Transcript The MDA Framework Mechanics Dynamics Game Tuning Workshop Aesthetics Some Common Themes Here are some themes we examined. Game Tuning Workshop.

The MDA Framework
Mechanics
Dynamics
Game Tuning Workshop
Aesthetics
Some Common Themes
Here are some themes we examined.
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Theme: Dynamics and Fantasy
• Our game dynamics have meaning within
our game’s core fantasy.
• That meaning may or may not be
compatible.
• In order to remain faithful to our subject
matter, dynamics and fantasy must be in
alignment.
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© Steve Jackson Games
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www.sjgames.com
Choices
Theme: “Possibilty Space” and
Drama
Time
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Theme: State Space and Design
Flexibility
• The state space of a game is the set of
possible states the system can be in.
• The larger the state space, the easier it is
to make changes.
• As we modify our design, we can expect
the state space to grow.
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Theme: Aesthetic Breadth
• Games are not aesthetic laser beams.
• Neither are players, neither are designers.
• As professionals, we need to be able to
match the player’s values as well as our
own.
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A Final Thought
“The intellect is a Bailey bridge built
between islands of inspiration”
- Mike Myers
www.algorithmancy.org
[email protected]
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Shameless Plugs
• Oasis (IGF, Wed)
• Beyond Fun – Setting Aesthetic Goals and
Sticking to Them (Fri AM)
• Would the Real Emergent Gameplay Please
Stand Up? (Thu AM)
• Cross-Platform UI Development (Thu PM)
• Industry Collaboration with Academia (Thu PM)
• Experimental Gameplay Workshop (Thu PM)
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Probability is a Valuable Model
Chance in 36
This is a model of 2d6:
2
3
4
5
6 7 8
Die roll
9 10 11 12
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Game Design and Tuning
Workshop
Orientation
Marc “MAHK” LeBlanc
GDC 2003
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Orientation Overview
Part I: Workshop Format
Part II: Outline Our Formal Approach
Part III: Formal Approach in Detail
Part IV: Tuning
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Part I: Introduction
In this part we will:
• Explain the workshop high concept.
• Describe the format.
• Introduce the faculty.
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This Workshop Is:
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In its third year
Designed to be hands-on.
Focused on the tuning process.
Grounded in a formal approach to game
design.
• Intended to be open-ended.
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This Workshop Isn’t:
• About the game “industry.”
• About the game design “profession.”
• Concerned with the early stages of game
design.
• A one-way street.
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What You’ll be Doing
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Playing games.
Analyzing games.
Critiquing games.
Modifying games.
Refining games.
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A Few Ground Rules
• Please attend the whole thing.
• Collaborate, Share, and Encourage.
• Save the “meta-discussion” for the very
end.
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Workshop Format
• Small-group activities.
 Main Exercises (3)
 Electives (choose 1 from 3 each day)
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Introducing the Faculty
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Myself
Rob Fermier
Austin Grossman
Frank Lantz
Andrew Leker
Steve Librande
• Katie Salen
• Tim Stellmach
Also Helping Out:
• Art Min
• Robin Hunicke
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Part II: A Formal Approach
In this section, we present
• A formal framework for game design.
• A view of the designer-player relationship
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Game Design “Frameworks”
• Paradigms for organizing our understanding.
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Game Design “Frameworks”
• Paradigms for organizing our understanding.
• Example Frameworks:
 The 400 Project
 Design Patterns
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Game Design “Frameworks”
• Paradigms for organizing our understanding.
• Example Frameworks:
 The 400 Project
 Design Patterns
• Separate from the process.
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Our Framework
• Organized around the designer-player
relationship.
• Grounded in a formal approach.
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The Designer-Player
Relationship
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Designer
Player
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The Designer-Player
Relationship
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Game
Designer

Player
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The Designer-Player
Relationship

Creates
Game
Designer
Consumes

Player
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The Designer-Player
Relationship

Designer
Creates
Game
Book
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Consumes

Player
The Designer-Player
Relationship

Designer
Creates
Game
Book
Movie
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Consumes

Player
The Designer-Player
Relationship

Designer
Creates
Game
Book
Movie
Painting
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Consumes

Player
The Designer-Player
Relationship

Designer
Creates
Game
Book
Movie
Painting
Chair
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Consumes

Player
The Designer-Player
Relationship

Designer
Creates
Game
Book
Movie
Painting
Chair
Car
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Consumes

