Chapter 2

Game Analysis Frameworks

Ludology is the fancy name for the study of games and game design. Over the past decade, ludologists have proposed various analytical frameworks for games to help them understand and discuss the structure and fundamental elements of games and the impact of games on players and society.

This chapter presents a few of the most commonly used frameworks that you should know as a designer. The next chapter synthesizes ideas from these common frameworks into the Layered Tetrad framework used throughout this book.

Common Frameworks for Ludology

The frameworks presented in this chapter include the following:

  • MDA: First presented by Robin Hunicke, Marc LeBlanc, and Robert Zubek, MDA stands for Mechanics, Dynamics, ...

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