Making game prototypes can help a team quickly decide on how they want their game to feel. Previously, we mentioned that a developer’s role in the early stages of game development is to build the game's functionality and mechanics since that’s the core part of what makes a game enjoyable.
However, the game visuals can add a lot to the game’s context, and in the later stages of development, they can contribute greatly to the game’s experience.
Swapping in the Primitives for Real Art
In this article, I’ll show a 2D Space Shooter game that I’ve been working on that demonstrates how the perception of a game changes when production-ready art assets get implemented.
Here’s what it looks like in the prototyping state:
In this screenshot, it’s hard to tell what’s going on in the game. There are 2 different colored cubes and a capsule object. Not the most exciting thing to show to people.
Let’s see how the perception of the game changes with the art assets.
Wow! Now, with more context, aka the space theme, the game gives players specific ideas about what they want to do. The game begins to appeal more directly to players who like space or players who like shooting lasers at enemy spaceships. If either of those cases is true, players are now more likely to try out the game.
Overall, refined art assets have can really put a game over the top. However, don’t obsess about it at the beginning of development when you’re still deciding what you want your game to be.
