What this course will do:
Prove the benefits of game prototyping, both analog (pen and paper) and digital (computer)
Help you overcome come the 'fear of a blank piece of paper' with instant research and game component construction
Teach you rapid game modification, the iterative process, and to recognize a game's "core mechanics"
Provide additional lessons relating to digital game design
Game Prototyping is a ‘how to’ course designed to teach you what prototyping is all about, the essence of its creation, the process, and how to prototype any kind of game. Techniques in rapid research and component building for an analog game prototype will be presented, and instruction in digital game prototyping using Game Maker software is also provided. Students will learn to thrive on game industry scheduling pressures and demands for 'instant creativity.' Using methods of both individual and cooperative learning, students will provide and learn to accept critical feedback and iterate new game prototypes based upon their considered response.
What this course won’t do:
Tell you how to ‘break into the business,’ sell your game design, raise capital, or publish games yourself
Teach you how to program a computer, design ingenious Artificial Intelligence routines, or make art for your game
There are plenty of other books and courses about those subjects, but this is the one course you need as a proper foundation from which to project the knowledge you'll acquire from those sources. Game Prototyping teaches you how to reduce a game design to its core mechanics, research and create a playable game prototype, evaluate it and iterate new versions to improve its gameplay value. In short, this course will help you create a game that is worth all the time and effort to produce. It is too late to discover that a game is not fun toward the end of a project; prototyping will help you discover a game's 'fun factor' early and make adjustments while things are still easy, fast, and cheap.
