If Memory Serves: A Game to Supplement the Instruction of Concepts Related to Pointers

In this Tips, Techniques, and Courseware presentation, we will provide an overview of If Memory Serves, a game designed to complement the instruction of pointers in computer science courses. The game was first designed during a working group in ITiCSE 2017 as a tool to enable deeper understanding of pointers due to the difficulties students often face when learning about them. Over the last two years, the game has continued to evolve and has moved from a concept of the game to near-alpha. During this talk, we will demonstrate the game, provide insight into why it was developed, and discuss how it can be used to teach pointers. We will also briefly discuss our concept behind this open-source game and invite feedback from the audience as well as invite others to remix, test, and engage in research on testing the game's effectiveness.