What is the difference between a “working” and a “display” prototype?
A working prototype focuses on the mechanics you hope to have in the game. A display prototype focuses on the game’s appearance and feel.
What is required of a working prototype, and what might cause one to fail?
A working prototype should be most concerned with every aspect of the game working as intended, rather than being visually appealing.
What makes for a good prototype according to Dale Yu?
Consistency, color and organization.
What advice from Richard Levy will help you pitch your game?
Get a good agent and sell yourself before the game, but watch your ego.
Where might you pitch your game?
Pick a game publisher that is currently accepting submissions from the general public.
What do publishers look for in a game?
Something well tested and easy enough to understand
What makes a good set of Rules?
They should include: an overview, components, setup, gameplay, card types, endgame and winning, examples of play, and credits
Describe the best game you’ve made this semester in 250 words? Follow Michelle Nephew’s outline.
I hate games. I hate all games. I would never play any of the games I made this semester outside of testing them for this class. But if you forced me to choose one to call my favorite, I would choose the lego game made with Ronan. I wanted to do something customizable and colorful, and he latched on to the idea of using my LEGOs very early in the idea making process. Originally we made provisions for a card based game where you would pick the pieces the other player or players get to use to build their towers, in the hopes that you could give them particularly unstable or inconvenient pieces. In testing that, though, we found that there really aren’t any substantially unstable or inconvenient LEGO pieces, as they are designed to be infinitely stackable. From there we took the focus away from the offensive aspect of the game, but kept a few cards that allow you to choose what pieces the opponent gets. The game we brought to class has cards that control which pieces you can add to your tower, like how many and in what fashion. The goal had always been to build the tallest tower, and the target height fluctuated a little – even in the final game. In order to discourage just putting every piece you get on top of the one before it, if any part of your power breaks in adding a new piece, you lose the new piece and everything that came off.