Here are my 2 methods that I will utilize to design and understand games.
We interpret things in our world like games utilizing our past knowledge and patterns we see. Therefore my methods highlight this

Method 1: Seeing patterns the player will notice

I like noticing patterns and I think the meaning of game mechanics comes from the patterns the player will notice. There's power in maintaining or breaking a pattern.

1. Since we can focus and are engaged by outliers in patterns, game elements must actually break out of the formula to make an impact. (A character who can jump in the air in a game full of characters who can't will pull focus from the player)
2. Since we can begin to expect a pattern, this can be used to teach new things utilizing previous game elements or surprise by presenting an outlier like with point #1 (You can teach the player that all yellow colored boxes in your game are filled with treasure)
3. Consistent maintained patterns are comfortable but boring while broken patterns are exciting but anxiously unpredictable to experience. (Depending on the experience, it depends whether you want to maintain or break a pattern)

Method 2: Abstracting using Connections and Needs

As an abstraction, I use connections and needs. Connections represent the connections between elements and needs represent conditions formed by the connections. The MDA framework utilizes dynamics to show interactions between game mechanics but personally, I  prefer defining the conditions present or not present in the game. 

In the graph above, it shows how: 

• The connections between game elements (Game Bound Connections) create Game bound Needs and Player Bound Connections. 
• Game Bound Needs are the conditions in the game such as the doors *need* a key to be opened. 
• Player Bound Connections are the connections between the game elements and player patterns such as keys are common.
• These however create Player Bound Needs which are the conditional behaviour/experience of a player. A key on it's own in a game means little to the player however the Game Bound Need that doors require keys can create an urge for a player to find keys.

However, Player Bound Needs are what the player *needs* to understand about the game and the wrong game conditions can make the player feel the need to do different things. If keys are required to open doors in a game where there's no doors blocking progress, the player doesn't have a need to collect keys and will understand keys are worthless. The character that can double jump in Method 1's point 1 example breaks the pattern of other established characters but if there is never a need for a double jump, the player might not focus on it. 

Conclusion

So using my 2 methods, I can understand what makes mechanics stand out and how to express meaning to the player. Understanding what patterns the player will see and what needs they see in the game. Player Bound Needs drive the experience of games by engaging the player with what they need to understand and what patterns they need to notice. Many theories like the MDA framework state that dynamics elicit player experiences but glance over the how which I believe is caused by the breaking and maintaining of patterns and the needs of the games.

Check out my article on universal factors to consider in games for more on what I think we need to analyze in games: https://itch.io/blog/510118/essential-outside-factors-of-games

Photo by ethan on Unsplash

Changelog:
May 9 2023: published! Wanted to be more direct with the core things that drive my game design analysis.