Some questions that prototyping might help game designers answer about their games:
Which parts of the game need to be associated with real/virtual objects and which can exist abstractly?
- The game designer must decide how much material is needed to play the game. Sometimes, Werewolf is played with cards and tokens, and other times, it is played with just words, changing how players interact with the game. We might prototype two versions of the game, including or excluding materials, to compare how players interact with or enjoy the game. My guess is that some games benefit from a lot of materials, while others are clearly best played verbally.
How should the player interact with the game?
- Should we center play around dice rolls? Moving pieces on a board? We can prototype small sections of the game, like a single turn, and vary the mode of interaction to see which one feels the most natural. I don’t think there will be a clear winner, but each mode will have a unique feel.
How will we teach the player the game’s underlying patterns, a process that leads to fun?
- Players strive to learn the rules, try things out, and eventually master the game over time. We know that fun comes from the experience of learning how the game works and how to play it well. How should we structure that learning experience? How much do we want to explain to the player? In blackjack, you can look up the optimal playing strategy online. Do we give such a strategy to the player and the learning be about failing and improving at that strategy in real time, or do we wait for the player to discover the strategy for themselves and let the learning be about trying different things and seeing what works? We could try prototyping different ways of “giving it away” to the player and varying how much we make the players uncover for themselves. I really think this will depend on the player. Some Minecraft players give themselves diamond armor; others go mining for diamonds.
