Learning Low-Level Programming Through Interactive Games

Teaching assembly programming is a fundamental component of undergraduate computer science education, yet many students struggle with its abstract and low-level concepts. Existing learning tools, such as simulators and visualisers, support understanding by exposing machine states. However, they often limit students to passive observation and provide few opportunities for meaningful interaction. To address these limitations, we introduce Playsemble, a gamified learning system that transforms assembly instructions into interactive, game-like tasks in which students control Pac-Man to collect items, avoid ghosts, and reach targets. Playsemble integrates a code editor, a multi-architecture CPU emulator, and visual debugging tools within a browser-based environment, allowing students to work offline without installation or configuration. It also provides immediate formative feedback enhanced by large language models. We deployed Playsemble in an undergraduate computer architecture course with 107 students. The course featured a sequence of assignments of increasing complexity, covering core concepts such as register and memory manipulation, control structures including loops and conditionals, and arithmetic operations.

Our findings suggest that Playsemble promotes active experimentation, sustained engagement, and deeper conceptual understanding through meaningful game-based learning experiences. Unlike LC-3, an architecture historically favoured for its simplicity over real-world relevance, Playsemble’s multi-architecture design prepares students for the instruction sets they will actually encounter in practice.

School of Computer Science, University of Auckland