prototype jam
A jam focused on building a prototype, not a game.
Some thoughts, initially gathered in a mind node.
Background
Snopek Games asked on mastodon about a Prototype Jam, and later wrote this blog
post: https://www.snopekgames.com/blog/2022/2023-year-prototyping
The rest of this is exploring the differences between 'proper' game jams and what a prototype is - different goals and outcomes, and perhaps a game jam isn't always the right tool for the job.
personal prototype ideas
ideas i might bring to a prototype jam
see: all game ideas
> Level proc gen
> Pluggs cpu dialogue
> ink dialogue APIs/libs
> Trolley remappable controls
> BOTW style Navi UI system
Not a full game
> Just Something playable
> Less effort required
> Less 80/20 crunch to finish
> Like chi-running
- Finish with more energy than you started with
> Explore vs finishing
> Narrowing vs widening
> Skip the art and music? The polish?
> less burn-out-y
Pick one idea to explore
> Simple and focused
> Avoid decision fatigue
- Just make another level
- Doesn’t need to be coherent
> Focus on exploration
- Not narrowing/finishing
> more focused effort
> create space to go deep on something
vs games are sort of quick pass over everything
Once, Twice a month?
> 9 days? (Two weekends?)
> 7 days? Twice a month?
Prototypes have different goals from games
Jonathan Blow: i consider this a successful prototype
- Oracle billiards -> braid
Prototypical questions
> “What if?”
> Does this idea work?
> Is this fun?
> Is this idea fruitful?
> What were you exploring?
> What did you learn?
> Any surprises?
How to share a prototype
maybe a structure for prototype jam post-mortems
Ideas come from implementation
> Maybe the implementation is part of the share
> Get into an impl and ideate from there
> Leave with more inspiration than you came with
Challenge jam?
> Impl this feat with some technical constraint
> Re-impl this mechanic
- Without signals
- From c#
- From clojure
- In godot 4
- With some specific nodes
Game vs Prototype
Games
- polish
- functional experience
Prototypes
- focused on a single mechanic
- minimal effort to answer question
- goal: determine if an idea is worth investing more time in
Whats the value of polish/pizzazz early?
polish and pizzazz are important for me to stay motivated on a project
maybe a focused drive toward a prototype can stand in for that?
Backlinks
What to do when we're not in an active game jam?
dan of Snopek Games asked about a prototype jam in December, and ultimately landed on a Prototype-Per-Month goal.
re: Prototyping vs a 'full' game or game jam - prototypes lets you focus on answering a single design question. Leave out whatever doesn't accomplish that!