1. Production Rapid, Iterative Prototyping Best Practices Presented by Eitan Glinert, President|Fire Hose Games November 18 2012

2. Rapid, Iterative Prototyping Best Practices

3. What we're gonna cover Who I am Why you should prototype 8 rules for how to do it right 8 tricky pitfalls to watch out for Q+A, contact info

4. Who I am 2008

5. Fire Hose Prototyping 2009 Early Prototype

6. Fire Hose Prototyping March 15th April 14 th June 16 th April 1 st May 14 th July 20 th

7. 2010 Early Prototype Fire Hose Prototyping

8. 2011 Early Prototype (Michael Bay Version) Fire Hose Prototyping

10. Why Prototype? Prototyping Pre-Production Prototyping Vertical Slice Pre-Production Production

11. Why Prototype?

13. What does it get you? Leads to stronger design, aesthetic, mechanics Allows you to try potentially great ideas you cant waste time on during development Lets you identify and bail on bad ideas sooner Lets you make costly mistakes up front, when they are easier and cheaper to fix Youll learn how to talk about your game

14. When NOT to Prototype?

15. So how do you do it?

16. 1. Set aside ~1/3 of dev time

17. 2. Put together a crack team

18. Dance CentralGo Home Dinosaurs Artist 1 (Models + Textures) Artist 2 (Animator + Rigger) Coder 1Coder 2 Designer ProducerDesigner Prouducer Artist 1 (Models + Textures) Artist 2 (Animator + Rigger) Coder 1 Designer Prouducer Dancer Choreographer

19. 3. Get the right tools

22. 4. Tools and people should match the risk

23. 5. Dont fear the trash can

24. 6. Add features, test ideas, cut content

26. 7. User Test! A lot!

28. 8. Keep it loose, embrace change

29. The How, Recapped 1. Spend ~33% of dev time on prototyping 2. Assemble a small, crack team that works together well 3. Use simple, fast, easily understood tools 4. Team ability should match riskiest parts 5. Be ready to throw out prototypes for the sake of iteration 6. Work on features and ideas, not content 7. User test constantly and incorporate feedback 8. Don't get bogged down with documentation or overhead

30. The Tricky Bits

31. 9. Be on the lookout for surprise fun

33. 10. Deciding when to iterate

34. 10. When to iterate March 15th April 14 th June 16 th April 1 st May 14 th July 20 th

35. 11. Dovetailing with marketing and PR Small CompaniesBig Companies

36. 12. Using deadlines

37. 13. Beware of Ballooning Scope

38. 14. Ping-Ponging back and forth

39. 15. Knowing when to stop prototyping

40. 16. Anger when prototypes get canned

41. Tricky Bits, Recapped 9. Watch out for Surprise Fun 10. Iterate regularly and/or when necessary 11. Dovetail prototyping with PR + Marketing if possible 12. Deadlines are your friend, use 'em! 13. Keep the prototype small, don't let scope balloon 14. Don't iterate back and forth without forward movement 15. Stop prototyping when you have a vertical slice 16. Manage expectations well so if you have to can a prototype the team doesn't rage

42. Contact Info, Q+A Eitan Glinert (give me a 5 star evaluation!) eitan@firehosegames.com www.firehosegames.com