"Today I'm going to share some of the stuff that I've personally found to be effective to get started prototyping, and avoid some of the very, very common pitfalls; My hope is to encourage all of us, as individuals and as an industry, to start thinking of prototyping as a form of cross-training."

With those words longtime game maker and recently-departed PopCap alum Mark Barrett launched into his GDC 2017 presentation about the value and execution of rapid prototyping. 

His talk was interesting because it tackled a popular, enduring topic from a fresh perspective; for Barrett, game jams and rapid prototyping are a good way to expand your skills as a game maker and become a more capable, well-rounded huan being.

It's a positive message that was underscored with some very practical, actionable advice on how someone with limited experience coding, designing, or creating art can quickly and cheaply produce testable game prototypes.

Now, thanks to the magic of audiovisual recording, you can go back and watch Barrett's talk (completely free!) over on the GDC YouTube channel.

About the GDC Vault

In addition to this presentation, the GDC Vault and its new YouTube channel offers numerous other free videos, audio recordings, and slides from many of the recent Game Developers Conference events, and the service offers even more members-only content for GDC Vault subscribers.

Those who purchased All Access passes to recent events like GDC, GDC Europe, and GDC Next already have full access to GDC Vault, and interested parties can apply for the individual subscription via a GDC Vault subscription page. Group subscriptions are also available: game-related schools and development studios who sign up for GDC Vault Studio Subscriptions can receive access for their entire office or company by contacting staff via the GDC Vault group subscription page. Finally, current subscribers with access issues can contact GDC Vault technical support.

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