Player
The Designer-Player
Relationship

Designer
Creates
Game
Book
Movie
Painting
Chair
Car
Steak Dinner
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Consumes

Player
The Designer-Player
Relationship

Creates
Game
Consumes
Designer

Player
The difference is the way that
games are consumed.
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An Extreme Opposite Example:
A Theatrical Play
The “design team” knows:
• Script
• Lighting
• Acoustics
• Seating
• Intermissions
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Games, on the Contrary
The designer doesn’t know:
• When will the player play? How often?
For how long?
• Where? With Whom?
And most importantly...
• What will happen during the game?
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Obligatory Editorial
This lack of predictability is the essence of
play. It should be embraced, not
eschewed.
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A Formal Model of
“Game Consumption”
Rules
System
Behavior
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“Fun”
The Player-Designer
Relationship, Revisited

Designer
Rules
System
Behavior
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“Fun”

Player
The MDA Framework
Mechanics
Dynamics
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Aesthetics
Definitions
• Mechanics: The rules and concepts that
formally specify the game-as-system.
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Definitions
• Mechanics: The rules and concepts that
formally specify the game-as-system.
• Dynamics: The run-time behavior of the
game-as-system.
Game Tuning Workshop
Definitions
• Mechanics: The rules and concepts that
formally specify the game-as-system.
• Dynamics: The run-time behavior of the
game-as-system.
• Aesthetics: The desirable emotional
responses evoked by the game dynamics.
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The Building Blocks: Formal Models
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No Grand Unified Theory
Instead, lots of little models
Models can be formulas or abstractions.
We can think of models as “lenses.”
Discovering new models is an ongoing
process.
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MDA is a “Taxonomy” for
Models
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Knowledge of Aesthetics
Knowledge of Dynamics
Knowledge of Mechanics
Knowledge of the interactions between
them.
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Properties of Good Models
We want our models to be:
• Formal (i.e. well-defined).
• Abstract (i.e. widely applicable).
• Proven (i.e. known to work).
On any given game, we expect to use
several different abstractions, not one big
one.
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Part III: MDA in detail
In this part, we discuss Aesthetics,
Dynamics and Mechanics in detail.
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The Player’s Perspective
Mechanics
Dynamics
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Aesthetics
The Designer’s Perspective
Mechanics
Dynamics
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Aesthetics
Understanding Aesthetics
We need to get past words like “fun” and
“gameplay.”
• What kinds of “fun” are there?
• How will we know a particular kind of “fun”
when we see it?
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Eight Kinds of “Fun”
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Eight Kinds of "Fun"
1. Sensation
Game as sense-pleasure
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Eight Kinds of "Fun"
1. Sensation
Game as sense-pleasure
2. Fantasy
Game as make-believe
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Eight Kinds of "Fun"
1. Sensation
Game as sense-pleasure
2. Fantasy
Game as make-believe
3. Narrative
Game as drama
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Eight Kinds of "Fun"
1. Sensation
Game as sense-pleasure
2. Fantasy
Game as make-believe
3. Narrative
Game as drama
4. Challenge
Game as obstacle
course
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Eight Kinds of "Fun"
1. Sensation
Game as sense-pleasure 5. Fellowship
Game as social framework
2. Fantasy
Game as make-believe
3. Narrative
Game as drama
4. Challenge
Game as obstacle
course
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Eight Kinds of "Fun"
1. Sensation
Game as sense-pleasure 5. Fellowship
Game as social framework
2. Fantasy
Game as make-believe
6. Discovery
Game as uncharted territory
3. Narrative
Game as drama
4. Challenge
Game as obstacle
course
Game Tuning Workshop
Eight Kinds of "Fun"
1. Sensation
Game as sense-pleasure 5. Fellowship
Game as social framework
2. Fantasy
Game as make-believe
6. Discovery
Game as uncharted territory
3. Narrative
7. Expression
Game as drama
Game as self-discovery
4. Challenge
Game as obstacle
course
Game Tuning Workshop
Eight Kinds of "Fun"
1. Sensation
Game as sense-pleasure 5. Fellowship
Game as social framework
2. Fantasy
Game as make-believe
3. Narrative
6. Discovery
Game as uncharted territory
7. Expression
Game as drama
Game as self-discovery
4. Challenge
8. Masochism
Game as obstacle
course
Game as submission
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Clarifying Our Aesthetics
• Charades is “fun.”
• Quake is “fun.”
• Final Fantasy is “fun.”
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Clarifying Our Aesthetics
• Charades: Fellowship, Expression, Challenge
• Quake: Challenge, Sensation, Competition,
Fantasy
