Games MDA



The first article I read this week was "MDA: A Formal Approach to Game Design and Game Research" by Robin Hunicke, Marc LeBlanc, Robert Zubek. I didn't get too much information for this blog from this article.

Before reading this article I had no idea what the MDA framework was. I done a little bit more research outside of the provided sources and I came across a blog written by a guy named Andrew Fisher, who is a game designer, and this was his definition of what MDA is, and it was able to help me understand a bit more.

"This framework was originally taught as part of a workshop at the Game Developer’s Conference, and was later published in a paper in conjunction with researchers from North-western. It introduces a fundamental way of deconstructing game systems to give a shared vocabulary and methodology for people of all disciplines working with games. The framework proposes that games can be understood by dividing their components into three distinct categories: Mechanics, Dynamics, and Aesthetics." (Source)

MDA provides a high-level theoretical framework for beginning to abstract these complex problems and aiding in the deconstruction of a game and understanding how ideas flow from the "bottom" to the "top" of its systems. To put it another way, it is the development of a shared vocabulary and structure for understanding and discussing complex ideas. (Paraphrased from Source)


I then watched a video by 'The Last Beacon" on YouTube. This video just helped breakdown the meaning of  the MDA framework, explaining what is was and also showing how useful it is when it comes to designing and developing games.

These sources have been really useful to me and will help a lot when it comes to creating my own game for this module.


Bibliography

MDA: A Formal Approach to Game Design and Game Research - Source

Andrew Fisher Blog- Source

Explaining the MDA Design Framework | Video Game Design- Source



 

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