Applying lehman's laws to game evolution

Abstract

Computer games are a genre of software systems that in many ways differs from more traditional applications. In particular, when designing games, the end result of game development resembles work of art rather than that of engineering, emphasizing the need for creativity and artistic abilities. However, as technology, tools, methods, and artifacts that are used in the development of games are to a large extent similar to those used in the development of more traditional system, games should conform to the basic laws of software, including software evolution. In this paper, we reflect the principles of software evolution distilled by Manny Lehman in the form of laws of software evolution to the game domain. We present how the laws can be interpreted and applied in games projects, and argue that many of the laws apply to many games, but not all laws apply to all games. The way the game is evolved especially has an effect on the applicable laws as changes in games can be emerging, reactive or pre-planned.