problems with design frameworks
design frameworks are often:
- complex
- to learn, because they introduce jargon with specific definitions within the framework
- to apply, because they force the designer to consider the game in its entirety, which can be overwhelming to the point where it actually causes the designer to miss the critical questions about the game.
- don’t add much on their own
- especially with the dearth of similar frameworks that merely restate what other frameworks have said
- are too rigid for broad and complex types of media like games.
I’m a fan of lenses over frameworks.
Some exceptions:
- MDA is a pretty decent framework and can often be applied as a sort of lens, keeping it simple.
- Reflective Game Design-Khaled is more a list of lenses, so it can work
- Transformational_Framework-Culyba is a guidebook with individual steps, it doesn’t try to explain an entire game’s design in one go (plus it tries pretty hard to keep itself simple and accessible)
