It time for the Mechanical, Dynamical and Aesthetical, it's a games MDA protocol

Game MDA: an important piece

Well Hello again to all you lovely lads and ladies and yes I have returned to bring you yet another little bit of chin waggling as I go on to create another fancy smanshy blog. (well I hope they are to you, chaps) Anyway I have chin wagged a lot on the concept of game design and concepts and ideas and what not and today's little blog will be no different. Besides the look and design, your concepts and ideas that you have and the end goal that you have in mind, there is another very important aspect to the concept of creating a game and that is the concept that is known simply as Game MDA which is what we will talk about today.

(all part of a games MDA)

So you may be sitting there reading this wondering "good heavens, what exactly is a game MDA?" well don't you worry about that, chaps as I am about to explain it to you now exactly what that is. The MDA is actually a shortened acronym of the three types of game working. The M is Mechanics, the D is the Dynamics and the A is the aesthetic of any game design. The Mechanics for any game design is essentially the main rules to any game design. Sometimes that can be as simple as making a character walk, run or fight, but sometimes with any rules they are meant to be broken (that is if you want them to be broken) and can make anything happen. With the mechanics in place it helps to connect the concept of the Dynamics of a game which would be when the rules of the game are put in place and they are mainly the input of the games mechanics and the the co-operating with the other mechanics of said game (essentially how a character interacts with the game world). With those two, they actually tie in well in the Aesthetic of a game which is essentially the emotional response that the player may have from the game itself. There are many different kinds of aesthetic that a player could experience like the sensation of a games music, the wonder and Fantasy of the imaginary world that is created to play in, The narrative of a games story that would make a player want to go through it many times, the sense of a challenge that lies in a game as you go deeper and many more like that. When you combine them together they truly help to shape the world that they will create.

(the meaning of messing with rules of the games mechanics to make crazy concepts)

(making interesting games like a band that consists of a ninja, a guy with a traffic cone for a head, a robot and a man with a big fro in a blue spandex superhero costume and cape)

From my readings of this concepts from the fine fellows of Robin Hunicke, Marc LeBlanc and Robert Zubeck (https://users.cs.northwestern.edu/~hunicke/MDA.pdf) the interest world of the theory of Game MDA (http://gamedevelopertips.com/mechanics-dynamics-aesthetics-game-design-theory-behind-games/) and from my reading of shaping a Games MDA with an intentional way of playing by the chap known as Clint Hocking and his story of Jesus and Moses playing a round of golf (http://clicknothing.typepad.com/Design/hockingc_GDC06_Intentionality.zip) it helped me get a clearer understanding of the ideas and concepts and of a more clearer understanding of what exactly emphasises the meaning of a games MDA in more detail and how it would make anything that you have in mind just work out, like making a simple dating sim turn out to be a physiological horror game, or of a simulator of what it is really like to be a crazy goat, a very rude goose or even...... a rock (I am not making this up, chaps).

(have you ever wondered what it's like to be a goat?)

(Metal Goose Solid: The Phantom Honk)

Well That is all that I have to say on this particular topic and I hope that you learned a bit about the topic of the importance of Game MDA, I know that I certainly did indeed. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to listen to and prepare myself for a concert with that man in the spandex costume, the ninja, robot and man with traffic cone head and trust me it is very exciting. Until Next Time.

Cheerio!!!!