Visualizing Loops and Data Structures in Xylem: The Code of Plants

The visual representation of software data structures is especially relevant to the creation of games which crowd source science problems to a gaming community and to educational games which seek to teach computer science concepts within the context of computer games. Xylem: The Code of Plants is a game designed to crowd source formal software verification via loop invariant specifications. Due to the nature of this project, it was important that the game 1) appeal to a large audience, 2) support a wide variety of data structures and 3) hide any actual data from the source code that was generating the game levels. To these ends, a method of visualizing data structures was developed that features a consistent plant-based narrative metaphor, is flexible enough to accommodate multiple types of data structures while maintaining narrative integrity, and obscures all real data from the target source code.