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Research on how to design better games is ongoing, and it can benefit from theoretical frameworks, such as the Mechanics, Dynamics, Aesthetics (MDA) model, and the Distinctive Feature (DF) framework, that we proposed in a previous paper. This paper presents further research about the DF framework, which was conducted in two distinct phases. In the...
Context in source publication
Context 1
... play -either to correct a misread rule, or to address a perceived problem in the original rules. There is at least one game -Nomic -in which changing the rules is the object of the game. What we have, then, is a dynamic, complex interplay between the three layers. Based on this perception, one of us proposed a modified agency diagram for MDA ( fig. 2) ...
Similar publications
Although the Mechanics, Dynamics and Aesthetics (MDA) framework is probably the most widely accepted and practically employed approach to game design, that framework has recently been criticized for several weaknesses. Other frameworks have been proposed to overcome those limitations, but none has generated sufficient support to replace MDA. In thi...
Successfully crafted ‘look and feel’ is a vital requirement for a prosperous computer game. This paper provides a first step into systemising the design process of ‘look and feel’ of 3D computer game models. The design process of ‘look and feel’ is approached from functional and visual perspectives. The theoretical discussion culminates on a prelim...
Citations
... Game development that suits the needs of elementary school students requires the same method for designers and players. Researchers see an appropriate framework for elementary school math game implementation is the MDA agency diagram framework developed by Duarte [12]. This model framework is very appropriate for designing games and building new features in math games. ...
... [23]. Games must be built, attractively by implementing various good frameworks such as SciTime [24], or MDA [12] Agency framework adopted in this research. Games must pay attention to interesting interactions between users and the game system so that a good experience is built and encourage continued use of the game [25] so that a good experience is built. ...
... Framework MDA agency diagram from Duarte[12] ...
This paper assesses the implementation of the framework for building new Distinctive Features and design mathematics games. We explain how to design a typical mathematics game according to the learning needs of elementary school students. Next, we explain how to build new Distinctive features that are unique to students' needs and can be run in math games. We explain the importance of constructing mathematics game features and designs that suit the characteristics of primary school students. We conclude that the selection of distinctive features and game design according to students' needs are the most important aspects in building an interesting mathematics learning experience. This conclusion was obtained from the results of usability tests on elementary school students. This paper has broad implications in the development of elementary school games.
... This can be seen as a bottom-up approach in the game design process and follows from the Mechanics, Dynamics and Aesthetics influences (Hunicke et al., 2004;Walk et al., 2017), where the designers combine mechanics to deliver dynamic experiences to players and collect their feedback. In the particular case of analogue games, the importance of mechanics is even higher due to the lack of automation, users must manually activate all the game mechanics for the game to function (Duarte & Battaiola, 2017). Suppose we desire to detail analogue games even more. ...
Intro
This paper reports the demographics of a large sample of board gamers and their in-game motivations and preferences.
Methods
We report the specific preferences of 1603 board gamers (i.e. preferred platform, mechanics, style, theme, player count and game length) and player demographics, i.e. age, gender, education level as well as neurodivergence in this population. Participants were sampled via board game groups and game distributor mailing lists.
Results
Findings confirmed previous assumptions that board gamers are primarily middle-aged, university/college-educated, white males. We show that most gamers identify as mid-core/core with a preference for shorter, competitive Euro games. They tend to prefer in-person play with 3-4 players. However, a sizeable portion of the sample did not fit this description, showing a more complex picture.
Discussion
Results describe the population's demographics and detailed description of gamers preferred, mechanics, themes, components, preferences and motivations. An anonymised version of this data set is provided alongside this work for game designers and academics to explore further and cross-reference relationships between demographics and preferences/motivations. Considering that a quarter of the sample were neurodivergent (i.e. reported at least one mental health or neurodevelopmental condition) the dataset could also help clinicians who use board games as interventional tools. We hope this dataset (https://osf.io/tu8yq) will be helpful to board game designers, clinicians, educators, teachers, therapists and researchers interested in utilising board games to make informed choices about which games they use.
... Game optimization is not a simple task as exposed in [Ebner et al., 2013]. In general, there are interesting recent researches in the literature for optimization related to games or video games [Yin, 2019, Smirnov and Golkar, 2019, Duarte and Battaiola, 2017, giving a good background in the scope of this paper. The optimization and tuning process of video game parameters and their components, also known as game balancing [Becker and Görlich, 2020], is an aspect that has been addressed mainly in two ways at the research level, detailed next. ...
Usually, human participation is required in order to provide feedback during the game tuning or balancing process. Moreover, this is commonly an iterative process in which play-testing is required as well as human interaction for gathering all important information to improve and tune the game components’ specification. In this paper, a mechanism is proposed to accelerate this process and reduce significantly the costs of it, contributing with a solution to perform the game parameter tuning and game balancing using search algorithms and artificial intelligence (AI) techniques. The process is executed in a fully automated way, and just requires a game specification written in a particular video game description language. Automated play-testing, and game’s feedback information analysis, are related to perform game parameters’ tuning and balancing, leading to offer a solution for the problem of optimizing a video game specification. Recently, XVGDL, a new language for specifying video games which is based on the eXtensible Markup Language (XML), has been presented. This paper uses XVGDL + , an extension of this lan- guage that incorporates new components to specify, within the video game specification, desirable goals or requirements to be evaluated after each game execution. A prototypical implementation of a Game Engine (termed XGE + ) was also presented. This game engine not only enables the execution of an XVGDL + game specification but also provides feedback information once the game has finished.
