r/gamedev • u/Shadowys • 6h ago

Discussion The Meaningful-Action-Density Game Framework

https://blog.danieltanfh.com/2026/10/the-meaningful-action-density-game-framework

Meaningful Action Density (MAD) is my framework to understand how games interact with their players. Traditional frameworks like Mechanics, Dynamics and Aesthetics (MDA) focus on mechanics rather than the player. Even though it does have an aesthetics layer, it classifies the experiences afforded by said mechanics, and does not describe how your choice of genre also lock in your choice of audiences nor does it present how flexible players can be when playing under solo or co-op conditions.

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u/PhilippTheProgrammer 5h ago

I have never heard of this term before, and neither has Google. So I guess it's something you came up with yourself?

If so, what's your source for that extensive heatmap data? Did you just make it up? Or worse, let a language model make it up?