Paper Prototype for Game Designing

What is paper prototype game?

A paper prototype is a paper representation of a game concept (including mechanics and aesthetics). Basically, you'll use pencils and paper to build a game concept. A Paper Prototype is a great method to start testing your UI concept without having to spend too much time creating something more official that might not be intuitive to the user. Using a paper prototype initially will allow you to have someone look it over to see if it makes sense and how people would interact with the UI.

Why paper prototype is important?

1. It's quick and easy to make.

2. No technical knowledge is required.

3. It helps you layout your idea better.

4. It's simple to test and assess.

5. It's simple to make changes.

Supplies needed for this project:

Pen, Paper, Color pencils, and Scissors

Describe the game in a paragraph. This is the answer to the most common question that you will be asked. What are you working on? Why are you creating this game? Describe the world that your game takes place in. Simple as that. Help frame it in the reader’s mind by spending a few sentences on it here. You can go into lengthy detail later in a section solely dedicated to describing the world. Remember that we want to keep this part of the design light and readable. Now that we know where the game takes place and what the player controls. What are they supposed to achieve in this world? Be careful not to add a bunch of salesmanship here. Your design wants to stay light and informative. Tell them what is different from the games that are attempting this in the market right now. Provide an overview to the game world.

Describe what the player will control. You will be in charge of a band of rabid mutant fiddle players. If you want you can switch on the AI and turn it into a fish bowl simulation. If this applies talk a little more about the control choices. Remember to add answers to questions that you think the reader will ask. This is totally dependent on your design. List down all the win and loss state in the game and work on balancing them.

Questions you should consider on this step:

Describe the key locations in the world here.

Describe how the player moves characters around in the world.

Describe the scale that you will use to represent the world. Scale is important!

Describe the different objects that can be found in the world.

Describe what sort of weather will be found in the world, if any. Otherwise omit this section. Add sections that apply to your game design.

Describe the way time will work in your game or whatever will be used.

How you create or personalize your character.

For Example in my Amazon Run game:

Interview: Create a character
Tutorial: Another worker shows you how to play Tier 1: Associate Level One (Yellow) Country - farmer offers milk boost, cows, chickens, pigs, hay barrels, tumbleweeds, cacti, dirt road Tier 2: Learning Ambassador (Blue) Suburbs - Hot day, ice cream on the ground, ice cream truck, kids skating, lemonade stand, dogs chasing cats, UPS driver Tier 3: PA: Process Assistant (Orange) snow - cars stuck, piles of snow, snowmen, igloos, ice, penguins; ice skate boost, bag of salt, hand warmers, skis Tier 4: AM: Area Manager (Red) Rainstorm - lightning, fallen trees, broken cars, flood, traffic light broken, crash, Umbrella boost, poncho and backpack Tier 5: Jeff Bezos (Platinum) City - Firetruck, Ambulance, Bikers, Cabs, Pedestrians, Boost: private jet, a tesla

number of packages based on area population

xp bar on the top

In this step you combine your idea and story onto a paper and make rough sketches of different frames of the game with explanations. In short, make a basic layout that can present the story behind your game and visual interface. This will help you and other people to interact with your idea. As you write down the ideas, they become much clearer, and you will be able to add more frames and fully flesh out the interaction.

Present your idea to multiple people and observe how they interact, get their feedbacks and make changes if necessary

Here are some sample examples of the sketched out game I made. My goal was for my final prototype to be as functional as feasible. I wanted to make something without any dead ends. I sketched them out first and then converted them into digital version to make them look better.

Provide some sort of an overview to your interface and same as all the previous sections, break down the components of the UI.

The fun part of making a paper prototype game instead of directly hopping on to computer and start making a game is that there will be no need to debug anything. Any changes you would like to make can be made easily.

I realized how vital it is to trust your design judgments, and I observed how that was a key aspect in finishing this project. While extra research throughout the first drafting stages would have been beneficial. To finish the project, I had to trust my instincts and follow through on my design selections.

Congratulations!! Now you know how to create your own paper prototype game. Game on!!