• Final Fantasy: Fantasy, Narrative, Expression,
Discovery, Challenge, Masochism
• Each game pursues multiple aesthetics.
• Again, there is no Game Unified Theory.
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Clarifying Our Goals
• As designers, we can choose certain
aesthetics as goals for our game design.
• We need more than a one-word definition
of our goals.
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What is an “Aesthetic Model?”
• A rigorous definition of an aesthetic goal.
• Serves as an “aesthetic compass.”
• States criteria for success as well as
possible modes of failure.
Some examples…
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Goal: Competition
Model: A game is competitive if:
• Players are adversaries.
• Players have an ongoing emotional investment
in defeating each other.
Some Failure Modes:
• A player feels that he can’t win.
• A player can’t measure his progress.
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Goal: Realistic Flight
Simulation
Possible Models: Our flight dynamics are
realistic if:
• They match a mathematical formula, or,
• They pass our “realism checklist,”
Failure Modes:
• Counter-intuitive system behavior.
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Goal: Drama
Model: 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
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Goal: Drama
Failure Modes:
• Lack of conflict.
• Lack of tension.
 The conflict’s outcome is obvious (no uncertainty).
 No sense of forward progress (no inevitability).
• Tension does not increase towards a climax.
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On to Dynamics...
Understanding Dynamics
• How can we predict and explain the
behavior of the game-as-system?
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Formalizing Game Dynamics
Input
Rules
(Player)
Output
State
(Graphics/
Sound)
The “State Machine” Model
Examples: Chess, Quake
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Models of Game Dynamics
• Again, no Grand Unified Theory
• Instead, a collection of many Dynamic
Models.
• Dynamics models are analytical in nature.
Some examples…
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Example: Random Variable
Chance in 36
This is a model of 2d6:
2
3
4
5
6 7 8
Die roll
9 10 11 12
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Example: Feedback System
A feedback system monitors and regulates its own state.
Room
Thermometer
Heater
Too Cold
Too Hot
Cooler
Controller
An Ideal Thermostat
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Example: Operant Conditioning
• The player is part of the system, too!
• Psychology gives us models to explain
and predict the player’s behavior.
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Where Models Come From
• Analysis of existing games.
• Other Fields: Math, Psychology,
Engineering…
• Our own experience.
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On to Mechanics...
Understanding Mechanics
• There’s a vast library of common game
mechanics.
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Examples
• Cards: Shuffling, Trick-Taking, Bidding
• Shooters: Ammunition, Spawn Points
• Golf: Sand Traps, Water Hazards
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Mechanics vs. Dynamics
We need to acknowledge mechanics and
dynamics as distinct concepts.
Dynamics emerge from Mechanics.
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Interaction Models
• How do specific dynamics emerge from
specific mechanics?
• How do specific dynamics evoke specific
aesthetics?
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Example: Time Pressure
• “Time pressure” is a dynamic.
• It can create dramatic tension.
• Various mechanics create time pressure:
 Simple time limit
 “Pace” monster
 Depleting resource
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Moving Forward…
Let’s hope the future brings us:
• A rich aesthetic vocabulary.
• A eclectic library of game mechanics.
• A catalog of formal models: Aesthetic,
Dynamic, Interaction
In other words,
“Formal Abstract Design Tools.”
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Part IV: Tuning
In this part we will:
• Define tuning.
• Present a formal approach.
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What we mean by “Tuning:”
Analyze
Test
Revise
Tuning is an iterative process.
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We’re not limited to:
• Parameter tweaking
• “Fiddling with knobs”
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MDA in the Tuning Process
Aesthetic Models help us:
• Articulate our goals.
• Point out our game’s flaws.
• Measure our progress.
Dynamic Models help us:
• Pinpoint our problems.
Both kinds help us:
• Evaluate possible revisions.
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Learning From the Tuning
Process
Between iterations, we re-evaluate:
• Our goals.
• Our models
• Our assumptions.
Sometimes we need to revise our own
thinking as well.
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The Tuning Process
Before we start:
•
Know our aesthetic goals.
While we iterate:
•
Aesthetic and dynamics models guide
our way.
Between Iterations
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Learn from the process.
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Time for Coffee...
After the break, go to the classroom that
matches the color of your poker chip:
Blue
Red
White
C1
C2
C3
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