The paper demonstrates that the combination of XVGDL + with XGE + offers a powerful mechanism for helping solving game AI research problems, in this case, the game tuning of video game parameters, with respect to initial optimization goals. These goals, as one of the particularities of the proposal presented here, are included within the game specification, minimizing the input of the process.
As a practical proof of it, two experiments have been conducted to optimize a game specification written in XVGDL via a hill climbing local search method, in a fully automated way.
... Analogue games demand designers and players to master the game rules and the mechanical dimensions. Otherwise, games will not function (Duarte & Battaiola, 2017;. Analogue development also provides quick prototype techniques for digital game design since videogames demand software knowledge and proficiency that some students might not have. ...
Modern tabletop games are more than a trend. Mastering these games and understanding their game systems can be useful tools for videogame teaching. Videogame students can explore modern board game mechanisms and dynamics as inspirations for building their projects. Learning the way analogue games are developed also supports prototyping and playtesting. But many videogame courses lack these approaches. Students might not be aware of these modern tabletop games. In this paper, the authors propose a practical method to use games in videogame development classes to increase awareness of analogue games. The proposed method resulted from an experiment where 54 videogame students played three simple games and saw two complex ones. The results show the awareness of modern board games increased significantly. But obtaining higher impacts of modern board games on videogame development requires time and resources.
... Most researchers focus on the player-video game interactions (Caroux et al. 2015) and user experience (Bernhaupt and Mueller 2016;Boyle et al. 2012). Another community of researchers focuses on game development and design (Duarte, Silveira, and Battaiola 2017;Engström et al. 2018). Despite the popularity of video games, considerable discussion remains about their potential positive and negative effects on individuals and society. ...
Studies reported that playing video games with harmful content can lead to adverse effects on players. Therefore, understanding the harmful content can help reduce these adverse effects. This study is the first to examine the potential of interpretable machine learning (ML) models for explaining the harmful content in video games that may potentially cause adverse effects on players based on game rating predictions. First, the study presents a performance analysis of the supervised ML models for game rating predictions. Secondly, using an interpretability analysis, this study explains the potentially harmful content. The results show that the ensemble Random Forest model robustly predicted game ratings. Then, the interpretable ML model successfully exposed and explained several harmful contents, including Blood, Fantasy Violence, Strong Language, and Blood and Gore. This revealed that the depiction of blood, the depiction of the mutilation of body parts, violent actions of human or non-human characters, and the frequent use of profanity might potentially be associated with adverse effects on players. The findings suggest the strength of interpretable ML models in explaining harmful content. The knowledge gained can be used to develop effective regulations for controlling identified video game content and potential adverse effects.
... Starting from the mechanisms (START) and exploring other quadrants the DPE is crossed with the EM to detail how player engagement can be improved when considering the progression, expression and relations streams (see Fig. 3). The Gameplay and User Experience flows from the DPE were combined because we are dealing with analogue games where players directly interact with the game mechanisms for the game to function [19,47]. The DPE and the EM are linked by the engagement quadrant. ...
There are no perfect recipes to develop a game, even less for creating an effective serious game. Nevertheless, it is crucial to employ methods and protocols to that ensure certain criteria and goals are met during their development. For that intention, we propose the Mechanics for Engagement Design Protocol (MEDP), a procedure that emerges from the need to consider the mechanisms explored through the Design, Play and Experience (DPE) framework’s dimensions to meet a serious game’s goals, while considering the player profiles according to the Engagement Model. This protocol was implemented and tested during the development of FlavourGame (FG), a serious game that aims to promote discussion and awareness about nutrition for children. The exploration and testing process also allowed to support the MEDP for other serious game projects, as well as to consider the state of the art of current analogue and hybrid games related to food, the theme of FG.
... The MDA framework [9], adapted by Zubek [8] and Duarte & Battaiola [10], will inspire the proposed Mechanisms, Mechanics, Dynamics and Experiences (MMDE) approach, which intends to define the differences between mechanics and mechanisms, as their relationships with dynamics and the whole game system. Establishing the differences between mechanics and mechanisms strengthens the concept of mechanisms as the building blocks for game development. ...
... But, in practice, it is hard to address the mechanical game elements without considering their dynamics side as well. Duarte & Battaiola [10] contributed to explain why this is even difficult to establish in analog games. They realized that the MDA framework was not well fitted for analog games. ...
... The player agency in analog games is determinant. We propose the Mechanisms, Mechanics, Dynamics, and Experiences (MMDE) approach, departing from MDA modified agency from Duarte & Battaiola [10] and the broader adaptation from Zubek [8] (MDA to MDE) notion experiences. We considered experiences to include the emoticons beyond the aesthetical dimensions, including all possible human feeling and emoticons [33], [34]. ...
