http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Game_mechanics
Its about the connection between the game and player. What happens when the player takes an action?. Game mechanics are constructs of rules intended to produce an enjoyable game or gameplay. All game mechanics differ and the game and many different styles that are out there. In general mechanics in games allow people playing a game to have fun and an engaging experience.
Examples of game mechanics: Cover systems
Game dynamics are behaviours that come from a mechanic in the game, It can only usually be triggered by playing the game. An example of a dynamic would be a double jump, where the first jump is the mechanic but the extra jump is the dynamic. Game dynamics are techniques used by the developers to make the game fun to play and addictive.
An Appointment dynamic is a dynamic in which the player must leave the game and come back to in a certain amount of time. If the player doesn't return however they will miss out on something which effects them. A good example of this would be games like farmville.
http://www.rickliebling.com/2012/01/03/understanding-games-gamification-game-mechanics-game-design/
Game mechanics for 'This is the only level'
This is the only level is a really interesting, fun, and aggravating game. It consists of a square room with platforms to jump on with a button in the centre of the room. The button opens a door which lets you progress onto the next level. Or at least thats what you think. On the first level this is the case but each time you progress the mechanics of the game change and forms a different way to complete the level. For example one level you have to change which buttons to use on the keyboard, or makes your character only jump once, constantly jumping, one level actually makes you refresh the page to unlock the door whereas another level the door isnt even locked you can just walk through it, but the door looks locked.
We were given 2 pieces of paper of which we had to write to random words on them. They were then shuffled and shared round the class. The words we ended up with we then had to design a game based on them and produce a tagline that would sell the game.
my first words were 'Any, Glass'
The game I came up with was similar to bejewled. You would start in square which is filled with different glass cups, you had to match up four in a row to score points, then the row you had will disapear and be filled with more cups. You had to get a certain amount of points to get to the next level. Every level would have a Holy Grail randomly placed in the level, if you included this in your row of 4 your would get double xp.
My second set of words were 'Glass, Helicopter'
This time we had to focus more on the mechanics on the game.
I decided to go with a game similar to Copter, were you had to click and hold to move up and release to move down. My game used the same controls accept you had to climb and the longer you climbed for the quicker you would move. You had to avoid other glass aircraft if you hit them you would smash and die. You get 3 lives and can collect buffs such as, Nuke, Shield, and Extra Life. The game is score based person with the highest score wins.
Group based platform board game
In groups we had to design a fully functioning board game with rules that work which we then had to bring in a play test each others games. My groups was basically a start to finish game where the player had to roll 2 dice, in order to move on you had to score a certain number on the dice. If you did not achieve the right number you couldn't move. There were some short cuts which cut a large per portion of the trail but requite really hard numbers to roll, once you had decided to go for the short cut you couldn't turn back either.
The feedback we got from the play testing was really great, everyone that played it really enjoyed it and didn't pick any faults out.
