Models or Code in Unity? An Empirical Evaluation of Visual Scripting and C# as Specification Methods for Game Development: Replication Package

🎮 Models or Code in Unity? An Empirical Evaluation of Visual Scripting and C# as Specification Methods for Game Development

This directory contains the artifact package and all the necessary materials to replicate the experiment comparing Model-Driven Development (MDD) and Code-Centric Development (CCD) in the context of Unity.

📂 Folder Structure

The artifact is organized into two main directories:

01_EXPERIMENT (Experiment Materials)

• 101_CdE_ApproveReport: PDF file of the favorable report from the ethics and scientific committee approving the execution of the experiment (includes anonymized version).
• 102_Forms&Exercises: Task sheets for each group (Groups A and B, in English and Spanish), plus the Unity projects containing the exercises to solve (.zip format).
• 103_SupportMaterial: Reference material and exercise walkthrough videos (Exercise_1.mp4, Exercise_2.mp4) that participants could consult while performing the tasks. Available in anonymized and non-anonymized versions.
• 104_SessionMaterial: Instructor materials used during the session, including the experiment presentation and focus group questions. Available in anonymized and non-anonymized versions.
• 105_CorrectionMaterial: Solutions to the tasks (UVS_Experiment_Resolved.zip) and the grading rubric (.xlsx).

02_STATISTICAL_ANALYSIS (Data and Results)

• 201_Dataset: Dataset file (.xlsx) containing all variables and factors measured.
• 202_Statistics_Script: R script (.R) containing the full statistical analysis.
• 203_Results: Text file (.txt) with the output results of the statistical analysis.
• 204_Graphics_Script: Python script (.py) for generating graphical and boxplot visualizations.
• 205_Focus_Group_and_Demographic_Report: Full data from focus group sessions and participant demographics (.docx / .pdf). Available in anonymized and non-anonymized versions.

🛠️ Installation Guide

This guide describes the steps to install and configure the required software to run the Unity experiment environment.

Requirements

Ensure you have the following software downloaded:

• Unity 6.0 (6000.0.0.61f) — https://unity.com/download
• Visual Studio 2022 Community Edition (optional, recommended for C#) — https://visualstudio.microsoft.com/vs/community/
• Visual Studio Code (optional, lightweight alternative) — https://code.visualstudio.com

Installation Steps

1. Download and install Unity Hub from https://unity.com/download.
2. Log in with an existing Unity account or create a new one.
3. In Unity Hub, navigate to Installs → Add.
4. Select Unity 6 (minimum version 6000.0.61f1).
5. Enable the recommended modules: Visual Scripting and .NET / C# Scripting Support.
6. Click Next → Install and wait for the installation to complete.

Verify Unity Visual Scripting

Unity Visual Scripting is included by default in Unity 6. To verify:

1. Open Unity Hub and create a temporary project.
2. Open the project and navigate to Window → Package Manager.
3. In the upper-left corner, select Unity Registry.
4. Search for Visual Scripting and confirm its status is Installed. (If not, select it and click Install.)
5. Close Unity and delete the temporary project from Unity Hub.

🚀 Running the Experiment Projects

1. Navigate to the 01_EXPERIMENT/102_Forms&Exercises directory.
2. Unzip UVS_Experiment_GroupA.zip or UVS_Experiment_GroupB.zip depending on the group.
3. Open Unity Hub, click Add (+), select the unzipped folder, and click Continue.
4. The project will load in Unity 6 with all the exercises ready to run.

⚠️ Note: The documentation found within this folder contains texts in Spanish, as this is the language in which the experiment was originally executed.