I like to prototype game concepts in my downtime. It helps keep myself and the team busy and sharp. While we wait for paying work, we can test drive new technologies and ideas that will only make us that much faster when we need to deliver quickly. And, It gives us the chance to wear different hats. I’m doing more of the design and writing while our new junior mucks about with AS3 allowing me to mentor. We’ve already found that some of prototype code can be rolled into a real project.
For instance, John Stringham, a fresh recruit here at Blast Radius, has worked out a particle system for this game that he then re-used in a winter campaign.
You can follow our progress through our team blog:Digger Dwarves Team Blog. I’ve enjoyed following other brave game developer blogs that show early stage concepts.
So far we’ve had a lot of encouragement from other people in the company which is a big plus. We can even record downtime against it.