Rufous

{
  "post": {
    "title": "What is the difference between game mechanics and gameplay?",
    "selftext": "Hello,  \n\nI can't understand the difference between them, I am trying to write down game design and I want it to be separated into categories like mechanics/gameplay.  \n\nFrom what I understand, mechanic is something like jumping and gameplay is what you can do with that jump(like dodging obstacles?).  \n\nThanks for any help :]",
    "url": "https://www.reddit.com/r/gamedev/comments/7qcd73/what_is_the_difference_between_game_mechanics_and/"
  },
  "comments": [
    {
      "body": "Game mechanic: You can punch enemies  \nGame mechanic: Your character can run  \ngame mechanic: You can climb trees  \ngame Mechanic: Bears will attack you if you come too close  \n\nGameplay: The player runs away screaming, climbs on the tree because he think its safe, only to be surprised by yet another game mechanic - bears can climb trees, too.\n\n\nGame mechanics are the mechanics by which the game works. The stuff thats possible, the stuff that happens in the game mechanically. Gameplay is what the player makes with it. Sometimes that is intended Gameplay, sometimes it is not. The latter is often called \"emergent gameplay\" and can be either good or bad, depending on your game and how exactly it turns out.",
      "replies": [
        {
          "body": "That is the best explanation, thanks :)",
          "replies": [
            {
              "body": "fr the best explanation, thanks man"
            }
          ]
        },
        {
          "body": ">Polygnom\n\nhey man, this is a great explanation I stumbled across. \n\nCould you by any chance also enlighten me on the difference between the Mechanics of a game and the CORE Mechanics of a game?",
          "replies": [
            {
              "body": "There is none, it is an arbitrary label given on how important you think a game mechanic is."
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "body": "Game mechanics is how the user interacts with the game state, gameplay is the interaction itself."
    },
    {
      "body": "To me (oversimplified):\nGame Mechanics - How the logistics of the game control your actions within it.\nGameplay - The way you experience interaction with the game.",
      "replies": [
        {
          "body": "Logistics?",
          "replies": [
            {
              "body": "I think he/she means logic"
            }
          ]
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "body": "Gameplay is essentially a story generated from player engaging mechanics."
    },
    {
      "body": "Well, it's easier to distinguish the two if you look at examples were they are very distinct. Consider this example of the active-time battle system for the RPG Grandia:\n\nOne of the core mechanic for example, is that hitting a heavy hit on an enemy that is currently casting will cancel that target's spell and incur a heavy penalty on their position on the initiative clock.\n\nThe gameplay itself is picking an option in the menu. \n\nBut an important part of the gameplay here (which is the beauty of the Grandia series) is that the player has to judge the casting time / movement speed / distance of the unit you're currently controlling, to predict if your attack will actually land before or after enemy spell is done casting (assuming it doesn't interrupt YOU in the first place).\n\nAdd the next mechanic that combo/chain attacks delay the enemy timer/spell casting slightly.\n\nThe gameplay here becomes using characters with longer combo-attack chains to keep an enemy's spell from casting, while giving your other character enough time to ready their proper interrupt ability to cancel it outright."
    },
    {
      "body": "Game mechanics is the decisions the game designer makes, game play is the decisions the player makes."
    },
    {
      "body": "To me, the gameplay is made up of many mechanics."
    },
    {
      "body": "Game mechanics is your job description and company policies. Gameplay is what you actually do at work."
    },
    {
      "body": "Think about how they are NOT different. \n\nGame mechanics create gameplay. Inevitably. \n\nSo, you lay down mechanics and now you know how the game will be played?\n\nNo. Not with certainty anyway.        \nThe player will play the way he finds optimal to his goals, and that is not always obvious from the mechanics. \n\nGameplay is an emergent system, that is derived from mechanics. Being able to predict what gameplay will look like based on mechanics is a game designers primary job. "
    },
    {
      "body": "One loose analogy I like is the mechanics of poker are matching cards, but the gameplay of poker is the bluffing  and statistical analysis."
    },
    {
      "body": "Game Mechanics - individual features\n\nGameplay - The experience of game mechanics interacting\n\nThat's how I seen it at least."
    },
    {
      "body": "They are pretty interchangeable, its not exactly a strict definition."
    },
    {
      "body": "Gameplay is the car, mechanics are the steering wheel, sunroof  and radio."
    }
  ]
}