Short Exercise: What do Prototypes Prototype? | Adrian Rivas

Come up with 3-5 questions your various game prototypes might answer.

For each question, include a sentence or two about:

• Why is this an important question to answer
• What type of prototype will you make to answer this question?
• What is your guess about how it will turn out? (the practice of prediction grows your intuition)

1. Should worries be shared with the group anonymously or transparently?
   1. This question is important because the level of transparency may affect players’ willingness to share potentially personal information with people they may not necessarily trust everyone enough to be sincere with their answers.
   2. An implementation prototype where two playtesting sessions, one with anonymous worries generated by players and one with public worries attributed to each author, are contrasted with each other to see what approach yields the most fun, genuine results.
   3. My current guess is that a worry’s author being public among the group will yield the most fun and honest results.
2. How many different “levels” of response intimacy would be ideal to include in our game?
   1. It is important to best understand our intended audience to understand what types of prompts are conducive to idea generation and developing a social connection between players; otherwise, our prompts would become irrelevant and players would have little use for our game, choosing to have colloquial conversations instead. 
   2. An implementation prototype with different levels of response intimacy would be useful in determining the sweet spot of maintaining engaging, honest conversations between players who are either strangers or close friends.
   3. I guess that about 3 levels of response intimacy (stranger, acquaintance, and friend) would best encapsulate the types of players that may choose to engage with our game. 
3. What types of card prompts (open-ended, group-directed, challenges) would be best to present to the group of players to help them generate solutions to the worry at hand?
   1. It is crucial to understand the level and type of influence our cards would have on the group, whether it be creating a playful or serious environment, which can also affect the effectiveness and accuracy of proposed solutions generated by the group. 
   2. A role prototype with different types of prompts can help answer this question quickly and cheaply since we would not need to print out official materials like on a card, instead experimenting with different forms of communicating this information: cards, questionnaires, verbal, group-directed, etc. 
   3. I guess that cards with prompts would be the best way to relay this information with intermittent challenge cards to help promote creativity and foster a lighthearted environment.