Week Two

My Two Methods - Prototyping & Testing

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The main two methods that I use constantly throughout the game design process is Prototyping and testing. Prototyping is one of the most important processes when it comes to making something within a game. It enables me to find out what works and what doesn’t within a games environment and how it can be seen to the player when played. Testing also does the same in the way that I can get in-person responses about any problems or what works from peers and use that to improve my designs. Without prototyping and testing (play-testing) there is no sure-fire way to know whether my game will work well and ultimately stops me from being able to improve on anything. I find myself prototyping constantly as it lets me trial my ideas in numerous ways and helps to create inspiration to what more could be done with it. Turning my ideas into a physical piece within a game can lead me into new directions within the game design process as what I imagine may not always work best within an actual game especially when viewing it from a players point of view. Play-testing is something that I believe should be done more throughout the designing process, it defines what the true experience of a game really is. When designing I become quite familiar with how I believe the game is ‘supposed’ to be played, however, someone with no history with what they are playing will use their own thought process to work their way through a games environment. This opens up a large range of possibilities for me as it shows me different views that I need to think of and incorporate.