Rethinking prototyping for audio games: On different modalities in the prototyping process

Abstract

There are many similarities between prototyping for traditional computer games and prototyping for other interactive systems, for example, applications for the work place. In most cases, pen and paper are used to initially test design ideas and feasibility. However, in audio games pen and paper can be rather useless for sketching the user experience of sound. In this paper, we argue that conventional lo-fi prototyping techniques are less appropriate for audio game design and take a look at existing models of game design processes. In this course, we identify and describe a major challenge in prototyping audio games, which we named “Change of Modality”.