[{"content":" Next Actions Call # $300\n1 hr minimum\nSpend an hour with us. We\u0026rsquo;ll pinpoint where in your journey our prototpying expertise can be best leveraged and recommend what to do immediately after our meeting.\n","date":"20 August 2026","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/solutions/","section":"ITERIVE STUDIOS","summary":"Next Actions Call # $300\n1 hr minimum\nSpend an hour with us. We’ll pinpoint where in your journey our prototpying expertise can be best leveraged and recommend what to do immediately after our meeting.\n","title":"Get Started Today","type":"page"},{"content":"It may be debatable that Connect 4 is broken at all but if it pleases the court. . .\nConnect 4 Strategy # Connect 4 is a game we all think we understand. It\u0026rsquo;s elegant, approachable, and hides a fundamental flaw: it is a solved game. That means just like another solved game, Tic-Tac-Toe, it ends predictably when both players are good enough. The difference is that even children master Tic-Tac-Toe instantly. Connect 4 is more insiduous. It lures you in with its opening options and moments of triumph. But eventually, the cracks begin to show, patterns emerge, and the magic fades.\nA beginner might start by learning a basic trap: setting up two ways to win so their opponent is forced to block one and lose to the other. As players get better, the board fills up with multiple traps. Each move becomes about avoiding them until there’s no choice but to make a losing move because the board is full.\nAt higher skill levels, the strategy shifts, and here’s where the so-called “parity strategy” comes into play. An intermediate player may focus on a particular trap, but advanced players aim for something more calculated: controlling odd or even rows to engineer statistical advantages.\nThe idea is for Player 1 to stack three pieces in an odd-numbered row, leaving the fourth slot open as bait. Eventually, Player 2 has no choice but to fill it, handing Player 1 the win. Player 2 should aim for even rows while blocking the first player’s odd-row traps. The game pace shifts to more of a grind and what remains is a monotony of avoiding mistakes, rather than playing to win. When two skilled players face off, it is more about enduring the inevitable slog to stalemate—or worse, boredom. 🥱\nThe Quest For A Fix # One evening at a friend’s bar, surrounded by many well-worn Connect 4 boards, we decided to disrupt this deterministic fate. We considered some options: changing the board dimensions, introducing randomness, or altering the moveset. In the context of a bar, where immediate playability was key, we liked the simplicity of moveset adjustments and tried letting each player take two turns in a row. The result was immediate: faster games, deeper strategies, and no time for tedious trap-setting. But success came with a catch.\nDouble-Move Connect 4 Next Turn: Player 1 Reset Game Player 1 Wins!\nPlay Again Tuning The Mechanics # The double move introduced complexity—too much complexity. We immediately limitted the opening move to one move and played a couple rounds. The game was still too cerebral, lengthening turn time and begging for a chess timer. What could be done to strike a balance? We limited the double move to a one-time-use “power-up” per player and played a few more rounds. This shift reduced the cognitive load, maintained the new strategic depth, and kept gameplay accessible. To implement this, we used a simple UI: each player kept a visible stack of 2 tokens to represent their reserve of double moves.\nBonus-Move Connect 4 Next Turn: Player 1 Use Bonus Move Reset Game Player 1 Wins!\nPlay Again Lessons From The Bar # The lesson isn’t about fixing Connect 4 (though, mission accomplished perhaps?). The point is this: if we had been developing a mobile Connect 4 game, I promise you that it would’ve involved meetings, specs, and issue tracker tickets. Instead, we simply played, experimented, and felt things out. Each iteration was barely longer than a round of Connect 4, with only beer refills causing delays.\nNowadays, I only play Connect 4 with one double-move in the chamber. It’s a simple tweak, but it revitalized the game, making every match dynamic and engaging. Sometimes the smallest changes yield the biggest impact—and you don’t need to make a deck to prove it to yourself.\n","date":"2 January 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/blog/connect4/","section":"Insights","summary":"It may be debatable that Connect 4 is broken at all but if it pleases the court. . .