Games MDA

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MDA: A Formal Approach to Game Design and Game Research

This article teaches you about the MDA framework, MDA stands for Mechanics, Dynamics and Aesthetics. 

Aesthetics 

The aesthetics of a game are as follows:

  1. Sensation
  2. Fantasy
  3. Narrative
  4. Challenge
  5. Fellowship
  6. Discovery
  7. Expression
  8. Submission

Basically saying a game is fun isn’t enough to describe a game there are lots of different games that are fun in different ways which is when this list can be used to describe different ways in which the game is fun. 

Dynamic Models

Dynamics work to create aesthetic experiences. In this article it shows how challenges effect a game and how it makes you play the game and how some games can feel like there is no comeback and may turn the player the player in the losing position off continuing, for example, Monopoly when the winner in Monopoly goes so far ahead it causes the loser to go so far behind that the loser then knows more than likely there is no way to come back and turns them off continuing, but Mechanics can fix that. 

Mechanics 

Adjusting the mechanics of a game can help us fix the dynamics for example with Monopoly if when the winner got ahead it became harder or when the loser went behind they got more chances to come back it would make the game a lot easier to play for the person in the losing position. Another example would be just make the game shorter as Monopoly is such a long game. 


Want to read more? - MDA: A Formal Approach to Game Design and Game Research

Design, Dynamics & Experience (DDE) for Game Design

This article shows that recently MDA framework has been criticized for several weaknesses. This article shows how to improve the MDA framework by presenting Design, Dynamics, Experience (DDE) Framework. 


In 2015 and 2016 three authors identified two major weakness in the MDA framework:

  1. It neglects many design aspects of games, focusing too much on game mechanics.
  2. It is (therefore) not suitable for all types of games, including particularly gamified content or any type of experience-oriented design (as opposed to functionality-oriented design). (Wolfgang Walk, November 2017)

This article really dives into DDE framework and it’s an interesting read and I suggest reading it yourself if interested as there is a lot to it.


Want to read more? - Design, Dynamics and Experience (DDE) for Game Design

Explaining the MDA Design Framework

This video really explains MDA framework well and it’s a good watch. 

 

The video explains how some mechanics are controlled by the player and some are controlled by the game, for example, in monopoly buying tiles is a mechanic that the player controls. It also explains dynamics and how most games will have two core dynamics or even more. 

 

The video then explains the eight types of aesthetics which I gave a list of when discussing the first article. The video helps you understand them a bit more if you are confused by the reading and the video shows some visuals of different games for each example which also helps. 


Want to watch the video? - Explaining the MDA Design Framework

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