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Game MDA

This blog is another reading blog. On this blog post, I will be talking about my knowledge of Game Mechanics, Dynamics and Aesthetics (MDA).

I learned that MDA is a "Taxonomy" for models. It has the knowledge of the interactions between them. There are eight kinds of "fun" when it comes to game.

  1. Sensation - Game as sense-pleasure
  2. Fantasy - Game as make-believe
  3. Narrative - Game as drama
  4. Challenge - Game as obstacle course
  5. Fellowship - Game as social framework
  6. Discovery - Game as uncharted territory
  7. Expression - Game as self-discovery
  8. Submission - Game as pastime
MDA is a formal approach to better understanding to games. It is considered to be the bridge between the game development and the game design.  One of the main concepts to understand is that the designers creates the game and the players consumes the game.

The play will get the game and start to play it.  The perspective for the player can be broken into three simple plan phase, Rules -> System -> "Fun". This basically means that the player understand what the rules are, they then interacts with the system and will start to have fun with the game.

Whereas for designers, the perspectives for them will be Mechanics -> Dynamics -> Aesthetics. Mechanics is the "hidden" part of the game. The rules and the interactions is described with algorithms and data structures. Dynamics is the part of the mechanics that player can actually see. It's the outcome when the player presses a button or in general sends an input to the game. Aesthetics describes the emotional responses in the players, when the player interacts with the game system. The player starts his experience by seeing the aesthetic part of the game.

There was a paragraph in one of the article I read and it said that the player can interact with the dynamics but can't with the mechanics because the person is making the game and the designer will start from the mechanics and then go up to the dynamics side of the game. It mentioned that making a game is helpful when both the designer and players point of views are considered and can try to deliver the best experience for the player.

Mechanics are the actions, behaviours and control mechanisms to the player within a game context. It support the overall gameplay dynamics. Dynamics works to create aesthetic experiences, It is the vehicle that along with the aesthetics drives the user to the desired experience and it is often used to emphasize aesthetics emotions. They are build on top of the mechanics.

I think MDA is a helpful game technique to understand the game and how changes can impact each aspect of the work and the design results. Also, the understanding how decisions about game play can impacts the end user experience and how we are can make it better.

How the designer and player's perspective works;
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