and execution  Understanding the experiences of experts in serious games and students through quantitative surveys [48-50].  Investigation of serious games in engineering education to explore the deep insights through qualitative research designs [51-52].  More diversified fields within disciplines not commonly using Serious Games, such as for chemical, civil, and mechanical engineering.  A move from web-based Simulation games to more diverse game genres using Virtual Reality and advanced hardware increasing immersion.  We also noted a lack of modern game engines used and details on using such game engines specifically for Serious Games, and so we would like to publish future work using the Unreal Engine 5 set to release in late 2021 to create photorealistic environments which students can explore and interact with. We hope to develop this module for the Oculus Quest 2 and conduct extensive user experience tests with student participants.

References Articles used in the preliminary review are denoted with an asterisk (*).

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Appendix A. Summary of the articles under review

# Reference Discipline Methods Game Genre Game Platform 1 Cetin, A. (2012) Computer and Electrical Quantitative 3D-game Web-based Engineering Simulation 2 Chittaro, L., & Buttussi, F. Aviation Engineering Game Action Virtual Reality (2015). development 3 Tangworakitthaworn, P., Agricultural Engineering Game Simulation Web-based Tengchaisri, V., & development Sudjaidee, P. (2020) 4 Garcia, I., Pacheco, C., Computer Engineering Game Simulation Web-based Leon, A., & Calvo- development Manzano, J. A. (2020) 5 Jaramillo-Alcázar, A., Electronics Engineering Game Simulation Mobile games Guaita, C., Rosero, J. L., & development Luján-Mora, S. (2018) 6 Suzuki, K., Shibuya, T., & Engineering Mixed methods Role-playing Board game Kanagawa, T. (2021) game 7 Hainey, T., Connolly, T. M., Software Engineering Quantitative Role-playing Web-based Stansfield, M., & Boyle, E. game A. (2011) 8 Cook-Chennault, K., & Engineering Mixed methods Simulation Web-based Villanueva, I. (2020) 9 Pfotenhauer, J. M., Gagnon, Mechanical Engineering Mixed methods Simulation Web-based D. J., Litzkow, M., & Pribbenow, C. M. (2015) 10 Taillandier, F., & Adam, C. Civil Engineering Quantitative Simulation Web-based (2018) 11 Díaz-Ramírez, J. (2020) Industrial Engineering Quantitative Simulation Web-based 12 Coller, B. (2014) Engineering Quantitative Simulation Web-based 13 Raju, P. K., & Sankar, C. S. Engineering Quantitative Simulation Web-based (2014) 14 Yuxuan, C., Souza, R. C., Electronics & Computer Quantitative 2D Platformer Web-based Contessoto, A. G., & Engineering Amorim, A. R. (2021) 15 Mavromihales, M. (2019) Mechanical Engineering Quantitative Puzzle Real-world 16 Garcia & Cano (2017) Electronics & Computer Quantitative Role-playing Web-based Engineering game 17 Martins & de Almeida Computer Engineering Quantitative Simulation Web-based Souza Concilio (2017) 18 Mesquida & Mas (2018) Computer Engineering Quantitative Simulation Web-based 19 Wang & Abbas (2018) Transportation Quantitative Simulation Web-based Engineering 20 Garcia, I., Pacheco, C., Computer Engineering Quantitative Open World Web-based León, A., & Calvo‐ Manzano, J. A. (2019) 21 Singh, G., Mantri, A., Electronics Engineering Mixed methods Simulation Virtual Reality Sharma, O., & Kaur, R. (2021) 22 Corvalán, B., Recabarren, Computer & Industrial Quantitative Simulation Web-based M., & Echeverría, A. (2020) Engineering 23 Vergara, D., Extremera, J., Mechanical Engineering Quantitative Simulation Virtual Reality Rubio, M. P., & Dávila, L. P. (2019) 24 Topalli & Cagiltay (2018) Computer Engineering Quantitative Simulation Web-based 25 Braghirolli, L. F., Ribeiro, J. Industrial Engineering Quantitative Simulation Web-based L. D., Weise, A. D., & Pizzolato, M. (2016) 26 Wang, Q., & Abbas, M. Civil Engineering Quantitative Simulation Web-based (2018) 27 Shernoff, D. J., Ryu, J. C., Mechanical Engineering Quantitative Simulation Web-based Ruzek, E., Coller, B., & Prantil, V. (2020) 28 da Silva Júnior, J. N., Lima, Chemical Engineering Quantitative Simulation Web-based M. A. S., Pimenta, A. T. Á., Nunes, F. M., Monteiro, Á. C., de Sousa, U. S., ... & Winum, J. Y. (2020)