On the final day of Pocket Gamer Connects London 2020, Mag Interactive head of ideation Matthew Buxton shared details on the best way to approach prototyping.

The talk outlined the three core elements of experimenting with game design, which featured the 'When, Why and How' as well as the constant changes that happen in prototyping.

The 'When' element was narrowed down to simply "Can you build it?". From this, developers are then advised to calculate whether the firm has the resources and team to make the project a reality, while also deciding who the main audience is - if there is one.

"Set expectations"

"Understanding the audience for the prototype set the level of fidelity and set expectations for the team," said Buxton.

Moving onto the 'Why' should then prompt the question of "What does it prove?". The main objective of this is to work out whether the game is fun or if there is a technical ability that will be achieved.

The final stage - which highlighted the 'How' - took a deep dive into the ideation process, on top of stating to audiences that no matter how successful the prototype is the project needs to be killed. Here, developers can decide whether to pursue the game in full capacity or set it on ice but are never recommended to work from the same code in the prototype.

We previously spoke to Buxton about how great ideas "can carve through the competition".