Noel and Charles at the previously GSW-discussed Power Of 2 Games, who are a fascinating San Diego-based startup featuring game biz veterans going ultra-indie, have posted an in-depth new entry about game prototypes, and it's excellent stuff.

They explain, that instead of building a complex game engine over a period of months: "We decided to start with a prototype. This isn't supposed to be a "prototype" that eventually morphs into a shipping game, or a prototype that uses the same technology as the production code, or even a prototype that's used to impress the big-wigs to squeeze some money out of them (ha!). No, all that stuff detracts from the ultimate goal of our prototype."

How so? "Our approach was very similar to what Chris Hecker and Chaim Gingold described in their GDC presentation [.PPT link, GameSpy write-up]. We had the need to answer one very specific question: "Is our game idea fun?" And we wanted the answer as quickly and cheaply as possible. Everything else was secondary." A great approach, and they reveal: "Now at least we can be confident that the game is going to be pretty fun." Of course, we don't know WHAT the concept is - but now we're all interested.