001: Game Prototyping - Effective Prototyping Tips & why as Game Dev's you should be documenting your process.

How do you start prototyping your fresh new game idea. Having that awesome vision in your head is all well and good, but you need to start making it a reality, it needs to come alive! We discuss all the ways that we set about prototyping our games and, although probably somewhat unconventional, why we want to get this stage moving as fast as possible. Almost exclusively starting with our trusty pencils and sketchbooks, we try and roughly draw something iconic from our minds eye, be it a general look of a level or perhaps even a character, just something to visualise before heading straight into our development tool, Buildbox. Highlights, Quick Wins & Takeaways: Create a mood board as a reference point for the whole project Use pen and paper to quickly draw a level or character Get into your development software / tool as fast as possible Use existing graphics to get you started, don't be fancy Focus on the feel of the mechanics Embrace the "Happy Accidents" that may arise Try to get one complete level / screen before giving up! Export a build onto your device as soon as you have a straw man demo Start screen casting or take screenshots from the very beginning Share early dev insights on social to get some interest / feedback