Chris MorrisonChronicle Games

chris@chroniclegames.com

Prototyping for mobile

Topics

• 1) Gameplay prototyping

• 2) Prototyping today vs. the past

• 3) Tips for prototypers

1) Gameplay Prototyping

Prototyping: Definitions

‣ Testing ideas with a small game

‣ Answering a question

‣ Finding the fun

‣ Failing quickly and cheaply

• Documents & brainstorming =

Prototyping & testing =Science

Faith

World of Goo

Plants vs Zombies

Super Mario 64

150+ web games

3 mobile games

“many” prototypes

8+ complete games

+

Who Prototypes?

Engineer

Artist

Designer

2) Mobile Prototyping

What’s Different Now

‣ Time spent prototyping

‣ Tools (how to build it)

‣Team composition

‣ Outcome

Time Spent Prototyping

1 week

1 month

1 year

AAA / ConsoleMobile

Time

Tools: What’s Different

‣ Engines and platforms

‣ Better coding languages

‣ Online help: Stack Overflow, etc

‣ “Unlimited” computing power

‣ Technology is easy now

1975 - 2005

2006 ->

Mobile Engines

‣ 3D: Unreal (UDK), Project Anarchy, Shiva3D

‣ 2D: GameMaker, Corona, Marmalade, GameSalad, Torque2D, Construct2, Stencyl, Codea

‣ Mixed: Unity, Cocos2D + Cocos3D

‣ Physical: paper, playing cards, board game pieces

Picking your tools

‣ Good released games

‣ Documentation

‣ Plugins / online code

‣ What you already know

“Team” size

Philosophy

Fail Fast

Failing saves time + money

3) Tips for Prototypers

Does Art Matter?

Make it “juicy”

Lazy Engineering, Pt. 1FUNCTION ScaleVariables: how much, how long, grow/shrink booleanVAR: record the starting timeWHILE time is smaller than “how long”Change scale toward “how much”Repeat function with opposite bool to reverse

Confirm:

Powerup:

Notice me:

Grow:

3f: Faster Features First

Lazy Engineering, PT 2

• LIST: all nearby nodes to monster• FOREACH node in list

• IF node is valid• Random chance of picking it

• IF node chosen, move monster• ELSE repeat function

Game idea: Track down a monster

Code ideas: A* pathfinding, preset paths...

LAZYCHOICE

TOOHARD

Touch: Controls

Tiny Wings(1 tap)

Nimble Quest(1 swipe)

Touch: Reaction TImes

Super Hexagon

Jetpack Joyride

Be an Encyclopedia

Find Your Toy

Toy

Find Your Toy

Have No Mercy

Little Inferno

Thank you!chris@chroniclegames.com