How to Prototype Effectively

NoMoss Makers
Jul 21, 2017 · 6 min read
Early prototype vs completed game (SproutUp)

One of the most common challenges that developers run into at Makers events is how to create an effective prototype. Being able to design, execute and iterate on an idea in a short period of time is a very unique skillset, almost completely disconnected from the actual skills of design, programming or writing. While there are tips that are project, language and engine specific, there are also things that everybody can do to improve their prototyping speed and skill. This article is going to give an introduction to how to prototype, as well as some ideas on how to improve your prototyping process.

Note: This article was written based on talks given at Makers events, including Makers: Resist (given by Daum Park) and Makers: Health (given by Zhiming Chen).

An early prototype of Feeling Great

What is a prototype?

Before we start talking about prototyping, it would help to establish a clear outline of what a prototype is. In layman’s terms, a prototype is a version of a product that doesn’t have polish, or even most features. A prototype focuses on the core idea. For a programmer, a prototype may have code that is rushed and not well structured. For an artist, a prototype may be placeholder art drawn on a napkin. For a writer, a prototype might just be a few key story beats, with a bullet point outline connecting them.

The most important thing to remember about a prototype is that it focuses on the core idea. For this article, we’ll be mainly prototyping software & games.

Super Mario Bros (1985)

As an example, we’re going to use the original Super Mario Bros., released for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985. What might the prototype of this game have been like?

The features of Super Mario Bros. are listed to the right. We’ll be talking about which of these were in the prototype later on, but for now think about which are the core features, and which you would try and have in your prototype if you were building it today.

Why do we prototype?

Now that we understand what a prototype is, lets briefly talk about why prototyping is important. The reason we prototype is to validate an idea. This seems obvious when it is spelled out on the page, but it’s shocking to see how many times this is ignored. All too often people have an idea, develop a prototype and then go on to develop the final project without a second thought. Without stopping to validate and adjust your core idea, you not only risk wasting a lot of time down the line, you also lose out on fully understanding what about your core idea works and what doesn’t.

The title of this article is sort of intentionally misleading. You see, this article isn’t just about effective prototyping — that’s only half of the picture. The other half is validation. Once you’ve made a prototype, the worst thing you can do is move ahead with other features of your project without validation. Validation is the key to a good prototype.

Prototype for The Natural Order

Design, Build, Validate

The key loop of making a prototype is design, build and validate. Design and build are very dependent on your project, so we wont touch on it too much here. We’re going to talk about validation.

The most important part of validation is testing. Once you have developed your prototype, get people to test it. Hear their feedback, and iterate upon your core idea. It may seem like a chore to always have something that is testable, but remember, the reason you’re prototyping is to validate your core idea.

So, what’s the core idea of Super Mario Bros.? Let’s go back to our earlier image. Which of the features of Super Mario Bros. do you think are the core features? It’s easy to cross some off of the list. We can use placeholder art, we can cut the swimming levels, we probably don’t need as many enemies or bosses. What if we had to reduce it to just one feature — which would it be?

Super Mario Bros. is a game about jumping. Jumping to hit blocks, jumping on enemies, jumping to get over pits and jumping to try and get the top of the flag for those sweet points. The most important thing about Super Mario Bros. is that Mario’s jump is fun — and this is why it is the one feature of Mario games that has persisted and been expanded upon above all others.

It’s 1984. Shigeru Miyamoto has a hot new idea — you know that guy from the Donkey Kong game? Why don’t we give him his own game, except without any of the monkeys or construction stuff! So, he builds a prototype of this game… except Mario has a gun and is huge. It sounds ridiculous, but that was what the original prototype for Super Mario Bros. was. The reason the game didn’t ship with guns was because Nintendo validated their ideas and iterated upon them.

The bullets wound up becoming fireballs later — we originally thought about having a shoot ’em up stage […], but we dropped it because we wanted to focus on jumping action.” — Shigeru Miyamoto

If we take a look at this quote about Super Mario Bros.’ early development, we can gain even more insight. The reason that they spent time developing the gun (time that ended up being wasted) was because they didn’t realise early enough that they needed to focus on the core idea of the game — Mario’s jump. If the Nintendo team had spent more time validating their prototype, they might have realised that the best thing about Super Mario Bros. is how it feels to jump as Mario. They could have spent more time focusing on the core idea and not only saved themselves time later, but understand what they were making better, earlier.

Many of the features in Super Mario Bros. are based around jumping. By focusing on this core idea, and polishing it until it was perfect, Nintendo had a hit on their hands. This is the unsung value of prototyping. You identify and perfect your core idea, and build your other features on top. This leads to a project that not only has a strong central idea, but features that all work in support of this idea. You are left with a project that is cohesive, and is always working to support its goal.

Design your project, and strip back features until you have identified your core idea. Build this idea. Then, validate this idea. Have people test it and give you feedback. Iterate on it and polish it. Once you’ve done this, you can expand your project around it and create something truly amazing.

No Moss Makers is a community-guildhouse-meets-incubator with a focus on learning through creating. On the surface, it is a startup acclerator program puncuated with prototyping events every six weeks. Under the hood, it is a vibrant community of people who put their sweat where their ideas are. The results are a rate of five products for every fourteen days of prototyping.

No Moss Co.

Tech, Agile, Innovation and Games Development. Articles about how to elevate yourself and the people around you.

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NoMoss Makers

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Helping people create soulful technology and untangling the creative process.

No Moss Co.

Tech, Agile, Innovation and Games Development. Articles about how to elevate yourself and the people around you.

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