Download MDAElective - The collected game design rants of Marc LeBlanc

Mechanics, Dynamics,
Aesthetics
Marc “MAHK” LeBlanc
GDC 2009
The MDA Framework
Mechanics
Dynamics
Aesthetics
Overview
• Where did MDA come from?
• What is it good for?
My Background:
Computer Science
Input
Rules
Output
State
Look! A state machine!
My Background:
Computer Science
=
My Background:
Computer Science
=
Game Design is Programming.
Let’s Party Like it’s 10 Years Ago…
My 1999 GDC Lecture:
• Consider a Racing Game.
• Suppose we give the winning
player an arbitrary penalty to top
speed.
That’s a Feedback Loop!
State
Measure
Act
Decide
…Like a Thermostat
Room
Thermometer
Heater
Too Cold
Too Hot
Cooler
Controller
An Ideal Thermostat
Two Kinds of Feedback
Systems:
• Negative: We give the winning player a
penalty to top speed.
• Positive: We give the losing player an
arbitrary penalty to top speed.
• Stabilizing force vs. Snowball Effect
Part II of 1999 Lecture:
Drama:
• Conflict creates dramatic tension.
• Tension builds towards a climax.
Dramatic Tension
Clima x
Conflict
Resolution
Narrative Time
Tension is a Function of
Uncertainty
• A game is as tense as it is close.
So These Are Related!
Room
Dramatic Tension
Climax
Conflict
Resolution
Narrative Time
• Feedback systems can govern
closeness, and thus tension.
Dynamic
Dramatic Tension
Climax
Conflict
Resolution
Narrative Time
Dynamic
Aesthetic
What I Said:
• Feedback systems are a useful tool
for creating drama in a competive
environment.
What They Heard:
• Your game sucks if it doesn’t have
a feedback system.
The Problem of Applicability
• Not all tools are hammers.
• Not all problems are nails.
• We need a language for describing
problems.
• Solutions are not value statements.
Eight Kinds of “Fun”
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Sensation
Fantasy
Narrative
Challenge
Fellowship
Discovery
Expression
Submission
Clarifying Our Goals
• An aesthetic vocabularly helps us
describe the design problems we
want to solve.
• We need more than a one-word
description of our goals.
Formulating an “Aesthetic
Model”
For each aesthetic goal:
• Write a formal definition
• List criteria for success
• List modes of failure
• Serves as an “aesthetic compass”
• These are often reusable
Some examples…
Goal: Competition
• Definition: A game is competitive if
players are emotionally invested in
defeating each other.
• Success:
 Players are adversaries.
 Players want to win.
• Failure:
 A player feels that he can’t win.
 A player can’t measure his progress.
Goal: Pirate Fantasy
• Definition: A pirate fantasy conforms to
the genre conventions of pirate movies,
and permits the player to engage in
certain kinds of anti-social pirate
behavior.
Goal: Pirate Fantasy
• Definition: A pirate fantasy conforms to
the genre conventions of pirate movies,
and permits the player to engage in
certain kinds of anti-social pirate
behavior.
• Failure:
• Success:





Empowerment
Independence
Greed
Treachery
Prey upon Weak
 Vulnerability
 Compassion
 Generosity
Goal: Drama
Definition: A game is dramatic if:
• Its central conflict creates dramatic tension.
• The dramatic tension builds towards a climax.
Dramatic Tension
Clima x
Conflict
Resolution
Narrative Time
Goal: Drama
• Success:
 A sense of uncertainty
 A sense of inevitability
 Tension increases towards a climax
• Failure:
 The conflict’s outcome is obvious (no uncertainty)
 No sense of forward progress (no inevitability)
 Player doesn’t care how the conflict resolves.
Aesthetic Models are an
Important Tool
• It’s hard to solve problems we
can’t describe.
• Especially in a large group.
Dynamics
Room
The Idea of Dynamics
• Behavior is separate from rules.
• The same behavior can emerge
from many different rules.
• We can create Dynamic Models
Dynamic Models Help Us:
• Explain the behavior we observe.
• Predict behavior before it
happens.
Feedback System is One
Example
Room
Example: Random Variable
Chance in 36
• This is a model of 2d6:
2
3
4
5
6Die7roll8
9 10 11 12
Example: Operant
Conditioning
• The player is part of the system,
too!
• Psychology gives us models to
explain and predict the player’s
behavior.
Example: Random Variable
Chance in 36
• This is a model of 2d6:
2
3
4
5
6Die7roll8
9 10 11 12
Models of Game Dynamics
• No Grand Unified Theory
• Instead, a collection of many
Dynamic Models.
• Dynamics models are analytical in
nature.
Some examples…
Mechanics
• Cards
 Shuffling, Trick-Taking, Bidding
• Shooters
 Ammunition, Spawn Points
• Golf
 Sand Traps, Water Hazards
Mechanics vs. Dynamics
• There’s a grey area
 Some behaviors are direct consequences of rules.
 Others are indirect.
 “Dynamics” usually means the latter.
• Dynamics and Mechanics are
different views of games.
• Dynamics emerge from Mechanics.
The Point:
• In some sense, it isn’t about this:
Mechanics
Dynamics
Aesthetics
The Point:
• It’s about this:
The Point:
• This is where game design happens.
Questions? Comments?
Whack-a-Mole
Pop-a-Baby
Google Fight