Considering the increasing popularity of digital games among older adults around the 2010s as well as the challenge of population ageing, I identified a need for an integrated game design framework aimed at older audiences.

I explored the literature on game design and later life and combined it with my own experiences working with older players to develop a design approach that considers the multi-faceted nature of ageing as well as the intrinsic value of digital games. The resulting “gerontoludic design framework" sets meaningful play as the intended outcome of game design for older adults, identifies iterative player-centered design as its preferred design approach, and extends the MDA framework (Hunicke, LeBlanc & Zubek, 2004) by suggesting age-specific aesthetics and mechanics.

I published the framework in the International Journal of Gaming and Computer-Mediated Simulations in 2016. Furthermore, I published a video on the MDA framework (without the gerontoludic extension) for Global Game Jam NEXT.