\n","title":"A Fast Fix For Connect 4","type":"blog"},{"content":"","date":"2 January 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/issue-tracker/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Issue Tracker","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"2 January 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/mods/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Mods","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"2 January 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/rapid-tools/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Rapid Tools","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"2 January 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/solved-game/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Solved Game","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"2 January 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Tags","type":"tags"},{"content":" Game Development Terms # Welcome to the Iterive Insights glossary. Below is a collection of terms and definitions used in our articles. Please note that these definitions are based on our own experiences and specific to our articles. They will not reflect all the parts of our ever-changing game industry.\nMVP (Minimum Viable Product) # A development technique in which a new product is introduced in the market with basic features, but enough to get the attention of the consumers.\nSolved Game # A solved game is a game where the optimal strategy for one or both players is known. In a solved game, it is possible to determine the outcome of the game (win, lose, or draw) given perfect play by both players. Examples include Tic-Tac-Toe, Checkers, and Connect Four.\nSprint # A set time period during which specific work has to be completed and made ready for review.\nTRC (Technical Requirements Checklist) # A list of requirements which all PlayStation games must pass. Microsoft and Nintendo have their own names for similar requirements: Xbox Requirements (XR) and Lotcheck, respectively. Meta Quest has Virtual Reality Check (VRC) Guidelines.\nIssue Tracker # A tool that allows teams to record, report, and manage issues, bugs, and tasks within a software development project (e.g., Jira, Asana, Trello, Linear).\n","date":"2 January 2025","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/glossary/","section":"ITERIVE STUDIOS","summary":"Game Development Terms # Welcome to the Iterive Insights glossary. Below is a collection of terms and definitions used in our articles. Please note that these definitions are based on our own experiences and specific to our articles. They will not reflect all the parts of our ever-changing game industry.\nMVP (Minimum Viable Product) # A development technique in which a new product is introduced in the market with basic features, but enough to get the attention of the consumers.\n","title":"Glossary","type":"page"},{"content":"The MVP. The Vertical Slice. The Game Demo. This threat takes many forms. How should we approach this beast in game development? We\u0026rsquo;ll talk about their obvious benefits, examine where they falter, and discuss shifting away from rigid milestones.\nThe Old Ways # The Prototype is dangerous for the same reason the old ways before the dawn of agile are dangerous. Long ago, an accepted development model was to build a product like you were building a house. Draw a blueprint, gather materials, then build from the foundation up. Once you started however, you couldn\u0026rsquo;t change certain critical things based on the original idea. Screwed something up in the blueprint? Chose the wrong materials? Tough luck, you either started over or you were stuck with it. Said another way, you were either behind schedule, low on funds, or destined for mediocrity. We had to find a smarter way to anticipate the design mistakes baked into our blueprints from the very start.\nThe Prototype # Rick Rubin, famed music producer who helped define the sound of countless artists, emphasizes the need to experiment. He reminds us that,\n\u0026ldquo;To dismiss an idea because it doesn’t work in your mind is to do a disservice to the art. The only way to truly know if any idea works is to test it. And if you’re looking for the best idea, test everything.\u0026rdquo;\nIn games, “test everything” = “play everything\u0026quot; and so a new hero emerged, The Prototype, sweeping in to save the day. It\u0026rsquo;s like creating a basic but livable space, then refining it. The brilliant game design you love might flop under the scrutiny of real time interactivity. And sometimes, what seems boring or frustrating on paper can be exactly what you need. Ignoring an idea because it doesn\u0026rsquo;t play well in your mind kills creativity. It must be prototyped.\nThe Prototype was brilliant long before computers. The title of this post is not ‘Skip The Prototype’ but it has become a trap in practice. It\u0026rsquo;s still often rigid, stifling early creativity. We\u0026rsquo;ve swapped one rigid model for another. It’s obviously a better model, yet still wholly insufficient.\nEven in pre-production, some teams fall into the old ways. They focus on perfecting the killer pitch, creating a glorious blueprint, high on the idea, driven more by ego than experimentation. The prototype kickoff draws nearer and they fight for their darlings like it’s the last chance to have a good idea, and they are dead right. Then the prototype enters production. Partway into the Prototype schedule, the mechanic is finally playable and we\u0026rsquo;re disheartened to find it so flawed. Fear from straying from the all-mighty sprint and milestone has stifled experimentation.