MDA and the road from idea to design

By: Alex Henningsson / September 18, 2014 /
Program: Programming
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Hello people!

I am sorry that I have not updated what I have done for a while, but I simply have not had the time. I am going to keep this going though and I am trying to keep my goal I mentioned in my first post. “I am going to try to update this blog as often as I can.”

 

Now. What have I been doing the last couple of weeks?

We got our first assignment in our “Communication”-course. We had to write an article which was connected to our program in some way. I wrote about that games change our way of thinking.

In our Gamedesign course we have learned us about MDA (Mechanics, Dynamics & Aesthetics) and the process from an idea to design. We have also got to play the game Sissyfight. And we got an assignment on Sissyfight. In the MDA lecture we also learned that in the game industry it is almost illegal to say the word fun. Instead, we have a bunch of “types of fun“.

Sissyfight: It is a game where you act that you are a bunch of young schoolgirls on a schoolyard, bullying eachother. The assignment was about to change the aesthethics, dynamics and mechanics based on an idea we came up with. With we I mean me and my 5 teammates. After we were done with this idea and all the testing was done and the game was finished, we got a new assignment.
We recieved an memo. You can read the memo if you look below this text.
We had to change the fiction of the game and change the mechanics so it would fit with the new fiction.

“Just got back from our Haunted House 2 pitch, and our last demo tanked. Luckily, Moe mentioned we had this concept called Sissyfight, and the publisher loved it. Literally fell out of her chair laughing.

I don’t know if it’s really that funny, so please see what you can do to makae sure it lives up to her expectations.¨

Come up with a way for Sissyfight to tie in to the movie license. Remember, it has to be funny.

Also, we need Eddie Murphy in the game as a character, but you can’t make it so he loses. That’s all his manager said. Not sure what that means.”

Types of fun:

  • Sensation: game as sense-pleasure
  • Fantasy: game as make-believe
  • Narrative: game as unfolding story
  • Challenge: game as obstacle course
  • Fellowship: game as social framework
  • Discovery: game as uncharted territory
  • Expression: game as soap box
  • Submission: game as mindless pasttime

So, what is MDA?

MDA, is a shortening for Mechanincs, Dynamics & Aesthetics. It is all about putting a game together. The MDA paper let us create and build games on paper without the programming and all the graphics. As soon as

Mechanics: The mechanics is really all the components, rules and algorithms that defines the game systems. Example of mechanic: Core loop. (The core loop is the main way the player interacts with the game.)
Dynamics: It is the run-time behavior of the game-as-system. This is probably just words to you so I’ll try to explain. If my mechanic in a game about shooting aliens is “Shooting weapon”, the dynamic will be “I shoot an alien”.
Aesthetics: This is really the feelings and emotions seen in the player. If I have plenty of mechanics in a game, therefor I have a lot of dynamics, I get plenty of aesthetics. Aesthetic is a word to sum up all our types of fun and the emotions we want players to get.

To sum this MDA up: If I change the mechanics in a game I also change the dynamics and the aesthetics will change. Neither the dynamics or the aesthetics is predictable, we can just assume and guess what will happen if I put a shotgun in a snipershooter-game.

The road from idea to design:

To go from idea to design is a long road and as a game designer it includes a bunch of documents. It is really all about the documents.

  1. Create an idea. Write it down.
  2. Create a concept document. This is a document which says everything you need to know about your game.
  3. Create a pitch document. This is the same thing as the concept document, but this is written so you can sell your idea to someone who can help you create it.
  4. When you have the help and funding you need, start create your game.

 

This was a long text, but I hope you found it fun and interesting to read. I know I did.
Hope to see you here again soon!

Yours,
Alex

About Alex Henningsson

2014  Programming
Tags: 2014