Games MDA

Recently, I've came across a few articles talking about the different mechanics, dynamics and aesthetics of games (https://users.cs.northwestern.edu/~hunicke/MDA.pdf). MDA is a much more formal approach to understanding video games, and differentiates game design and development, the technicalities and the criticism of a game. Reading webpages like these really get me thinking as to what makes a game "fun"? Any game can be labelled so, but there's a much more in-depth explanation for this, such as if the game was more sensation, fantasy, narrative, challenge, fellowship, discovery, expression or submission-based. 

⇸  http://gamedevelopertips.com/mechanics-dynamics-aesthetics-game-design-theory-behind-games/, shows the dynamics of a game. Dynamics work to produce much more aesthetic experiences, for instance, challenges created by the likes of time pressure and rivalry-gameplay. Friendship can be encouraged by sharing information between specific members in a team, or even providing winning conditions that are much more difficult to achieve alone (such as capturing an enemies base). 

⇸  Lastly, https://medium.com/@jenny_carroll/using-the-mda-framework-as-an-approach-to-game-design-9568569cb7d, goes into the specifics of mechanics in a game. The mechanics describe a particular component, action, behaviour or control mechanisms of a game, using the level of data representation or even algorithms. Together, with the games content, the mechanics maintain the overall game's dynamics. In conclusion, I believe it's a much more helpful technique as it's given me a better understanding on how too categorise games and how changes can impact each aspect of a game's structure. In addition, I am now better at being able to break down those experiences, and use them to create new designs, research, and critique respectively.

Mechanics.