#13 - Brian Feeney: How to Prove Your Game Ideas With Fast Prototypes

Join us for an exceptional Fireside Chat with the incredibly talented Brian Feeney, Design Director at Riot Games. Brian has helped build some of the most unique worlds in the gaming industry, including his work on League of Legends: Wild Rift. In this episode, we talked to Brian about how he got started as a game developer and how his early years of reading video game strategy guides helped him expand his imagination and view gaming differently from others. In addition, Brian has an incredible skill for prototyping, specifically paper-prototyping, and he walks us through his process and lessons from his development choices. Plus, if you’re a big fan of League of Legends, there’s a rousing conversation around “healing” in the game and how game developers make those choices. Best of all, Brian breaks down some of his favorite tools and software for prototyping if you’re looking to get into the game design industry. Indeed not an episode to miss for aspiring game designers! FULL EPISODE NOTES: https://gamedesignskills.com/podcast/episode-13-brian-feeney (For mentioned resources, people, links, and additional ways to enjoy the episode) -----

0:47 - Brian Feeney’s game dev background and experience
2:17 - Why is Brian Feeney known as FeralPony in the game dev community
7:10 - How did Brian get into professional game design
14:10 - How to better understand game development from a user perspective
17:36 - How AAA designers use paper-prototyping to prove expensive ideas
19:58 - Legends of Runeterra paper prototype
22:02 - Paper prototype examples made by Brian
26:25 - The reward paradox of good game design and UX design
30:24 - How to use design pillars to prioritize game design trade offs
33:35 - Behind the scenes design decisions behind “healing” in LoL Champion Soraka
48:31 - Early stage prototyping tips for new indie developers
52:36 - Tools and software good for early stage product game development
58:03 - Prototyping vs. pre-preproduction - how to handle each stage
1:04:44 - How to prevent burnouts in your game dev team