Guest Lecturer - Nigel Kershaw

Our guest lecture this week was presented by Nigel Kershaw who is a designer primarily but currently an online producer at Deep Silver. His main part of the lecture was explaining, “What exactly is a game designer?” He explained that game design is not telling a story but it’s explaining a theme and agency.

One of the main things Nigel talked about was the MDA framework, which stands for Mechanics, Dynamics and Aesthetics. I feel this would be a suitable topic to talk about today as it was new to me and I dug into some research about it.

The mechanics of a game are the rules of how the game plays, the dynamics of a game are how it behaves to player action and the aesthetics are everything that makes it look pretty and how it gives the player emotion. A quote by E McNeill on gamastutra says, “The MDA framework only flows in one direction; if you start by committing to certain mechanics, you begin to lose control over what aesthetic they’ll lead to.” This comes from a designer’s point of view, the designer must start from the mechanics and let them define the aesthetic but then also he goes on to say, “It’s also possible to start on the other end, with the narrative driving the game’s aesthetics. This might result in a powerful story, but it’s hard to work backwards toward the mechanics.” This is the way the player sees the game, they first look at the aesthetics and then learn the mechanics.

So not everyone agrees with the MDA framework, some think it is too linear and not enough room for expansion while others think it is a good guideline to follow. Another good point E McNeill brings up is the problem with shooters, he explains that there is a common trope where in fact the player can tell that there will be a lot of combat coming up soon because suddenly there will be an abundance of guns and barriers for hiding behind.

References:

E McNeill. (2014). Narrative and the MDA Framework. Available: http://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/EMcNeill/20140818/223585/Narrative_and_the_MDA_Framework.php. Last accessed 8th May 2015.