DevCon Summit 2014 #DevelopersUnitePH: International Game Developers Association (IDGA) Manila by Tristan Angeles

1. LOOK BEFORE YOU LEAP!
!
An Intro to Prototyping
Video Games

2. Hi I’m Tristan Angeles
• Board member IGDA Manila
• A level designer for Chronicle Games (Caves and Chasms)
• Indie Developer at Unravel Games and Party Animals
• Ex-Game Designer at Gameloft(Order and Chaos Duels)
• 2013 Manila Game Jam Best in Game Design( IAcademy)
• Participant at Casual Connect Asia 2013 Indie Prize.

3. "I have not failed 10,000 times. I have
successfully found 10,000 ways that will not work."
Like invention game design involves
experimentation.

4. +
Sums up the root of most of your indie problems.

5. ?
?
?
?
?
?
?
?
What do you need to know before embarking on the
journey?
The point of no return.
Core mechanics
Features
Game Economy
Physics
Aesthetics
Dynamics

6. Paper Prototype!
To answer questions.
To generate new ones.
To reveal surprises.(good and bad)

7. Paper Prototype!
Scratch that itch. Validate ideas.

8. Example: Party Animals, a game about
third world politics.(In development)

9. We made a list of questions.
Mechanic Paper Prototype Questions
Basic Gameplay(Core)
Action Assignment Player tokens Too easy? Too complicated?
Turns How many turns
Gold Production Gold tokens
How much?
When to produce?
Amount of Districts District Cards
How many districts?
District Stats Sample District stats xls
District Reputation Sample District stats xls How should reputation affect votes?
Kapitan Relationship
Sample Kapitan Relationship xls, Kapitan
Cards
Random Events
List of random events which has: stat
goal, turns to complete, rewards How often random events should appear?
Votes How should we calculate votes?
District Interaction
Sortie Action descriptions and effects Simpler or complex?
Educate Action descriptions and effects Simpler or complex?
Contest Action descriptions and effects Simpler or complex?
Smear Action descriptions and effects Simpler or complex?
Bribe Action descriptions and effects Simpler or complex?
New Kapitan Interaction(Core)
Manipulate Sample formula for manipulate Fun? Necessary?
Convince Sample formula for convince Fun? Necessary?
Shift Sample formula for shift Fun? Necessary?
Gift Sample formula for gift Fun? Necessary?
Favor Points Favor tokens Fun? Necessary?
Kapitan Agenda
sample agenda for Kapitans, formula for
agenda Fun? Necessary?
Kapitan Events Fun? Necessary?
Kapitan Relationship effects Fun? Necessary?
Evil Actions(Core)
Tags Sample list of possible tags
Discovery Formula for discovery
Staff(Core)
Staff actions Staff tokens How many people in staff?

10. Cards to represent districts.
Poker chips and various tokens
to represent resources.
Then made a very quick prototype to find the
initial ‘feel’ of the game, the game flow etc.

11. We play tested the game
beginning with core
mechanics, then added
new features with each
play testing session.

12. We learned a few things from play
testing that would have cost us valuable
resources had we started development
immediately.

13. 1. Choose the fastest or easiest implementation.
2. Keep it ugly.
Event System AI

14. For more info on this project check out:
!
http://heypartyanimals.com

15. Thank You Very Much!
!
Tristan Ansel T. Angeles
Game Designer at Chronicle Games
http://www.chroniclegames.com
Designer/Developer at Unravel Games and Party Animals
Twitter:@unravelgames
Email: caladan21ph@gmail.com
Twitter: @tristanangeles
Linkedin: http://ph.linkedin.com/in/tristanangeles/