How to Prototype a Mystery Game in 7 Days

7 lessons learned from building fast, cutting scope, and shipping anyway

There’s only one week left before the winners from the Mystery Game Jam are announced. If you submitted an entry, you’re eligible to vote for the winners, so please be sure to do that soon! Otherwise, you can (and should) leave comments on the games, because developers love hearing feedback from players.

You can find the full list of games from the jam right here!

Speaking of the game jam, I was fortunate enough to submit my own entry this year.

Despite the jam having a 30-day time limit, I only had 7 full days available in my schedule, but I managed to get it done. Not only that, but it was a game in a genre that I don’t normally make, and I learned how to use technology I’d never used before.

The result was a strong portfolio piece that challenged my limits, taught me new skills, and gave me a solid foundation for a new project.

In today’s post, I’m going to dive deep into the lessons I learned from creating my game’s prototype. You’ll read specific, real-world examples of how to:

• Identify an idea worth prototyping

• Know what features to build for your MVP

• Use AI to speed up creativity, not replace it

• Make your prototype ready for real users

• Polish your prototype’s presentation

• Cut features to stay within a reasonable scope

• Publish your prototype even when you’re not ready

So with that said — here are the 7 lessons I learned: