// Recovered from WaybackMachine: https://web.archive.org/web/20121117123154/http://www.abrevik.net/ //Unfortunately, the images are lost
Posted on October 22, 2012 by norwigi · Leave a comment
Before we start: The twitter feed seems broken. I’m aware of the problem, but haven’t had time to look at it yet.
This time I’m writing a blog post combining both a small status update, and a more accurate answer to this weeks/last weeks User Experience and Prototyping Blog Challenge!
Let me start by reciting the challenge: _Write about a possible digital prototyping path you might take for your project (which tools, level of programming,videos? Artwork? Music?) _
//Missing image: PDR_0001-300x225.jpg "Making the prototype"
But you already listed all the tools last time, you might say. You might even go so far as to complain about the amount of text! Well, this time I’m going to see if I can make a plan for how to use some of them. Maybe I’ll even go so far as to predict what tools I’ll be using for the final prototype! Who knows? I certainly don’t, since I haven’t written it yet…
So, yeah. I made a paper prototype. In this first picture you can see it while I was still working on it. (Don’t mind Facebook being open on the computer.) Cutting and gluing took a bit more time than I expected, but the most time consuming part was definitely gathering the questions. (Since it has a quiz mechanic, it needed quiz questions.) Also, since this is only a paper prototype, I didn’t take the time to verify all the answers. This became obvious during testing, but the players were warned beforehand.
//Missing image: PDR_0003-300x225.jpg "playtesting1"
Since my muse is only one person, it was clear that I needed to hire a few extra hands for this multiplayer game. (Thanks Anchel and Sebastian) We played two sessions, and I had a talk with my muse about it afterwards. A few things arose (both during and after testing) that needs to be taken care of.
First of, it seems that she enjoyed the general idea of the game. She stated that she would appreciate some more creative content, and I’m already working on that. Secondly, I’m starting to doubt the value this game would have as a digital version. It seemed like the social aspect of playing a physical game together had an impact on how much the game was appreciated. I’m hoping that noticing this so early in the process will give me time to look for a solution. (I have one idea how to solve that problem at this point, but it doesn’t really fit the frames of the project) Thirdly, balancing is needed. But then again this was a previously unplayed prototype of a non-existing game, so that was a given. Finally, the option for a single player option was discussed. I’m unsure if this is something I want or not, considering some of the reasons I made the game like this would disappear… But we’ll see!
//Missing image: PDR_0006-300x225.jpg "playtesting2"
There were a few other things as well, but those are the ones that are most important.
So where do I go from here? I think that I’ll use flashDevelop next, to prototype some of the mechanics I want to include. I’ve also been in contact with Kristina, and she’ll be exchanging some of her artwork for some of my programming. As a programmer, I’m sure that a final prototype will be fairly playable. I’m not sure yet if I’ll make it online or single computer, but that depends on what direction I want to take from here. I’m certain that it wouldn’t be a problem to make an online version, since I’ve done (smaller, but still) similar tasks in the past.
I do have another vision for a prototype, but that one is more unlikely. It’s also something we’ll leave for another time. This post is already long enough 😉 (Read: For reasons unknown, I don’t want to publish this vision yet)
I’m off! I have a shift in Analog now. See you next time! Feel free to drop by Analog today for a good cup of coffee, hot coco or tea ☺️