Physical Prototypes

Once a game idea has been settled on the next phase of the concept stage is to develop a physical prototype. A physical prototype is a working model of the game to test the feasibility and fun factor.

Building Physical Prototypes

Physical prototypes are sometimes called paper prototypes because these earliest prototypes are made not as digital games, but with pen and paper.

You might be thinking how in the world can one create a physical prototype for a complex video game idea? The goal of a physical prototype is to provide only a rough idea of how the game or parts of the game will function and serves as a blueprint for game development.

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Testing game ideas as physical prototypes help to identify if the game is interesting, fun, and feasible, without spending too much time and money in development, just to find out the game idea does not work.

Game Mechanics, Gameplay, and Core Mechanics

When building physical prototypes, it will not be possible to test the fluidity of running, aiming, and shooting in a 3d environment. However, physical prototypes can help game designers identify tactical and strategic issues as well as issues with the game balance.

Creating physical prototypes also provides game designers to start laying the foundation of the game mechanics (rules and procedures), gameplay (choices, challenges, and consequences), and core mechanics (repeating player actions).

Physical Prototyping Steps

Physical prototype development should not be ignored and should be implemented at the earliest stages of the concept stage of game production.

The process of developing a physical prototype can be broken down into steps using a similar iterative process to the scientific method and project management.

Step 1: Lay the Foundation

• Build a representation of the key gameplay (challenges, choices, and consequences)
• Identify the basic game objects, such as setting, units, resources, etc.
• Establish the game mechanics (rules and procedures)
• Develop the core mechanics (repeating player actions) of the game

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Units refer to the players' characters. In physical prototypes, these units can be represented by any number of items, from paper cutouts to peg people. Regardless of what item is used, units in physical prototypes should fit within a single grid cell of the playing field, have an obvious forward direction and be distinguishable from other units currently in play.

Step 2: Build the framework

• Prioritize what is the most important in the game
• Decide which rules are essential
• Keep a distinction between features and rules

Features vs. Rules

Features are attributes that make a game richer, while rules are a modification to the game mechanics that change how the game functions

Step 3: Add Finishings

• Define all necessary rules for the game
• Test validity of each rule
• Add and remove rules as needed

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Not every rule is critical to a game. Avoid adding rules that are non-essential or overly complex.

Step 4: Refinement

• Play through the prototype. Is your game compelling? What makes it so or not so?
• Assess and refine the prototype as needed
• Evaluate other features and ideas for the game, and implement if deemed relevant

Productive Physical Prototyping

Game prototypes both physical and digital provide game designers with beneficial information about their game ideas. However, the information gained from a prototype depends on how useful the prototype is.

In his book, The Art of Game Design: A Book of Lenses, author Jesse Schell provides several tips for product prototyping. Regardless of whether you are creating a physical prototype or a digital prototype the following tips should be applied.

1. Answer a Question: The prototype should aim to answer a specific question of the game idea, such as: Is it fun? Is it technologically possible? Does the premise make sense?
2. Build Physical Prototype: Physical prototypes provide the earliest and quickest way for game designers to begin testing their game ideas.
3. Forget Quality: Prototypes are just quick renditions of a game, testing only questions about the game at a time. Do not spend too much time fretting about the aesthetics or refining specific code. Focus on the basic functionality enough to test only a rough idea of the project.
4. Don't Get Attached: Seeing a game idea first come to life can sometimes cause game designers to get too attached to the prototype. Remember that this is not the final project, it is simply a starting point that will evolve through research and feedback throughout the development.
5. Prioritize Your Prototypes: Prototypes are usually only small portions of a game, focusing on specific features. With that said, game designers need to prioritize what features are the most in need of testing. Say for example that your game idea is an FPS with a puzzle element. The mechanics of an FPS is pretty straightforward, and the puzzle element, being a unique feature of the game, would be the priority when it comes to prototyping.
6. Parallelize Prototypes Productively: While it is important to prioritize what aspect of the game should be prototyped, it can also be helpful to have your game production team, work on multiple prototypes for the game at one time. One group for example can be testing for example puzzle feature while another perhaps the weapons balance.
7. Build a Toy First: Games are interactive challenges; in contrast, a toy can be interactive but provides no challenge. Despite the differences, most games are built around a toy. A ball for example is a toy but a basketball is a game. Game designers should start the prototyping process by building the toy of the game. As the prototype is tested, the challenges will begin to evolve.

Rapid Prototypes

The process of making physical prototypes is usually a quick one, that focuses on what is called "rapid prototyping". The idea is that you are quickly trying to get your ideas together and test out the feasibility of the game without spending too much effort, before moving on to the next stage of development.

The following video provides supplemental information in regard to the benefits of cheap, rapid paper-prototyping early in the creative process.

Paper Prototyping

Pre-production Stage

Far too often game designers do not see the value in developing physical prototypes and skip this vital step in the pre-production stage of the game production process.

Physical prototypes however provide game designers with insightful information about the game idea and what direction to move forward with it. It also provides the earliest opportunity for game designers to playtest their game ideas with others.

One good example of how prototyping can be determining if a game should go into development, is a prototype developed by Halfbrick Studios, developers of the games Fruit Ninja and Jetpack Joyride. The following video by People Who Make Games, chronicles how after coming up with a relatively simple game idea, the game design team developed a simple paper prototype that went horribly wrong.

The Game Prototype that had to be Banned