Wind and Waves Prototype
On Monday, 25 August 2025, I was affected by Rec Room laying off half of its staff. Bummer.
On Tuesday, 26 August 2025, I decided to make a game.
It’s been a while since I created an empty Unity project and made something. I wanted to prove that I still could. I also wanted to prove that I could keep disciplined on scope and hit a tight deadline. I had tickets to the Seattle Loves Indie Creators Exposition (SLICE) on Wednesday, and I wanted to walk around with this prototype on my phone to put in peoples’ hands.
So, what to make? Where to pull inspiration from? Well - like many others I have recently been enjoying PEAK. I love the elegance of stamina management as the core game mechanic. Players climb the mountain using stamina. Stamina can be debuffed by carrying items, incurring hunger, or incurring other status effects. Stamina can be buffed by eating food to gain temporary stamina, eating a food that gives infinite stamina for a time, or by using items that reduce stamina usage while climbing. PEAK is all about stamina.
In addition to PEAK, I finally had the opportunity to play Wind Waker for the first time. It’s been on my to-play list ever since it released. And I love it! I have played about a dozen Zelda games. Wind Waker stands out as my favorite. Generally, I love exploring. Exploring the Great Sea is a true delight. I enjoy the simple sailing mechanics and the general feeling of the open sea.
So - let’s mash these together. What if boats had a stamina bar? Could that be fun?
And thus, the Wind and Waves prototype was created.
Funny enough, I did have to cut the wind and waves mechanics to hit my tight 1-day deadline, but it was worth it to build something quickly and put it in peoples’ hands. Here are some things I learned, even with this scrappy 1-day prototype.
With no explicit objective, folks have to be prompted or invent their own objective. This was not a surprise, but it was reinforced by every person who tried out the prototype.
I saw “oh sh!t” moments. When players were hurtling toward a rock without stamina, and had no way to steer, they visibly tensed up. There is something to that moment even in this super rough prototype state.
I saw folks keep playing as we were talking. After steering around and seeing all there is to see, folks would continue to engage as we talked. They would steer to keep the boat among the obstacles, and they would keep steering the boat as we talked. They didn’t hand it back until I asked.
It was a delight to see players’ reaction to this 1-day prototype. There could be something here. As I search for the next step in my career, I will also be working on this prototype to keep myself busy. Both in this prototype and in my career, it is exciting to pull out a blank page and see what I can put on it.
