What problem does it solve?
Game development teams often waste weeks or months writing full game design documents and building production-ready code for unproven core concepts, leading to massive sunk cost if the core idea isn't fun or viable. This Skill eliminates that risk by letting you test the core fun of your game idea in 1-3 days with a throwaway prototype before investing in full design and production.
Core Features & Use Cases
- Multi-path prototyping: Supports HTML browser prototypes for puzzle/logic games, native engine builds for action/feel-focused games, and paper-based playtests for strategy/rules-heavy games, automatically recommending the best path for your genre.
- Structured verdict system: Produces a clear PROCEED, PIVOT, or KILL recommendation backed by playtest observations, with built-in guardrails like a 3-PIVOT kill rule to avoid sunk cost traps.
- Mid-production spikes: Supports lightweight ~4-hour spikes to test specific mechanics, technical approaches, or performance questions mid-production without full phase gate overhead.
- Use case: A solo indie dev with a new 2D platformer idea can run an engine prototype to test if their grapple hook mechanic feels good before writing 50+ pages of game design documentation.
Quick Start
Use the prototype skill to validate your new 2D platformer grapple hook concept before writing any game design documents.
