Game Jams & Rapid Prototypes

Owen Goss, of Stream Colour Studios, tell the story about the Game Jams he runs and how rapid prototyping can help you get it done faster and cheaper.

Transcript

1. GAME JAMS & RAPID PROTOTYPING Owen Goss Streaming Colour Studios @OwenGoss www.streamingcolour.com Thursday, February 9, 2012
2. ABOUT ME 5 years: 3.5 years: Thursday, February 9, 2012
3. GAME JAMS GuelphGameJam.com Thursday, February 9, 2012 A game jam is a group of people who get together to make games in a short amount of time.
4. GAME JAMS Theme Short time limit Small teams Complete games Fun! Thursday, February 9, 2012
5. GUELPH GAME JAM Click to watch a short video of Guelph Game Jam 2 Thursday, February 9, 2012
6. RAPID PROTOTYPING Image from: http://breakfastwithspanky.site50.net/ Thursday, February 9, 2012
7. ULTIMATE GOAL: FIND THE FUN, FAST! Photo by: papaija2008 http://www.flickr.com/photos/papaija2008/3492309462/ Thursday, February 9, 2012 In general, with games, this is what we’re trying to do. But in a more general sense, it’s about finding a solution to a problem, fast.
8. ULTIMATE GOAL: FIND A SOLUTION, FAST Photo by: papaija2008 http://www.flickr.com/photos/papaija2008/3492309462/ Thursday, February 9, 2012 In general, with games, this is what we’re trying to do. But in a more general sense, it’s about finding a solution to a problem, fast.
9. 1. REPEAT ALOUD It’s just a prototype. Relax. Image from: http://holtz.org/Library/Images/KnowingHumans/i%20think%20i%20can.jpg Thursday, February 9, 2012 Stop worrying! It’s just a prototype. Get over “blank page” anxiety and just start building. It’s ok to build something that sucks, that doesn’t work, or fails miserably...but you won’t know until you try. Just do it and move on to the next prototype!
10. 2. SCIENTIFIC METHOD Form a hypothesis Design a test of the hypothesis (your prototype) Prove/disprove the hypothesis Repeat Photo by: Proggie http://www.flickr.com/photos/tym/1255655367/ Thursday, February 9, 2012
11. 3. PICK ONE PROBLEM Design Goal: Technical Goal: Bad Goal: Does this UI layout guide the user better? Can the HTML5 canvas render 200 images at once? Does this new layout, if it’s built in HTML5, using PHP and MySQL on the back-end, and running on IE6, get the user to buy more stuff? Thursday, February 9, 2012 Each prototype should explore one problem. It should have one goal. Multiple problems? Build multiple prototypes.
12. 4. START WITH WHAT YOU KNOW http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/09/gm-chevy-volt-engine-flint-michigan.php Photo by: Kristian D. http://www.flickr.com/photos/kristiand/3223920178/ Thursday, February 9, 2012 Use whatever you’re most comfortable with: Flash, Unity, HTML5, your own engine, pen & paper. I have a prototype project for Xcode that I start with.
13. 5. QUICK & DIRTY Photo by: Pixieslayer http://www.flickr.com/photos/pixieslayer/149435303/ Photo by: makejohnupyours http://www.flickr.com/photos/27448667@N05/3074676855/ ☑ ☒ Thursday, February 9, 2012 Don’t waste time building elegant, beautiful systems. Get ‘er done!
14. 6. SIMPLIFY...MAN You want to build... A 3D racing game with an innovative AI following mechanism, which is the biggest open question of the project. Thursday, February 9, 2012
15. 6. SIMPLIFY...MAN Forza Motorsport 3 Microsoft Game Studios Bad Programmer, No Cookie Thursday, February 9, 2012 If the biggest open question is the AI following system, don’t spend all your time in the prototype on the graphics.
16. 6. SIMPLIFY...MAN You Can Have a Cookie Now Thursday, February 9, 2012 Build the minimum amount possible to test the ONE thing the prototype is testing.
17. 7. ARTWORK Minimum amount of work that allows you to see whether the test solves the problem Some prototypes require more artwork than others Some require very little Thursday, February 9, 2012
18. SUMMARY Do the minimum amount of work to prove the idea works/fails... then... Do it again! Thursday, February 9, 2012 e.g. - the game is fun - the tech works - the controls are useable
19. DAPPLE Thursday, February 9, 2012 Big questions were around gameplay and fun, not artwork.
20. MONKEYS IN SPACE Thursday, February 9, 2012 Monkeys in Space prototype required a bit more artwork to make sure the monkey concept would be fun and would work in practice.
21. LANDFORMER Thursday, February 9, 2012
22. QUESTIONS twitter: @OwenGoss email: owen.goss@streamingcolour.com web: streamingcolour.com twitter: @GuelphGameJams web: GuelphGameJam.com Thursday, February 9, 2012