2.3 Discover, define, develop, deliver

2.3.4 Develop
When you have pinned down an idea for a game which you would like to create in a game jam, you are in the Develop phase. This is where you begin to prototype your game idea. As you learned in an earlier course a prototype is:
  • An early working model of your idea
  • A way of making your idea tangible
  • A way of building to think

The fastest and cheapest way to learn in a Game Jam is by failing early
You can prototype in many different ways. One quick way to test your game idea is by building a paper prototype. You can use a paper prototype to test the idea by yourself, or letting others “try” your paper prototype to reveal potential flaws or new opportunities. Read more here on how to work with paper prototypes when developing games

Five findings from the above link: Paper Prototyping:
5 Facts for Designing in Low-Tech, by Rich Marmura (click to enlarge)

After building a paper prototype, you might have gotten some new ideas for your game. You can then repeat this process, by trying to implement the new “features” into your paper prototype and test it again.

After building a paper prototype, you might want to build a digital prototype. In some game jams, you create boardgames, so this step might not be relevant. In digital prototypes, you can get a feeling of for example spatiality, point of view, framing and the look and feel of the game. In this video by Extra Credits you will get some tips on how to start a digital prototype of your game.

Making Your First Game: Minimum Viable Product -
Scope Small, Start Right - Extra Credits (YouTube)


Bitsy is an online tool which you can use to create a quick digital prototype of your game idea: https://ledoux.itch.io/bitsy

Which features of your game idea can you implement and test in Bitsy?
Which creativity constraints does Bitsy as a game engine contain?
What kinds of games can you create with Bitsy and which kinds of games can you not create with Bitsy?

Consider what you need from a digital game engine to build a prototype. Maybe you need to work with 3D, in which case Unity or Unreal Engine might be options. To get started with Unity, click here. To get started with Unreal Engine, click here.



References