The last 2 months have been focused on a number of things – but primarily prototyping different ideas.

When it comes to prototyping, there are a number of tools that you can use to test a concept.  While I understand the fundamentals of game programming – time constraints from my career mean that I don’t get to spend as much time as I would like learning.  For this reason alone, tools such as GM:Studio are incredible.  With it being so easy to pick up and intuitive – you can quickly put something down to test and play around with it.  Quite often, you can spend an evening or if I’m lucky a weekend really getting creating around a particular theme or idea to see whether its entertaining to use.

The If you have a concept for a game that you think could have some potential, rather than using up more time that necessary – pick up a simpler engine to quickly get down what you need to!  Some of the more popular choices tend to include;

• Gamemaker Studio – Vlambeer’s weapon of choice for the successful Nuclear Throne
• Construct 2 – Used by Konjak, the creator of Noitu Love
• Stencyl – Flash based I believe, useful if you have a history in Flash development

You can find a more comprehensive list of game making tools here.