Mechanics, Dynamics, and Aesthetics
This week's reading is based on breaking games into these three categories. Mechanics are the basic rules and actions that control the game, we have already learned about mechanics but this is still a very broad definition of the word and clumps a lot of things under the one heading, although I do feel this is the best way to describe the inner workings of the game when speaking in a general sense.
Dynamics are a bit more confusing, from what I had read and watched, they are what happens in the game when the mechanics are used. I thought this area was confusing and I still haven't been able to wrap my head around what a game dynamic is.
The aesthetics of a game is what emotional response the game gives the player and the overall feel of the game. This one is a lot easier to be able to understand and point out when playing a game.
These are all supposed to link into one another, mechanics link to dynamics which link to aesthetics, and the same happens in reverse, but I don't see how this works. This video does a good job of trying to explain it. Whereas the pieces of writing were way too academic for me and made reading about MDA painful. I found this article online which presents the information in a much more appealing way.
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