Games MDA

 Mechanics, Dynamics, and Aesthetics.

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In today's blog we are going to be talking about how MDA plays a huge role in the development of a game. 

The first thing we learned MDA stands for Mechanics, Dynamics, and Aesthetics. MDA is a formal approach to understanding games and how they work from the inside.

The notes provided are good but the only place i received proper info from was this video: Click here

Its broken down into 3 parts

Mechanics: These are the most basic parts of the game , the way the game acts and how it behaves. Its the actions the game takes as u press buttons and setups going on around you. Things like jumping , running , using objects , Mantling etc. Using basic building blocks to complete what we call Dynamics.

Dynamics: Are the emerging behavior that arrives in game-play when the mechanics are inserted and put to the test. Things that you can do to and how the game moves and how things are connected such as if you shoot somebody the dynamics will cause whoever that got shot to react in a certain way. Another example is when you crash in games like temple run too many times the dynamics causes you to get caught and the game ends. These all lead to the final part in which would be the aesthetics.

Aesthetics: This can be broken down into different parts as it carries different components. 

-Sensation: emotion of the player

-Fantasy- how the game works the player into the world. Giving them the feeling and tools they need to fulfill their fantasy

-Narrative - the story and plot of how the game goes grabbing the player and keeping them through the story.

-Challenge: Difficulty and how the game pushes you to your limit. (Trap doors etc)

-Fellowship: A team based game that allows you to build friendships with people in the game and through co op.

Discovery: Discovering new objects and finding out new things to keep the player excited and making them want to play some more.

Expression: how the game makes you feel and how you interact with the game.