In her article on "Teaching Problem Solving to Encourage Game Innovation" in the latest IGDA Perspectives Newsletter, GAMBIT postdoc Clara Fernández-Vara writes:

Rather than giving them an exercise in which they have to reproduce a specific type of code or a variation, the assignment can pose an open problem: a game for an outdated platform, a new type of dialogue system or a character model with only 150 polygons. Although real-life constraints, such as limiting the file size, may be more resonant with professional practice, inventive limitations encourage students to generate creative problem-solving skills and revise their development methods. Team assignments, particularly if the course has students from different departments (e.g. visual arts and computer science), introduce students to solving problems with people from other disciplines -- another essential soft skill in game development.

Read the article to learn about some of the thinking behind the game studies curriculum at MIT!