The current paper describes the use of game development for improvement of first year Computer Science students’ professional and social competencies. The computer-based education games play grateful platform for integration of knowledge and skills gained by students in several learning courses, i.e., programming, web-design, computer graphics and animation, introduction to software engineering, etc. The multidisciplinary character of the games provides possibilities to constitute teams with students from different study programs. Thereby the students get their first experience in cross-disciplinary communication. Key words: computer-based education, educational games, learning environment.

<p><em>Novaday's situation in the graphical education is the same all over the world. Small number of contact hours and very different entrance level of the first year students at tertiary institutions. To improve the situation the computer game for the training of the basic skills in technical drawing is created and verified. 120 first year students of civil engineering speciality were involved and 50 of them played the game at home on an optional basis, but other students did not. All the students completed the graphical test after three weeks and results were compared. The number of mistakes was higher for the students who did not play the game. The average mark was higher for the students who played the game. The results of the experiment showed positive influence on learning results and attitude. The paper is recommended to the persons who work in the field of graphical education and create the technical educational aids for this aim. Paper is recommended for all interested people as well.</em></p>

<em>Nowadays, not every school of Latvia offers it’s pupils to acquire the basics of technical drawing. As a result, university lecturers often find that students lack the spatial and constructive thinking skills needed to successfully participate in graphics and design related courses. To try to improve the situation in early 2013, Riga Technical University lecturer Ieva Jurāne (Mg.sc.ing.), in collaboration with University of Liepaja Natural and Engineering Faculty, decided to develop a website "Technical Drawing" (http: //rasesana.it- studenti.liepu.edu.lv), in which every interested person, irrespective of whether it is a student or a pupil, could independently solve a variety of technical drawing course related tasks, thus developing their spatial and constructive thinking skills, which later makes it easier to learn complex Engineering Graphics programs such as AutoCAD or SolidWorks. This publication is made to present the web sites "Technical Drawing" purpose, content and development process.</em>