A short set of slides about paper prototyping for video games. Gave the talk at the Austrian Game Jam 2013 (part of the Global Game Jam). Based on Stone Librande's GDC09 talk.

1. Paper Prototyping
Martin Pichlmair

2. BROKEN
RULES

3. e
m& Wi War
a
Get it on ste

4. wii u launch title

7. he
his was after t
a ctually t he last sli
de
nt
pr ototype o

8. Paper Prototyping

9. “[A prototype is a] simplified and
incomplete models of a design to explore
ideas, elaborate requirements, refine
specifications, and test functionality.”
William Lidwell
Universal Design Principles

10. Yes, it is a slide showing a fake
photo of a slide showing a hand-
drawn game board

11. “A prototype leads you from a
vague idea to concrete
questions.”
Martin Pichlmair
According to Peter Purgathofer’s
School of Design Thinking & Doing

13. Key Properties of a Prototype
- Easy to use, fast to get started
- Cheap to work with, so that you can throw away
the results
- Should not produce something you can use in finished
product
- Should not allow optimization
- Different tools for different prototypes
- Allows to judge one specific aspect of design
Most of the following slides contain original concepts by Stone Librande

14. Stone Librande, EA/Maxis

15. What to do
- Focus on one idea at a time!
- Abstract as much as you can!
- Stop at the right moment!

17. What not to do
- Simulate computer functions
- Try to make it fun*
- Get lost in details
* Unless yo
u’re proto
typing
the gamepl
ay

18. What is the purpose of a prototype?
Communication in the Team · Get the ideas out
of your head · Test practicality · A.I. states ·
Order of actions · Wizard-of-Oz’ing · Loot drop
frequency · Flesh out one tiny detail · Timing ·
Find unpredicted player actions · Random
distribution tuning · Character movement ·
Animation blending · Progression · XP rewards ·
Maps · Character builds · Starting attributes ·
Balancing · Enemy design And so o
n

20. line of sight

21. The complete ruleset of the ghosts http://software.intel.com/en-us/
in Pacman articles/designing-artificial-
intelligence-for-games-part-1

22. One last tip

23. Don’t start
with a board
Unless you’re making a
board game, of course.

24. Drop me a
an d i’ll se line
nd you th
e slides
Martin Pichlmair
mail · pi@brokenrul.es
twitter · @martinpi
web · brokenrul.es