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Episode Name:
How Smarter Prototyping Builds Better Games
Episode Description:
Indie developers often feel stuck between moving quickly and building something worth committing to. Move too slow and momentum fades. Move too fast, and you risk committing to ideas before they’ve been properly tested.
So today, we’re going to dive into how smarter prototyping helps teams validate ideas earlier, learn faster, and make stronger development decisions. And we’ll also look at how the right tools can support faster iteration without becoming a distraction.
Q?Box Round Answers
What was your childhood favorite game?
I think that’s a hard question – choosing a “Favorite” was always difficult to define. If you mean, which one got me into games, it’d be Spore. If you were asking which one I played the most, it would probably be a tie between SimCity 4 and the original Sims, but I also grew into playing hundreds of hours of Skyrim as a teen. The one that influenced me the most was, and still is, Dungeons and Dragons.
Why do you make games?
Games allow us to connect with ourselves and others in ways we otherwise would never be able to. By playing a game we can experience things we never would have otherwise. Being able to create an experience which another person can take in feels more interesting to me than anything else. More than that, creating a space in which two people can interact in a completely new way has always amazed me. Being mean to your family in Monopoly is the best example, within the space of the game you can act like a completely different person. This is why I make games, they allow us to explore what it’s like to exist in completely new and different ways.
What game are you playing now?
I’m always playing a few different kinds of games at once. I’ve usually got a puzzle game, a long game, a classic, and something multiplayer. I’ve just finished The Pedestrian and just started The Artisan of Glimmith, I’m halfway through my first play of XCOM 2, I’ve been playing the original Luigi’s mansion on the GameCube, and my friends and I have been playing a lot of modded Minecraft lately.
TIPS and ADVICE
We covered quite a bit today. Could you list 3 suggestions or tips you would recommend to indie devs based on our discussion?
- Find something that excites you, and keep on exploring that excitement. Prototype until you find it, then find new ways to engage with it.
- Build tools to help you do that. I personally have an entire project-agnostic technical toolkit that I use to build new game ideas. At this point I build prototypes in a matter of days. All of Chromatic Isle was built in a weekend!
- Don’t compare your process to others too harshly. I’ve found at many points I see a new game prototype and think, Wow, I wish I made that! When you think that, it’s a golden moment. Really dig in and see what you love the most about that prototype, and apply it to your own work going forward! You’ll quickly learn more about what you find interesting, and why.
RESOURCES and LINKS
How to get in touch with Josh Hirshfield
Website:
https://joshhirshfield.com/
https://joshhirshfield.com/talks/
https://blog.joshhirshfield.com/
E-mail: joshua.hirshfield+IGM@gmail.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/josh-hirshfield/
BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/joshprime.bsky.social
OTHER SOURCES:
IGDA NYC Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lVg7Zt2s2w
Chromatic Isle is free on Steam – https://store.steampowered.com/app/2684780/Chromatic_Isle/
Godwalker is free to play on Itch: https://joshgamedev.itch.io/godwalker