Meeting with Dayna

Today I had my first meeting with Dayan Galloway my supervisor of the project. The meeting was very hopeful and full of useful information. It was quite an insight into my project and he introduced me to the concept of the MDA (Mechanics, Dynamics and Aesthetics) framework which is a framework created by Robin Hunicke and 2 other researchers. Robin  Hunicke happens to have been one of the founders of Thatgamecompany the creators of 'Flower' (PS3) and 'Journey' (PS3).

The above is that following MDA structure which helped me get a grasp of what my project was about and how I was going to explain the process of my findings and really set things in stone for me.

To simply explain it:

Mechanics: These are the gameplay mechanics and triggers which the user interacts with within the game to function in the gameplay and to get things going. So the setting for the things that are to take place are the mechanics, and these are created by the Designer.

Dynamics: These are the actions that the user takes to interact within the game, the users influence over the game, their input and the things they do to determine the future events of the game.

Aesthetics: These are the results of what happens after the user interacts within the game. If things go successfully, then this is where the designer communicates his purpose with the user and the user experiences a significant amount of satisfaction and joy from the results that take place.

Bellow it is explained as Rules, Systems and "Fun". It is also explained in further detail.

Also explained within the research paper is the various types of game experience the user can experience. Sensation, Fantasy, Narrative, Challenge, Fellowship, Discovery, Expression and Submission. Some games can  also incorporate more than one of these aspects within the game.

Dayna was also quite happy with the research that I had done so far and was pleased with the direction that I was going in. I also showed him some of the game concept ideas I had which were very experimental and he suggested that I try and prototype them as soon as possible to see if they work out. Overall, the MDA discovery was a great step forward and I feel a lot more confident in my direction now.