Game MDA!

Game MDA!

What is Game MDA exactly? According to Robin Hunicke, Marc LeBlanc, Robert Zubek's paper, MDA is a formal approach to understanding games and the difference between game design and development, game criticism, and technical game research. MDA stands for Mechanics, Dynamics and Aesthetics.


  • Mechanics: the components of the game, at the level of data representation and algorithms. 
  • Dynamics: the mechanics acting on the player's inputs and each others outputs over time. 
  • Aesthetics: the desirable emotions in response when the player interacts with the game.

What makes a game "fun"? 

According to this paper there are 8 characteristics that make a game fun, they are:

1. Sensation- sense-pleasure 
2. Fantasy- make-believe 
3. Narrative- drama 
4. Challenge- obstacle course 
5. Fellowship- social framework 
6. Discovery- uncharted territory 
7. Expression- self-discovery 
8. Submission- pastime

The second paper I read is Design, Dynamics, Experience (DDE) by Wolfgang Walk, Daniel Görlich and Mark Barrett.

This article explains The Design, Dynamics, Experience (DDE) framework is an attempt to overcome a few weaknesses from the  already established MDA framework.

DDE allows game designers to assess and reassess the value of the story through the overall framework of game development. In the means of production, DDE sustains a highly constant production process, where everyone adopts the roles of designer and player in order to raise the bar of group awareness within the development team.


Thank you for reading this blog post!😁



 

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