Example of different ideas into what "fun" is defined by in game making.
Some icons showing how MDA can give feedback from the player and the game designer.
MDA's and GDD's are a way of thinking about the relationship between designers, players and the culture of games. MDA's are mainly about the aesthetics of any game and the GDD's are are a way to document game design and any ideas present. Game developers and game players will use MDA's as a feedback system, both sides of the game can feed information back and forth in order to let each other get better results.
8 independent descriptions of the aesthetics of a game. (Taxonomy)
Picture showing how real life feedback systems are relatable to game feedback systems.
When looking into what the player wants from a game, most argue that they have to be fun and enjoyable. Some players often give lots of feedback/ideas and eventually become a young designer, an example of this happening is at the company Minecraft. The person who created the Aether sky biome/dimension eventually got hired by Minecraft and in now working on future updates. (kingbdogz (@kingbdogz) / Twitter).
When looking into what makes a game fun, most designers look at the gameplay and what aesthetics it can include. Some examples shown above are: Narrative, Expression, Discovery and Challenge. Most games free to play and portable games try to nowadays to implement all of these aesthetics, some fail but some also manage to win over a large fanbase. Large fanbase= More feedback.
My written GDD about the Woodlands.
My visual GDD about the Woodlands.
I was then in the lesson tasked with making my own GDD and I chose to base it off of my game-jam game "The Woodlands". The two pictures above showcase a written and visual version of my GDD, both noted pages have miniature drawings of Bear-Trap our game jam villain.
The first picture tells a detailed story of the game and its premise, the second picture has a lot more icons and key drawings to describe several major events of the game. There are also sections for a control scheme and notes for gameplay mechanics and challenges ahead.
My notes and explanations about GDD and its examples in media.
My in-lesson notes about MDA's and GDD's.
GDD's however are what we use to documents games and game design, later on in November our table group had to write up a GDD for our game builder creation game. GDD'S often documents not only how the game plays but what's included and exactly what the player/public buyer need to know when playing the game. (Basically a bio) This can also include concept documents, scripts, mind maps (creation progress) and basic level design/beta testing and community feedback.