... It is important to notice that all frameworks evaluated refer directly or indirectly to MDA. Even though MDA has some shortcomings related to its linear approach of player's T interactions and the definition of the Aesthetics component, it is still useful for the analysis of existing games [25]. However, it has low relevance for the game design process when compared to its analytical properties [25], since MDA does not provide a clear set of guidelines or directions on how changes in the Mechanics will affect the subsequent Dynamics and Aesthetics. ...
... Even though MDA has some shortcomings related to its linear approach of player's T interactions and the definition of the Aesthetics component, it is still useful for the analysis of existing games [25]. However, it has low relevance for the game design process when compared to its analytical properties [25], since MDA does not provide a clear set of guidelines or directions on how changes in the Mechanics will affect the subsequent Dynamics and Aesthetics. In order to increase their relevance, all MDA-based frameworks could be complemented with additional guidelines and properties to enhance their design capabilities. ...
Games have been used by educators as a means for increasing learning retention and providing students with entertainment experiences that go beyond the classroom. However, the process of creating a game for educational purposes (serious game) is segmented into its entertainment structures, which usually are underemployed in a pedagogical application, and in purely educational components, which have been extensively detailed in the literature. This division can hinder the player/learner experience as too much focus in one of these areas can either compromise knowledge acquisition or engagement. To overcome this issue, this work proposes a holistic view of games that includes both learning and entertainment elements, making them indistinguishable in creating either an entertainment or serious game. This notion is further reinforced by reviewing common game design frameworks found in the literature that have an empirical background, and by proposing a unified game design framework that uses elements from the analyzed frameworks and enhances them by including the latest research into game-based learning and serious games guidelines. By proposing a holistic view of games and an accompanying framework, a new way of facing game design is proposed that encourages designers to consider the postgame learning experiences and stimulates educators to take the entertainment aspects of their game more deeply.
Link to published version: https://ieee-cog.org/2021/assets/papers/paper_46.pdf. (IEEE Xplore yet to be released)
... The way players learn to play an analog game is different from the way they learn to play a digital game as stated before, mostly because of the way players interact with the game system. Duarte and Battaiola (2017), considering these differences, proposed an alternative remodeling of the Mechanics, Dynamics, and Aesthetics (MDA) model, arguing that players do not always interact first with the aesthetics of the game in analog games, but with all the game dimensions at the same time, including the mechanics. These limitations and unique features of analog games involve the need to have a facilitator continuously explaining the rules and the basics of the game, pointing out to the game structure and the objectives/victory conditions. ...
Board games are thriving in the post-digital era. Digitalization is present in almost all dimensions of contemporary life and it is expected to be even more prevalent in the future. However, a growing number of players are choosing to play analog games, mainly influenced by modern board games and hobby game designs. These games are different from mass-market games and show that analog platforms still have much to offer in terms of gaming innovation. These new designs have not yet been adequately studied by the serious game research field, and the filling of this research gap can provide new solutions for learning and simulation games of all types. This paper proposes a new framework, relating learning mechanics to the tabletop mechanisms (LM-TM) of the modern board game designs. The case study of the adapted version of Steam board game, tested during a lecture with MBA students, is explained as an example of the application of the LM-TM framework. This case study proved to be useful to unravel future development paths in this field of research.
... The theory of metacognition defined that a person is capable of understanding or knowing his or her thinking process and manage it. This idea can be explained by dividing it into 3 parts [14], [15]. ...
... Therefore, it was hard to find an unfamiliar action or games with new techniques, for a large sample which consists of 350 people who had majority preference over action/multiplayer games. Casual games were also suitable for this experiment because it also has clear selflearning points which can be used separately to measure player performance [14]. But the number of points available within this kind of game was not enough to get a correct outcome. ...
Metacognition is about "learning about learning" [1]. However, this theory is far more complicated. This allows people to take charge of their own learning. It involves awareness of how they learn, and evaluation of their learning needs, generating strategies to meet these needs and then implementing the strategies. The theory of metacognition can be identified as humans' survival instinct. Metacognition also thinks about one's thinking process such as study skills, memory capabilities, and the ability to monitor learning [2], [3]. Metacognition refers to higher-order thinking which involves active control over the cognitive processes engaged in learning. This concept needs to be explicitly taught along with content instruction. Metacognitive knowledge is about our cognitive processes and our understanding of how to regulate those processes to maximize learning. From ancient times humans have developed their metacognitive skills as a survival factor. For the survival in a video game, players need to follow instructions to get an idea about the gameplay [4]. But most of the time people are likely to skip the instructions without going through them even for the first time. This scenario is noticeable in mobile gameplay. This research has done to identify the factors which affect this dilemma. Metacognition level of a person and age are the variables that were considered for this experiment in order to address the following hypotheses; The more metacognitive skills people have, the more they will find it easy to play never-before-played games. Age range affects performance when it comes to playing the never-before-played games without direct instructions. At the end of this experiment, the first hypothesis became correct while the second one wasn't. Therefore, people were more likely to ignore direct instructions and go through gameplay successfully when they had a higher metacognitive level, and the age group didn't seem to affect this factor.
