Double Fine's recent public experiment with rapid prototyping, dubbed Amnesia Fortnight, produced five games, and each project lead took to Reddit to talk about how to make a game quickly while borrowing from inspiration.
During the game jam's two weeks, the studio broke down into small teams and created prototypes for each game. Inspiration is a key component to creating a game quickly under those constraints, the developers said.
"If you're starting from scratch I think its good to have some inspiration to start from," wrote Andy Wood, project lead on The White Birch. "What games do you love? Is there something out there you played and thought 'Damn, I wish I'd made that!' If there is and you can break down why you love it so much then you can probably start from there."
"It's hard to start like we did with our influences totally upfront and figure out how to find our own voice in just two weeks."
Brandon Dillon, lead on Hack 'n Slash, echoed Wood's sentiments.
"It's hard to start like we did with our influences totally upfront and figure out how to find our own voice in just two weeks," he wrote. "Journey, I feel, is hugely influenced in style, tone and presentation by those Team ICO games but it built it's own unique style and stands alone. That's the way to do it IMHO."
In response to a question about pressure, Dillon explained he felt it, and he liked it.
"I thought it was a good pressure, though," he wrote. "I personally hope we keep doing them publicly, especially because the people watching the process were generally very nice and supportive."
Though the games only exist as prototypes now, studio head Tim Schafer is hopeful about their future.
"We will try to find funding for all the games, so cross your fingers," he wrote. "(And tell everyone you know about the bundle!)"
Hack ‘n Slash, Spacebase DF9, The White Birch, Autonomous, Black Lake and a bonus prototype for Brazen X4 are available for purchase as a name-your-own-price Humble Bundle.
For more on Double Fine, be sure check out our Double Fine double feature, which explores the studio through interviews with Schafer and the studio's financial guru Steve Dengler.