prototype-fast
Build a playable prototype in about an hour to answer one question — is it fun? — with greybox primitives, a hard timebox, and explicit keep/kill criteria. Use when prototyping a mechanic, making a vertical slice or MVP, greyboxing/blockout, or judging throwaway vs keep.
npx skills add gamedev-skills/awesome-gamedev-agent-skills --skill prototype-fast --agent claude-code
Same command for any agent — swap --agent for codex, cursor, copilot.
Weekly change comes from our own snapshots, not the repository page — it measures attention, not adoption.
# Prototype Fast Get a mechanic into a player's hands fast to learn whether it's worth building. The output of a prototype is a **decision** (keep / kill / refactor), not a product. Optimize for learning speed, and decide up front whether the code is throwaway or load-bearing. ## When to use - Use when validating a single mechanic or "what if", building a vertical slice / MVP, greyboxing a level or interaction, or de-risking an idea before committing real time. - Use when the user says "just get something playable", "is this fun?", or "rough it in". **When *not* to use:** a timed competition with a deadline and a submission (use `game-jam`); shipping or updating a real release (use `steam-publish` / `itch-publish`); building the production version of a validated feature (use the engine/genre skill directly). ## Core workflow 1. **Write the one question.** State the single thing the prototype must answer, e.g. *"Is grappling-while-falling satisfying to control?"* If you have two questions, build two prototypes. A prototype that tests everything tests nothing. 2. **Decide throwaway vs keep — before you write code.** Throwaway (a *spike*): hard-code, no architecture, delete after. Kee
- When to use
- Core workflow
- Patterns
- 1. The prototype brief (fill this in before coding)
- 2. Greybox the core loop, fake everything else (engine-agnostic pseudocode)
- 3. Kill criteria — make the keep/kill call observable, not emotional
- 4. Containment: keep a spike out of the shipping codebase
- Pitfalls
- References
- Related skills
What does the prototype-fast skill do?
Build a playable prototype in about an hour to answer one question — is it fun? — with greybox primitives, a hard timebox, and explicit keep/kill criteria. Use when prototyping a mechanic, making a vertical slice or MVP, greyboxing/blockout, or judging throwaway vs keep.
How do I install it?
Run `npx skills add gamedev-skills/awesome-gamedev-agent-skills --skill prototype-fast --agent claude-code` — it drops the skill into your project so the agent can pick it up. Swap the --agent value for codex, cursor or copilot if you use one of those.
Where does this skill come from?
From gamedev-skills/awesome-gamedev-agent-skills, a repository with 406 stars. We read it straight from the repository tree rather than a submitted listing, so what you see here is what is actually published.
Is a popular skill a good skill?
Not necessarily. Stars measure attention, not adoption — a repository can trend for a week and be abandoned. That is why we show the weekly change from our own snapshots next to the total, instead of a single flattering number.