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PLAY AND GAMESUMMARY
READING
MATERIAL
,LECTURE 2 READING MATERIAL
MDA: A formal approach to game design and game research
The definition of MDA (Mechanics, Dynamics, and Aesthetics)
MDA is a formal approach to understanding games - one which attempts to bridge the gap
between game design and development, game criticism, and technical game research.
This methodology will clarify and strengthen the iterative processes of developers,
scholars and researchers alike, making it easier for all parties to decompose, study and
design a broad class of game designs and game artifacts.
Introduction
Iterative, qualitative and quantitative analyses support the designer in two important ways.
They help her analyze the end result to refine implementation, and analyze the
implementation to refine the result. By approaching the task from both perspectives, she
can consider a wide range of possibilities and interdependencies.
Designers and researchers must consider interdependencies carefully before
implementing changes, and scholars must recognize them before drawing conclusions
about the nature of the experience generated.
Towards a Comprehensive Framework
Seemingly inconsequential decisions about data, representation, algorithms, tools,
vocabulary and methodology will trickle upward, shaping the final gameplay. Similarly, all
desired user experience must bottom out, somewhere, in code. As games continue to
generate increasingly complex agent, object and system behavior, AI and game design
merge.
Systematic coherence comes when conflicting constraints are satisfied, and each of the
game's parts can relate to each other as a whole. Decomposing, understanding and
creating this coherence requires travel between all levels of abstraction - fluent motion
from systems and code, to content and play experience, and back. MDA framework as a
tool to help designers, researchers and scholars perform this translation.
MDA (Mechanics, Dynamics, and Aesthetics)
Games are created by designers/teams of developers, and consumed by players. They are
purchased, used and eventually cast away like most other consumable goods.
The production and consumption of game
artifacts.
The difference between games and other entertainment products (such as books, music,
movies and plays) is that their consumption is relatively unpredictable. The string of
events that occur during gameplay and the outcome of those events are unknown at the
time the product is finished.
2
,LECTURE 2 READING MATERIAL
MDA: A formal approach to game design and game research
The MDA framework formalizes the consumption of games by breaking them into their
distinct components:
And establishing their design counterparts:
1. Mechanics describes the particular components of the game, at the level of data
representation and algorithms.
2. Dynamics describes the run-time behavior of the mechanics acting on player inputs and
each others' outputs over time.
3. Aesthetics describes the desirable emotional responses evoked in the player, when she
interacts with the game system.
Fundamental to this framework is the idea that games are more like artifacts than media.
By this we mean that the content of a game is its behavior - not the media that streams
out of it towards the player.
Thinking about games as designed artifacts helps frame them as systems that build
behavior via interaction. It supports clearer design choices and analysis at all levels of
study and development.
MDA in detail
Each component of the MDA framework can be thought of as a lens or a view of the game -
separate, but causally linked.
From the designerís perspective, the mechanics give rise to dynamic system behavior,
which in turn leads to particular aesthetic experiences. From the player's perspective,
aesthetics set the tone, which is born out in observable dynamics and eventually, operable
mechanics.
When working with games, it is helpful to consider both the designer and player
perspectives. It helps us observe how even small changes in one layer can cascade into
others. In addition, thinking about the player encourages experience-driven (as opposed
to feature-driven) design.
The designer and player each have a different perspective.
3
, LECTURE 2 READING MATERIAL
MDA: A formal approach to game design and game research
Aesthetics
In describing the aesthetics of a game, we want to move away from words like fun and
gameplay towards a more directed vocabulary. This includes but is not limited to the
taxonomy listed here:
Sensation: game as sense-pleasure Fellowship: game as social framework
Fantasy: game as make-believe Discovery: game as uncharted territory
Narrative: game as drama Expression: game as self-discovery
Challenge: game as obstacle course Submission: game as pastime
The following games have been used for example:
Charades: Fellowship, Expression, The Sims: Discovery, Fantasy,
Challenge. Expression, Narrative.
Quake: Challenge, Sensation, Final Fantasy: Fantasy, Narrative,
Competition, Fantasy. Expression, Discovery, Challenge,
Submission.
Aesthetics models
Using out aesthetic vocabulary like a compass, we can define models for gameplay. These
models help us describe gameplay dynamics and mechanics.
For example: Charades and Quake are both competitive. They succeed when the various
teams or players in these games are emotionally invested in defeating each other. This
requires that players have adversaries (in Charades, teams compete, in Quake, the player
competes against computer opponents) and that all parties want to win.
Dynamic models
Dynamics work to create aesthetic experiences. For example, challenge is created by
things like time pressure and opponent play. Fellowship can be encouraged by sharing
information across certain members of a session (a team) or supplying winning conditions
that are more difficult to achieve alone.
Expression comes from dynamics that encourage individual users to leave their mark:
systems for purchasing, building or earning game items, for designing, constructing and
changing levels or worlds, and for creating personalized, unique characters. Dramatic
tension comes from dynamics that encourage a rising tension, a release, and a
denouement.
As with aesthetics, we want our discussion of dynamics to remain as concrete as possible.
By developing models that predict and describe gameplay dynamics, we can avoid some
common design pitfalls.
Probabilistic distribution of the random
variable 2 D6
4
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