Games MDA

 

The types of games

The MDA Framework

From reading this text, watching the accompanying video and from my own additional research I have learned of the importance for gam developers to design games around the MDA framework. It has also been made abundantly clear that these mechanics, dynamics and aesthetics are decided on very early in a games ideation/ creation phases, as if something is requiring change later on down the line say in a triple A horror game, it takes a lot to go all the way back to the core mechanics and rework a game.

Additional Research- 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MDA_framework

https://medium.com/@jenny_carroll/using-the-mda-framework-as-an-approach-to-game-design-9568569cb7d

https://learn.canvas.net/courses/3/pages/level-4-dot-1-process-of-design-and-mda-framework

These resources reminded me just how vital the first few steps of the MDA process are, to quote the third additional resource "Design is not just a matter of coming up with a “Great Idea” for a game; it is about coming up with a set of rules that will implement that idea, when two-thirds of the final product (the Dynamics and Aesthetics) are not under our direct control." This really tells me just howimportant the rules made in game design are and how hard Game Design is, it's not something you can change down the line, it is very much something you must start off with in the rules and then let these rules become dynamics through process of prediction which fuels the desired aesthetic (Only if done correctly!)