Prototyping
CS 4730 – Computer Game Design
Credit: Some slide material courtesy Walker White (Cornell)
CS 4730
What is a Prototype?
• In the simplest terms, it’s an incomplete model
of your game
– It usually has a reduced feature set
– The selected features are usually the “most
important”
• The idea is to get an idea for what the basic
gameplay will be like
– Try out a mechanic
– Tune some parameters
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What is a Prototype?
• Types of prototypes
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Throwaway
Evolutionary
Incremental
Extreme
• Forms of prototypes
– Physical
– Digital (different system)
– Digital (same system)
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Throwaway Prototype
• With a throwaway prototype, you don’t intend
to reuse any of the created “material” in the
final product
– This refers to the actual “things” created, not the
knowledge gained
– Thus, all non-digital prototypes are by definition
throwaway
– Your prototype due this week may or may not be
throwaway (but probably will be)
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Why Throwaway?
• Why spend the time to build something you
know you’ll discard?
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Usually, they are quick to create, quick to change
Good for getting basic ideas “down on paper”
Good for convincing others you have a good idea
Good for looking at “slower” aspects of the game
(i.e. stepping through each part of a player turn)
– Often helps you refine and fully envision exactly
what it is you want to make
– Can use other quick tools to build
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Evolutionary Prototypes
• With an evolutionary prototype, you are
building in the system you plan to build with
• Think of this more as “build and iterate”
– The initial prototype is only a prototype in that it
comes first
– Features are added for the next iteration of the
prototype
– Until you have a “finished” product that just needs
polish
– This is what you’ll do during your team project
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Why Digital Prototypes?
• Paper can only do so much
• Can test input methods better
• Hard to test physics systems, networking
systems, etc. without this
• Can use real assets
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Physical Prototypes
• We did a throwaway physical prototype earlier
this year
– The game lab the first week
• Admittedly, some games are easier to make
physical prototype than others…
• Example: Thrones by Martin Kellogg
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Physical Prototype
• What other things can you use to make a
physical prototype?
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Physical Prototype
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Physical Prototype
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Physical Prototype
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Some Games are Easier to Prototype
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Goals From Physical Prototype
• Explore the core mechanics in a controlled,
slower-paced environment
• Physically force you to consider different
aspects of your game before coding them
• Get the team to talk about core decisions
• Encourage collaboration
• Test out value of resources in economy
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Your Physical Prototype
• I won’t FORCE you to make a physical
prototype for your team project…
• … but you’ll either do one or you’re going to
storyboard the game
• I will ask for SOME physical design aspect of
the game outside of the design doc itself!
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Digital Prototype
• Digital prototypes come in many different
forms
– Wireframing (UX mock-ups) sometimes has
functionality (often faked)
– Rapid prototyping tools/projects can be done by
taking an existing project or demo and customizing
it
– Custom prototyping can be very powerful, but can
also take a great deal of time
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Wireframing
• Wireframing comes from the term/idea that
you are looking at a scaffold drawing of an
object
• Often done in image editors with some
scripting thrown in somehow to show
transitions
• Heck, it could even be Powerpoint
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Rapid Prototyping
• Which leads us to rapid prototyping
• Often done with a toolset of some kind
– Many games come with modding tools or level
editors
– Custom map creation and modding is one of the
first steps many people take in getting into the
games business!
• Could be throwaway or evolutionary
• This is what you are doing for your pitches
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Rapid Prototyping
• Is it worth the time?
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Often it is!
You can test out a particular mechanic
Refine the code
Then import it over to your final project!
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Custom Prototyping
• Can be a bit more intense
• But allows for a lot more flexibility when
testing and evaluating mechanics
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Tomb Raider
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BioWare
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Fez (Fezzer Level Editor)
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Super Mario World (Lunar Magic)
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Changing Values
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Custom Prototypes
• Custom prototypes can be very powerful
• Can take much longer to create
• But can let you try TONS of “slider
combinations” without restarting, rebuilding,
republishing your program
• So… tradeoffs…
• You WILL have to code some aspects of this
into your project
• More info later!
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How would you prototype…
• How would you build a physical prototype for
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A dungeon crawler, like Diablo?
A soccer game?
A match-3 puzzle game?
A top-down view shmup?
Super Mario Bros 3?
A fighting game?
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