Balance Point and Click Prototyping 
PreMortem.Games
MARCH 1, 2024
As we were prototyping there was still a feeling the game needed more action. Thus I make an effort to use purchased art assets only as a starting point to then be modified into something more unique and fitting of the aesthetic.” “We built a prototype in our spare time and saw the potential. But that’s not all.
Brand Game Development
SEPTEMBER 1, 2017
Click here. Every opinion – however misinformed you may believe to be – is a data point. As in rigorous scientific experiments, data points are to be gathered accurately and then interpreted later. Choose something to pay extra close attention to, such as balance, communication, or accessibility.
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Brand Game Development
DECEMBER 22, 2017
Click here. After all, I’m checking to make sure there are no serious balance issues that come out of repeated plays. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had dozens of people blind play-test Highways & Byways , but there are diminishing returns once you hit a certain point. That’s a good thing!
Brand Game Development
DECEMBER 8, 2017
Click here. To quote my good friend, Wikipedia: “ [i]n statistics, an outlier is an observation point that is distant from other observations. With enough games, outliers tend to balance each other out. This is a checklist I like to check off before I start final testing: Get the physical prototype ready.
Designer Notes
MARCH 31, 2023
Here are some screen’s from the game’s prototyping phase. Note that the point of the Energy system in Frontierville was to ration out progress (so you don’t burn out on the game) which creates friction and, thus, a potential microtransaction. This was an odd little moment in time, by the way.
Brand Game Development
DECEMBER 11, 2017
Click this picture for some backstory! This is where most of the rules have been ironed out and are acceptable enough to use during a prototype either in person or online through something like Tabletopia or Tabletop simulator. This is to make sure the game is – on some fundamental level – balanced.
Designer Notes
AUGUST 10, 2021
Few people called for the return of stacks-of-doom, but critics pointed out that carpets-of-doom were just as bad. Early on, the simplest way to prototype the game was to maintain a strict 1UPT rule (as stacking has the major downside of making the UI much more complicated).
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