Can a Game-Based Project Still Qualify as a Software Engineering Thesis?

I wouldn’t add AI just to satisfy a buzzword requirement. An unnecessary AI feature could distract from the research question and make the project harder to finish. If AI is genuinely relevant, you might investigate adaptive behavior or a system that changes based on player decisions, but that should support the project rather than replace its core purpose.

First, ask your supervisor what specific assessment criteria are not being met. If the concern is novelty, evaluation, system complexity, or technical depth, you can address that directly without forcing in machine learning or a language model.

You haven’t necessarily made a mistake. A game is still software, so the project can demonstrate requirements analysis, system architecture, modular design, implementation, testing, usability evaluation, and technical documentation. The key is to make the engineering process and evaluation visible instead of presenting it only as a creative story project.

You could frame the thesis around the research question: define what “effective communication” means, build the game as an interactive prototype, and evaluate whether players understand or retain the intended consequences of medical negligence. Your committee will probably care more about the rigor of the methodology and the quality of the engineering than whether the end product is a game.

Games involve plenty of serious software engineering. You can discuss the architecture of the narrative and gameplay systems, state management, save systems, input handling, asset pipelines, performance, accessibility, automated testing, and how the different systems communicate. If you’re using external services, databases, or APIs, those can also become part of the technical scope.

Don’t describe it as “just making a game.” Describe it as designing and evaluating an interactive software system whose purpose is to test a communication method. That wording makes the research and engineering contribution much clearer.