Week 4 Readings MDA: A Formal Approach to Game Design and Game Research

The reading was a paper that talks MDA framework which is Mechanics, Dynamics and Aesthetics. MDA is a formal approach to understanding games which attempts to close the gap between game design and development, game criticism and technical game research.

MDA: Games are created by designers/teams of developers, and consume by players. They are then purchased and eventually cast away.  The MDA framework formalizes the consumption of games by breaking them into their distinct components. Rules – System - Fun and establishing their design counterparts Mechanics – Aesthetics – Dynamics.

Mechanics describes the particular components of the game at the level of data representation and algorithms.

Dynamics describes the run time behaviour of the mechanics acting on player inputs and each other’ outputs over time.

Aesthetics describes the desirable emotional responses evoked in the player, when she interacts with the game system.

For the player the order that MDA is Aesthetics, Dynamics and Mechanics where as for the designers it’s the other way around Mechanics, Dynamics and Aesthetics.

Aesthetics: Is what makes a game fun! Talking about games and play is hard because the vocabulary used is relatively limited. In describing aesthetics of a game you want to stay away from works like Fun and gameplay and use a more directed use of vocabulary. This can include yet not limited to:

1.       Sensation:

2.       Fantasy

3.       Narrative

4.       Challenge

5.       Fellowship

6.       Discovery

7.       Expression

8.       Submission

Dynamics:  It’s the behaviour of the game as a system -- what happens when you play? How can we predict what happens when you play and how can we explain what happened when you played? Game dynamics is about predicting and explaining. A lot of racing games have a system like this, like a speed boost for the guy who's losing. The player is part of the system too, so some of our understanding of game dynamics has to be an understanding of human dynamics.

Mechanics:  Mechanics are the various actions, behaviours and control mechanisms afforded to the player within a game context. Together with the games content (levels, assets and so on) the mechanics support overall gameplay dynamics.

MDA in Action:

•          Spawn points in a mod are a Mechanic. You, the designer, creates them.

•          Players behave tactically – dynamically, they camp by them in some cases to kill characters as soon as they spawn

•          Aesthetic – most likely would be frustration with the game.

•          You, the designer, can only change this indirectly by perhaps having random spawn points.