← Solo Game Dev
Day 26 of 30✓ Sent
From Prototype to Alpha — What Changes and When to Make It
Know when your prototype is ready to become a real game — and what that transition looks like.
Email subject:From Prototype to Alpha — What Changes and When to Make It
Topics Covered
- •The prototype exit criteria: core mechanic feels fun, someone else played it and understood it, you still want to build it
- •Alpha = prototype + content + real assets + basic UI. Not polished. Not complete. But recognisable as a real game.
- •Content pipeline: level design, asset integration, audio, UI. Each is a separate workstream — AI helps with all four.
- •Technical debt from prototyping: refactor before alpha, not after. Claude Code can help restructure messy prototype scripts.
- •Alpha playtest: 3-5 players, unguided. Watch them play — don't explain anything. Note where they get stuck or bored.
- •Alpha milestone: 10-20% of final content, all core systems working, one complete level start-to-finish