Design of Refactal: A Serious Game for Introducing Advanced Object-Oriented Programming Concepts

This paper presents Refactal, an online serious game developed to introduce software engineering students to design patterns, code smells, and SOLID principles. Structured as an escape room, the game features progressive levels and integrates refactoring-based problem solving. The game’s design and a pilot exploratory evaluation are reported. Over three iterative testing phases, involving 33, 16, and 10 computer science students, data were collected through user experience questionnaires, in-game performance metrics and, during the final phase, pre/post-tests assessing conceptual learning. Results indicate that students perceived Refactal positively, particularly regarding satisfaction, scenario relevance, and overall experience. Preliminary evidence of learning gains, especially among novices, suggests that Refactal may support the acquisition of advanced OOP principles. While the small sample size limits generalization, these findings highlight Refactal’s potential and motivate future controlled studies with larger and more diverse cohorts.