Kirill Shabordin, Social Quantum

Prototyping vs. Proof of Concept in Game Development - Kirill Shabordin, CTO, Social Quantum

White Nights Conference St. Petersburg 2018
The official conference website — https://wnconf.com

Transcript

1. Prototyping VS Proof of Concept In Game Development k.shabordin@socialquantum.com
2. PROTOTYPING…
3. A Contrario Reasoning • process of trials and errors • evolution prototyping (iterative development) • MVP • concurrent content pipeline • features' fountain method • warehouse of ideas • bad processes … are NOT prototyping! Things like ...
4. A Thought Experiment • we are limited by your imagination • not all ideas are self-evident • the absolute evidence is very complicated • all people are different (o’rly?) • unfortunately, we sell fun, not yogurt • that's the spirit, sweetheart • we need common language
5. What Is ‘Faaaast’? • we have to be predictable • ‘fast prototype’ is redundant statement • prototype should not take more than… • …and more rapidly • …even faster and faster
6. Bad, Good and Ugly • costs of BAD and GOOD implementation are the same • UGLY is not BAD • BAD implementation is not helpful • UGLY is eventual GOOD, BAD is BAD Interlude: Manager Big Mistake Number One
7. Proto Zen • It demonstrates only one aspect of product • It is headed directly for the trash bin • It has a decision-making target person • It has an idea-based indirect language • It has specific development tools
8. Show Me More • art UI - skinned screencast • dev UI - FSM scenario w/o draw • gameplay - input with B3 cubes • balance - table with playable script • level - standard assets with POI’s logic • logic - paper card combinators (ex)
9. Time != Quality • task time = stack overflow time + implementation • mature developer is often stack overflow author • google time is a very expensive • reusing is the way to quality Interlude: Manager Big Mistake Number Two
10. What Is Proof? • technology is the fuel of fun • show me that your guys have the skills • prove to me that it is possible • we need exploration before the battle • measure thrice and cut once.
11. Show Me More • could we afford to develop multiplayer game? • is it possible to create our next game in VR? • what about 30fps in phones for our game? • blockchain? • proof of Fermat’s Last Theorem
12. Versus?
13. Sanity (Proof) • we really need to understand our tech base • we wish to take advantage of our solutions • proof is PREprocess, proto is process • no crime - no evidence
14. Sanity (Proto) • there’s no reason for not using prototyping • don’t get in ‘evolution proto’ catch • use proper tools (Unity by example) • nothing more than demonstrate ideas • never use a prototype implementation • do more prototypes, check more aspects • don’t call bad code a prototype • be quick but don't be so quick to give up.
15. Handbook • GDD is myth • prototype is better than words • proof you skills and tech basis • one aspect - one prototype • use good paradigms and prototyping together • reduce googling time, find mature developers • collect best practices and use right tools
17. Questions?