\nStop Guessing, Start Playing # To distance ourselves from this trap, we can distance ourselves from the product. We can distinguish the prototype phase, or the practice of protoyp-ing, from any product we schedule towards, The Prototype (or Vertical Slice or First Playable). This is not about seeing the journey as its own reward. By separating the practice of prototyping from the product, we can better address inefficiencies brought about by the pressures of production (within pre-production). This is a call for flexibility and open-mindedness starting from the inception of an idea. It\u0026rsquo;s about experimenting instantly with every idea, even those that don\u0026rsquo;t initially resonate. Stop trying to play it perfectly and start exploring what plays well. This isn\u0026rsquo;t about finding the right idea. It\u0026rsquo;s more about breaking free from the delusion of confidence in the right idea, and the peace of mind you gain after playing it.\nSo, just stop guessing.\nI’m not trying to outright murder the value of having a strong vision for what is and isn’t fun. I\u0026rsquo;m trying to make the most of your vision, no matter who you are. You’ve likely already had creative sparks whether it is your job or a nagging at your subconscious as a hopeful game developer or student. You are headed for prototyping in either case, and I believe in your ideas\u0026rsquo; potential and I believe in your taste. In order to expediently realize them, perhaps we need to shift our trust from, to rebalance the scales away from, the ethereal visionary. Layer in the primal instinct of the player. Feed and defer to the simple emotional delight of play that brought us all to games in the first place. It is through an unwavering commitment to an extreme collaboration between your ideas and reflexive response as a player that you will quickly discover the game you want to make.\n","date":"1 December 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/blog/first/","section":"Insights","summary":"The MVP. The Vertical Slice. The Game Demo. This threat takes many forms. How should we approach this beast in game development? We’ll talk about their obvious benefits, examine where they falter, and discuss shifting away from rigid milestones.\n","title":"Beware The Prototype","type":"blog"},{"content":"","date":"1 December 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/iterive-basics/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Iterive Basics","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"1 December 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/mvp/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"MVP","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"1 December 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/production/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Production","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"1 December 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/prototyping/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Prototyping","type":"tags"},{"content":"","date":"1 December 2024","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/tags/sprint/","section":"Tags","summary":"","title":"Sprint","type":"tags"},{"content":" Say Hello or inquire about: # Choosing your next game Avoiding re-work Using prototyping in your studio Finding more chances to iterate Speaking engagements Contact: # info@iterive.com\nLos Angeles, CA, USA\n","date":"25 November 2023","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/contact/","section":"ITERIVE STUDIOS","summary":"Say Hello or inquire about: # Choosing your next game Avoiding re-work Using prototyping in your studio Finding more chances to iterate Speaking engagements Contact: # info@iterive.com\nLos Angeles, CA, USA\n","title":"How can we help?","type":"page"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/categories/","section":"Categories","summary":"","title":"Categories","type":"categories"},{"content":"","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/blog/","section":"Insights","summary":"","title":"Insights","type":"blog"},{"content":"Video Game Prototyping | Find the Fun Quickly\nBeware The Prototype 1 December 2024 The MVP. The Vertical Slice. The Game Demo. This threat takes many forms. How should we approach this beast in game development? We\u0026rsquo;ll talk about their obvious benefits, examine where they falter, and discuss shifting away from rigid milestones. ","externalUrl":null,"permalink":"/","section":"ITERIVE STUDIOS","summary":"Video Game Prototyping | Find the Fun Quickly\nBeware The Prototype 1 December 2024 The MVP. The Vertical Slice. The Game Demo. This threat takes many forms. How should we approach this beast in game development? We’ll talk about their obvious benefits, examine where they falter, and discuss shifting away from rigid milestones. ","title":"ITERIVE STUDIOS","type":"page"}]