Friday, October 28, 2005

Gamasutra - Feature - "How to Prototype a Game in Under 7 Days"

1. Setup: Rapid is a State of Mind
Embrace the Possibility of Failure - it Encourages Creative Risk Taking
Enforce Short Development Cycles (More Time != More Quality)
Constrain Creativity to Make You Want it Even More
Gather a Kickass Team and an Objective Advisor – Mindset is as Important as Talent
Develop in Parallel for Maximum Splatter

2. Design: Creativity and the Myth of Brainstorming
Formal Brainstorming Has a 0% Success Rate
Gather Concept Art and Music to Create an Emotional Target
Simulate in Your Head – Pre-Prototype the Prototype

3. Development: Nobody Knows How You Made it, and Nobody Cares
Build the Toy First
If You Can Get Away With it, Fake it
Cut Your Losses and "Learn When to Shoot Your Baby in the Crib"
Heavy Theming Will Not Salvage Bad Design (or "You Can't Polish a Turd")
But Overall Aesthetic Matters! Apply a Healthy Spread of Art, Sound, and Music
Nobody Cares About Your Great Engineering

4. General Gameplay: Sensual Lessons in Juicy Fun
Complexity is Not Necessary for Fun
Create a Sense of Ownership to Keep 'em Crawling Back for More
"Experimental" Does Not Mean "Complex"
Build Toward a Well Defined Goal
Make it Juicy!
Final Thoughts

Of course I cut and pasted the headings from all of the pages until I realized that they had already done this for me at the bottom of the article with a Handy Cut-Out List! Next time put it at the beginning of the article! :)