Prototype 1 - Will this even work?

Prototype 1 is finally finished. It was a lot of head-scratching to create a way to convert a 2D world into a 3D world with objects and characters (we’ll get to that). But now it’s finished, and I’ve done some playtesting. Here are my findings.

The Prototype

You have four cows in your pen. Hustomtar (gnomes) come out of the forest, trying to steal your cows and carry them into the forest. Lose all your cows, and you lose the game. You can shoot the gnomes (and the cows) and pick up/drop cows.

Fig. 1 — Gameplay

Key Takeaways

It’s very difficult, BUT VERY IMPORTANT, to create something you care about in a fast (and therefore sloppy) way. It’s so important because your prototype will never be your final product. If you spend a lot of time making your prototype “perfect,” you’ll end up potentially wasting A LOT of work. Because, let me tell you, once that bad boy gets into the real world, it ain’t so perfect anymore.
A prototype can be a great way to discover a theme. It’s easy to feel like you have to have everything planned out beforehand, but sometimes, by just playing a prototype, you can discover ideas you otherwise wouldn’t have thought of!
Making a prototype playable means more than just bug fixing. As stated previously, one shouldn’t spend too much time perfecting a prototype; making it just playable is enough. But just playable can sometimes mean more than simply keeping the game from crashing. You might need to add things like a sensitivity setting or a way to change the difficulty on the fly to avoid players giving feedback about the wrong thing.

1. Technical

In this prototype, I decided that everything should happen in a 2D world, which a separate 3D world would blindly follow. I spent a lot of time making a script that converted the whole 2D world, including all objects, into a 3D version for the player to be able to aim in.

But now, with the experience of both creating and testing this prototype, I think I’ll have to scrap the two-world system and let it be a single 3D world behind the scenes. Meaning my perfect “2D-to-3D” converter, which I spent so much time on, will not be used.

2. Theme

I knew I wanted the theme to be about Nordic folklore creatures stealing cows, but I didn’t really know what vibe I was going for. The core gameplay, which was trying to shoot things coming out of the forest, was quite scary by itself. The creatures also happen to get a lot bigger once you go from 2D to 3D. As I played around with the lighting, textures, and sounds, things started to feel quite unsettling. I started to feel like the forest itself was actually attacking me. I felt alone.

I think I will continue in this direction with a scary/creepy theme.

3. Design

It’s janky as hell and a lot less playable than I thought, but those moments when it worked were actually fun! I had a great time playtesting it myself, and the whole “2D to 3D” thing worked surprisingly well! The prototype didn’t really have any real goals, but it was fun as a toy, which is always a great sign.

But now, with that said, when others played it, it wasn’t as smooth sailing. The core mechanics were appreciated, but they were quickly overshadowed by the jankiness and bugs. After letting others playtest, I feel confident that this works as a concept, but that the next prototype needs to be way more playable to be able to confirm that.

As of right now, the prototype doesn’t give the player any breathing room. It’s fast-paced and gets more difficult quickly. This, combined with the fact that the brain needs to adjust itself every time it switches between 2D and 3D, makes this quite exhausting for the mind. This is something that needs to be worked on.

It also needs a clear goal.

For the Next Prototype

Technical: Have it be a single 3D world and make more fixes to improve playability.
Theme: What I have is enough for now. If anything comes up, I’ll write it down.
Design: Implement a way to give the player some breathing room when switching between views. Add a clear goal.