Programming courses in engineering degrees frequently face challenges related to student engagement, motivation, and comprehension, particularly when teaching lower-level languages such as C. This paper describes a pedagogical innovation implemented over a decade at the Defense University Center (Centro Universitario de la Defensa) at the Spanish Naval Academy. We detail the evolution from traditional programming exercises to an authentic, competitive, game-based learning experience designed specifically to enhance student engagement, programming skills, and deeper understanding of computer architecture concepts.

Historically, projects assigned have included interactive games like Naval Wheel of Fortune, Iterated Prisoner's Dilemma, the Squid Game's Glass Bridge, Taken, Yahtzee, Blackjack, and Memory, leveraging collaborative and problem-based learning methodologies. Each project combines fixed functionality, aimed at developing skills in requirement analysis, precision, and structured coding, with an open-ended component where students can freely incorporate creative improvements.

In the most recent iteration, we significantly enhanced our pedagogical approach by recontextualizing the traditional programming assignment into an engaging, low-stakes competition. Cadets, working in pairs, developed a text-based anti-missile shield simulation programmed in C, aimed at protecting their fictional naval base from successive bombing waves. Teams competed by programming autonomous strategies for a naval anti-missile cannon, managing limited resources against escalating attack waves in a bracketed tournament format. A graphical application developed in Unity, enriched with generative AI-created assets, visually represented competition outcomes, significantly increasing student enthusiasm and reinforcing strategic creativity without additional complexity in graphics programming.

Student-developed strategies ranged widely from simple random actions to sophisticated conditional algorithms. Preliminary qualitative feedback and instructor observations indicated higher student motivation, richer documentation, more sophisticated code implementations, and increased peer interaction compared to previous years. Essential components contributing to success included a compelling narrative context, transparent assessment rules rewarding both coding accuracy and tactical creativity, and the modest but visible incentive of competitive rankings linked to course grades. This innovative combination of gamification, collaborative problem-based learning, and creative design thinking demonstrates significant potential for improved learning outcomes and student satisfaction in engineering programming education.

Keywords: Game-based Learning, Gamification, Engineering Education, Programming Education, Collaborative Learning, C Programming Language, Student Engagement, Pedagogical Innovation.