Week 02

Games MDA

I was researching the meaning behind MDA when it come to gaming. I found that it stands for Mechanics Dynamics and Aesthetics is a tool that is often used in game design to break games into those three categories. Mechanics, mechanics are the base of any game, they are the foundation you lay when planning on making any game these days mechanics can range anywhere from a simple walking forward motion or jumping or sliding or looking around at the world in the game to something much more complex like a skill like using equipment in a game to find or detect things and having something to with the world or environment affect the player or character in the game.

Once you find out these mechanics that you want to use in the game and put them together and this creates a dynamic within the game itself.

"Dynamics are the behaviors and side effects that emerge from playing the game or gameplay when the mechanics are put into use". I really like this quote by the game creator Mark Leblonk, the reason I think this is because it perfectly describes the term game dynamics and how they are the next step from the mechanics and that now it's the beginning of playing around with bigger elements to the game.

You can have multiple dynamics in a game these days, most games tend to have one or two but some can have up to three or four. The games that usually have more than two tend to be sandbox games such as Minecraft

One of the reasons Minecraft is such a popular game is because you the player are given the freedom to create your own dynamic in the game itself with the mechanics you're given, for example, people make online servers to have build competitions, this gives the audience to build and most importantly have their imagination run wild another server would have hide and seek and even parkour, each game mode would be utilizing the mechanics of the game in different ways creating different dynamics in the same game!!!

When you combine multiple dynamics in the game you end up with an anesthetic.

The aesthetic of the game is meant to make the player feel a certain way about the game or the story they are playing. Some of the most important criteria they look for is:

1. Sensation - What do they want the player to feel while playing?
2. Fantasy - How much is the game is able to immerse the player and make them feel like they're actually in the world?
3. Narrative - Telling an interesting thought or emotionally provoking story that the player would love to see play out. Why should they keep playing?
4. Challenge - Giving the players a challenge that could potentially reward them and make it interesting for them to keep playing and what sense of satisfaction it would give them?

An article that I found really helpful was "The Theory Behind Games" it talks all about the three core aspects of MDA and goes in-depth about these aspects. It is the most accurate and informative resource I've seen on this topic find their blog here: shorturl.at/hnHO1

There was a source on youtube where a guy was talking about the things that make MDA The thing it is today and showing examples of how games would use this process to create the games we know and love today. I liked the video he did on this topic because he seemed relatable, he also seemed like he had a passion for games and loved talking about them. You can find this episode here: shorturl.at/gzBJT

There is also this interesting article I found mainly talked about game dynamics and how to recognize different game dynamics. This article tells us the common game dynamics such as:

1. Race to the finish
2. Collection
3. Territory Acquisition
4. Solve
5. Rescue or Escape
6. Alignment
7. Construct/Build
8. Capture

There are loads more on these common types of game dynamics here: shorturl.at/iqzJL

In this reading session, I learned a lot about how the games are built on and their starting point, and using these techniques will help me in my pursuit of making my own game.