The 5 Stages of Prototyping
When finding a good topic for the blog, an obvious place to look is where I’ve misstepped with our company and first game (Nut Hunt). Which brings us to prototyping. I’ll talk more about the specific mistakes I made a little later, but first want to frame the discussion.
A lot of prototyping advice I see on board game design forums falls into one of two categories:
Advice given through our own frame of experience, without appreciating that other creators have different requirements for their projects.
Advice tailored to the common denominator even though there is a lot more nuance, and in some cases a completely different solution depending on the project needs.
There isn’t anything inherently wrong with these approaches. Forums are a community, and advice is more digestible if it is simple, personal, and tailored to the common denominator.
But, I think that sometimes we do a little bit of a disservice in not being more nuanced. That is that there is a range of what it means to prototype, and our prototype needs evolve as our projects mature.
These aren’t firm delineations – but rather rough stages that I find useful when thinking about prototyping.
Stage 1 - Arts & Crafts
Most games start here. Whether it’s blank cards, cut up pieces of paper, or tidbits and dudats scavenged from around our homes. The goal of your first prototypes is to make something playable, and to iterate on it quickly and cost effectively. It’s better to just get something to the table.
Some of the best resources I’ve found for DIY prototyping is from Print & Play forums. Here are some of them:
Martin’s Print & Play Hideaway Facebook group (check out the tutorial hashtag)
Stage 2 – Generic Components
Alongside the arts & crafts stage, I usually find myself cannibalizing other games. I considered combining this with stage 1, but the fact that there are so many great places to shop for generic components, and the different focus versus DIY convinced me to separate it out.
Games you Cannibalize from Goodwill
Stage 3 - Customizable Components
This tends to be where a lot of advice on design forums focuses. You’ve invested some time into graphic design, maybe pulled some royalty free illustrations, and you want to get a professional feeling game made up.
The transition between generic components & customizable & custom components
There are some great services where you can upload your print files and print out standard dimensioned games.
Stage 4 - Custom Components
Here is where things get interesting. There are a number of ways to get custom components made for your game. Some shops are full service and will help troubleshoot your needs, while others will specialize in one method (laser cutting, 3d printing, etc).
Print & Play Games (message them)
Local Laser Cutters
3d Printing Services
A note on meeples: I had a very hard time sourcing custom wooden meeples for Nut Hunt. We ended up using 6mm laser cut acrylic from the Game Crafter Laboratory. However, our final product meeples will range from 8-10mm in thickness and are premium wood.
Stage 5 - Production Quality
This isn’t often talked about in the design forums that I frequent, but it is a vitally important option. You can have small print run production quality games made by your manufacturer.
There may be slight differences in terms of ink-jet printing versus in-line (to save on costs), but you can get the actual stock, components, and finishes of your final game. This includes meeples, miniatures, and even box inserts - if you pay for the mold (~$200 to ~$1,000 depending on if you need copper or aluminum).
This is how established publishers source top notch quality games for their promotional material, and preview campaigns (or you are seeing air-freighted copies off the actual line).
While I am very happy with the services we received in making our prototypes (from The Game Crafter, Print & Play Games, and Make Playing Cards), not seriously considering production prototypes as an option was a misstep that I made with our Nut Hunt prototypes. Our review copies are using 6mm acrylic meeples – instead of 8-10mm wood meeples, and our prototype components are made from different stock, with less premium finishes than you can expect in the final game.
I think most potential backers will look past the review prototypes and focus on what we are promising in our campaign – but, image matters, and especially as a new company we need to strike a balance of professionalism while retaining our approachability.
Production quality prototypes for our review campaigns is definitely the approach we will take going forward.
A Note on Digital Prototyping
Digital prototyping is an excellent way to iterate on your game and reach a broad audience. This article is focused on physical prototyping, but I encourage checking out some guides on digital prototyping:
Further Reading
What are your favorite resources for prototyping games?
