Advanced Prototyping

Chaim Gingold Chris Hecker

Have Idea

Ask Questions

Prototype

Develop

Sell It

Have Idea

Ask Questions

Prototype

Develop

Sell It

1. Answer questions

2. Find upside & downside

3. Persuade and inspire

Why Prototype?

Prototypes do not generate ideas from

scratch!

Bigger Projects, Too unwieldy

Sinking Ship Can’t Do it

validationagile problems

solutionscheap + fast slow + expensive

Metrics

Cheap

agile

light

Falsifiablemake a claim

testable

tested

learn

// First hello.group GreetFirstContact{ // Warm welcome dialog { motive Default ; text "Welcome!" ; button { text "I come in peace." ; do RelationshipPlus ; do SayDialogFromGroup ReactToIComeInPeace ; } ; button { text "Prepare to die." ; do RelationshipMinus ; do SayDialogFromGroup ReactToThreat ; }; button Bye;

} ;} ;

Relevant

generalizable

Surprisingfeedback

upside and downsideinspiring

Persuasivefun

tangible

clear

disruptive

Cheap + Persuasive

=

Org Chart

Football Plays

Design Doc=

Prototype?

Document Prototype

Faith Science

Really Cheap Cheap

Static Interactive

Boring Sexy

What is your

Question?

Question

Q:Question 1

Can we make a fun social game between characters?

Q:Question 2

Is Leg UI concept user friendly, powerful, and hot?

Q:Question 3

Can rolling around with a sticky ball be compelling?

Q:Question 4

Here’s a design doc for a game.Is it going to be fun?

Starting“So you want to write a prototype?”

Step 1:

don’t

steal it

fake it

rehash it

Step 2:permission

vs.forgiveness

“if it takes less than two days, just do it”

Step 3:

fail early

Step 4:gather

reference material

Decomposition

Decomposition

Division 1

Division 2

Division 3

Division 4

Bad Puzzle Pieces

Connections

Connections Cut

In/out?

What’s in?

What’s out?

Account for connections

Connections

CE

CE Map

ObjectComposition

Torso

Economy

CreatureGame

Parts PaletteLegs

CreatureContent

creature editor

CE Map 2

ObjectComposition

Torso

Economy

CreatureGame

Parts PaletteLegs

(Animator,Skinner,Painter,Stitcher)

creature editor

Parts

Part Morphing

ObjectComposition

Torso

Economy

CreatureGame

PaletteLegs Parts

CreatureContent

Object Composition

Torso

Economy

CreatureGame

Parts PaletteLegs

ObjectComposition

CreatureContent

Torso

ObjectComposition

Torso

Economy

CreatureGame

Parts PaletteLegs Torso

CreatureContent

Economy

ObjectComposition

Torso

Economy

CreatureGame

Parts PaletteLegs

EconomyCreatureContent

Leg

ObjectComposition

Torso

Economy

CreatureGame

Parts PaletteLegsLegs

CreatureContent

constraints + freedoms + assumptions

prototyping:

“what’s really important?”

Economics

on the characteristics of your prototype

on the coupled characteristics of your prototype

where do you spend your resources?interactivity

robustness

hotness

usability

fun

duration

beauty

performance

variety

agility

velocity

qualit

y

cost

quality vs. cost curve is [very] nonlinear

ok

good

cool

awesome

suck

qualit

y

cost

quality vs. cost curve is [very] nonlinear

minimum quality bar

minimum cost

code contentvs.

cost

quantity

code

content

prototypes

code content

emotionalautistic

dead bits

interactive

scaredalien

code content

youarestill

clueless

youunderstandyourproblem

Only spend code where you need understanding;

throw content at the rest.

Programming

agility&

velocity

What’s important?

What’s not important?

robustnesselegance

optimal code

Be Lazy

Computers are fast and HUGE

Don’t commit to an abstraction!

Code influences your mental model.

Must stay agile.

Don’t commit to an abstraction!

toolkit vs. framework

recombinantcompositionalimmediatedelicatessen

staticcontrollingretainedprix fixe dinner

Tower of Tuning

scriptinghotloadingdata drivinginteractive editorrecompiling

Collaboration

Collaboration

Designer-Programmer

Collaboration

Designer

and

Programmer

Collaboration

FeedbackFeedback

Science

PR v Science

PR

Demo Test

Demo

Demo

Harvest Good Ideas

Buy-In

Persuade

Correction

Correction2

Test

Testing

Validation

ObservationsQuiet!

Archive It.Repeat.

Testing

the end