Dale Yu: Everything you need to know about prototypes but were afraid to ask

For better or for worse, I’ve come into contact with a LOT of prototypes over the past two years.  I’ve tried to design a few games of my own, and I struggled with how to make a quality prototype that would appeal to others without taking too much time and effort on my part.  I’ve been asked to evaluate a number of games for a few game companies to see whether those games were viable for development and eventual production.  I’d like to spend a bit of time talking what makes me think a prototype looks good. 

This shouldn’t come as a surprise, but with prototypes, I think it’s important to remember that appearances do matter and first impressions are important.  Having been on the “industry” side in the past few years looking at prototypes, I will have to admit that oftentimes the first view of the prototype really influences my opinion of the game.  And if you only have 20 or 30 minutes to show someone a game and convince them of its greatness, you’d like to have as many positive things as possible and limit the negatives.

So, what’s important (to me) when I first see a prototype?  For me, I think the most important thing is the overall appearance.  I like prototypes to look clean and well-made.  I’d like the box art/text to look nice, and when I open the box, I’d like to see the bits organized nicely.  If it looks like you’ve spent a lot of time making your prototype, that goes a long way to impress me.  Art is less important for me (as I know that I can’t draw a thing), but I will admit that others I’ve talked to also appreciate it when there are nice graphics already integrated into the prototype.

After the initial appearance, I think it’s important to make sure that the rules are well written and easy to understand.  Of course, if you’re showing your game to someone, it’s easy to give a detailed description of the game and answer any questions.  However, if you’re not around to explain, you need to make sure that the person reading the rules can understand the game and how to play it.  In general, when you show a game to a game company, and there is interest, you’ll be asked to leave a copy with them (or you may have mailed the copy of the game to the publisher).  So, you can count on the fact that someone will eventually see your game cold, and they’ll need to be able to approach the game from the rules alone.

I’d go as far as to recommend that you add in extra rules and clarifications where possible in order to try to answer as many questions as you can.  I wouldn’t necessarily worry about writing the most succinct set of rules at this point – if the game gets picked up, there will be a technical writer somewhere along the line who will edit the rules for you.

There are other little things that help me learn a game from the rules alone.  First, it helps to have pictures or diagrams of important or confusing parts of the game.  Additionally, if setup is crucial, having a picture or diagram of setup is important.  Also, it’s helpful to have a manifest of bits.  For many euro games, there are all sorts of counters, little wooden cubes and whatnot used in any game.  While you may clearly understand that the 3mm blue wooden cube obviously represents fish and the yellow plastic disks are obviously dolphins, it’s often difficult to discern what bits are what when you don’t know the game.  Please try to give a manifest of bits and tell me what is what.  If I have to spend 20 minutes figuring out how things go together, it doesn’t get the game off to a good start.  Finally, make sure the rules are correct!  Prototypes are always currently being revised, and I understand that – but if you’re showing off a game – make sure that the rules reflect the current components that are in the box!  If you don’t take enough time to update your prototype, it certainly leaves a negative impression on me.

I would recommend is that you leave a way for people to get in touch with you in the rules or on the box.  I have had a number of prototypes come through my game group (from different publishers) – and I had no way to contact the game designer to ask them rules questions.  Don’t assume that your contact information will be passed on when the prototype is evaluated by different people!

Finally, if you’d really like people to take a good look at the game, make sure you send them (or leave them with) at least one fully playable copy of the game.  Promising to send someone the rules to a game and a full set of graphics to allow them to assemble a game isn’t good enough.  Remember, you’re the one trying to sell your game.  If it takes someone else a lot of time and hassle to put together a prototype of an untested game, it’s simply not going to happen – especially if you’ve been exposed to as many AWFUL prototypes as I have.  Yes, I realize that this might be expensive and time consuming to do, but if you want folks to take a look at your prototype, it’s going to be worth it to you to make it look as good as you can and have it ready to play right out of the box.

Now let me switch gears a bit and talk about actual prototype construction.  I’ve managed to collect a lot of things that help me make prototypes at home (or improve upon prototypes that I receive).  Here’s what I usually use:

Cards

Well, cards are found in most euro-games, and it helps to have a bunch of different cards around to use.  The two most commonly used cards for me are 1) old Magic: the Gathering commons and 2) Bicycle playing cards (both red and blue).  Years ago, I was a serious M:tG player, and I had about 10,000 extra cards lying around at one point.  Magic cards are useful to have around as they have a uniform back and they are plentiful (at least in my house).  The Bicycle cards are extras from the US Playing Card Company store (located here in Cincinnati).  I’ve got literally hundreds of decks of playing cards – these also have uniform backs and can be easily pasted up. 

I also keep old business cards.  I think that I probably still have the last 3 or 4 iterations of my personal business card – when they have to be replaced, I simply keep the old ones.  I find that they work well for initial prototypes.  You can handwrite stuff on the empty backside of them, and they all conveniently have the same information on the other side.  Finally, I make a point of keeping extra cards from old games or from thrift-store specials.  It’s much rarer that I’ll find a use for these cards, but you never know.

