The consolidation of game software engineering: A systematic literature review of software engineering for industry-scale computer games

Context: Game Software Engineering (GSE) is a branch of Software Engineering (SE) that focuses on the development of video game applications. In past years, GSE has achieved enough volume, differences from traditional software engineering, and interest by the community to be considered an independent scientific domain, veering out from traditional SE.Objective: This study evaluates the current state of the art in software engineering for industry-scale computer games identifying gaps and consolidating the magnitude and growth of this field. Method: A Systematic Literature Review is performed following best practices to ensure the relevance of the studies included in the review. We analyzed 98 GSE studies to extract the current intensity, topics, methods, and quality of GSE.Results: The GSE research community has been growing over the years, producing over four times more research than before the previous GSE survey. However, this community is still very dispersed, with no main venues holding most of the GSE scientific studies. A broader range of topics is covered in this area, evolving towards those of a mature field such as architecture and design. Also, the reviewed studies employ more elaborated empirical research methods, even though the study reports need to be more rigorous in sections related to the critical examination of the work.Conclusion: The results of the SLR lead to the identification of 13 potential future research directions for this domain. GSE is an independent, mature, and growing field that presents new ways of software creation where the gap between industry and academia is narrowing. Video games present themselves as powerful tools to push the boundaries of software knowledge.