Rage

While we’re on the topic of cards… I like to always have around is an extra copy of Rage (the Amigo card game).  This little gem has cards numbered zero thru 15 in six different colors.  This comes in really really handy for all sorts of purposes.  While my stash is dwindling, I think I still have 2 copies left around to be plundered for prototypes

Card Sleeves

Well, if you have cards in your prototype, you have a few ways to get the information on the card.  For me, the easiest way is to print up a proxy on a piece of paper and then slip it into a card sleeve.  If you need to shuffle them, you can always put a card in the sleeve as well to give it some heft.

I pretty much use two different types of sleeves.  The first is the “penny sleeve” which is a ridiculously thin, cellophane-like sleeve.  They are called penny sleeves because they are often found in packs of 100 for about a dollar.  They aren’t the most durable sleeves, but they’re cheap and can be useful if you have a lot of things to sleeve. 

http://www.coolstuffinc.com/images/Products/Misc%20Art/UltraPro/pennysleeves.jpg

The other type I’ll often use is the Ultra Pro sleeve.  These are much more expensive, about 5 cents per sleeve, but they are much more durable.  They also come in a variety of colors.  I think that I have bits and pieces of about 8 different colors in the prototype closet right now.  I find that the best way to buy these is find dealers at trade shows (or Origins/GenCon) and buy the colors they can’t usually sell.  They might be ugly, but I have 2,500 matching purple sleeves for my Dominion prototype that I was able to buy for $30.

http://www.coolstuffinc.com/images/Products/Misc%20Art/UltraPro/UltraPro_100ctred.jpg
http://www.coolstuffinc.com/images/Products/Misc%20Art/UltraPro/fantasygreen.jpg

Laminator

I have a nice little pouch laminator that I can use to make cards, player mats and all sorts of other things.  It’s also nice as the laminated bits can be used with dry-erase markers nicely.  My laminator is 11.5” inches wide so it can accommodate letter sized paper ok.

Color laser printer/copier

OK, I’ll admit that I’m a bit lucky in this regard.  Both my wife and I have occasion to work out of the house, and as a result, we’ve got a lot of office equipment around.  As far as making game components goes, the HP 2840 Laserprinter/Copier/Fax has been a godsend.  Having a color printer and color copier has greatly improved the quality of my prototypes/homebrews.

Computer

Well, if you’ve got a printer, that also means that you’ve likely got a computer hooked up to it.  I have found it essential to have Adobe Photoshop or GIMP around in order to manipulate images to help my prototypes look good.  A clip art CD or online subscription (or even Google image searching) is also a vital tool in making things look their best.

Stickers

Stickers are really nice for re-labeling things and allowing you to reuse a lot of components.  There are a number of different sticker types that I keep around

Full page stickers (to be used in the printer) – for large scale work like boards
Name badge stickers – these stickers are just the right size for Magic cards
Removable address labels – sometimes as you’re changing things around, it’s nice to have removable stickers to allow you to edit things on the fly

Paper

Well, if you’re going to be printing stuff out, you’ll need something to print it on!  Again, a lot of the paper that we keep at home is either used for work or for my wife’s Sunday School classes – but I have access to it all when I need!  Here is what I’ve got in the closet right now:

20# Letter and Legal white copy paper
24# 11x17 ledger paper
28# super-bright HP laser printer paper
32# Astrobrights in pink, green, yellow, teal, purple
20# Staples house brand paper in yellow, green, and light blue
24# Office Depot pastels
Construction paper
110# white card stock
110# assorted pastel card stock
67# gray card stock
photo paper
Inkjet iron on transfer paper
Avery labels of varying sizes – both removable and non-removable

Extra gaming bits

Though I usually wouldn’t admit it, I’ve been known to throw out games in the past.  Most of those are crap that I picked up at a thrift store thinking that they would someday get played.  Others are games that are inexplicably incomplete (and I didn’t like then anyways).

In any event, before I throw them out, I raid the box for any loose wooden or plastic bits.  I also take any play money or cards and save them as well.

I’ve got a fairly sizable tackle box of bits that I keep in the back of the basement.  It comes in really handy when I need a replacement piece for a game and it also gives me a wide selection of bits to use when I’m trying to cobble together a prototype.

The other important thing to keep around are extra boards.  Finding material that is suitable to be used as a board is hard to come by for me.  So, I keep a stack of extra boards lying around.  If I can, I’ll just print up stuff on full sheet sticker paper and slap it on the extra boards that I have lying around.

Dice are also very handy to have around.  They can be used for all sorts of things.  I usually have everything from d4 to d20 lying around in various colors to had when necessary.  I also have a few cubes of small Chessex d6 in at least 6 colors as it seems that d6 are needed most often.

Plastic chips and cubes

The other prototype gaming bit that has been helpful to have around are the plastic cubes and transparent chips that can be had at most teacher’s supply stores.  Eurogames seem to have lots of cubes and things that need to be marked.  The variety that I buy usually has 8 or 10 different colors, so there’s generally enough variety for any game that I need to make.

Bags and Baggies

I also have a nice stash of Crown Royal bags in the basement (given to me from a bartender friend of mine).  They do seem to come in handy quite often.

I also have an assortment of plastic baggies of varying sizes and shapes.  Of course, the cheapest ones are the Ziploc sandwich and snack size bags that work for most things.  I do, however, also have bags in sizes such as 2” x 3”, 3” x 4” and 3” x 5” from Uline or Associatedbag.com.  I tend to be a bagger of bits in my normal games, so it comes as no surprise that I also bag up everything in my prototypes.

Until your next appointment
The Gaming Doctor

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