1. Consider the product’s goal.
2. Consider who will be using it.
3. Consider what your audience intends to do with it.
4. Is it clear how to use it?
5. How does your user know it’s working?
6. Is it engaging to your users?
7. How does it handle mistakes?

Prototypes keep us focused on our actual goal. I’ve seen countless hours spent generating thousands of pages of documentation that were never used…

Prototyping allows us to see problems more clearly—and often earlier—in the design and development process.

The rise of Ajax and rich internet applications has thrown the limitations of traditional wireframing into painful relief. When you leave the world of page-based interactions, how do you document all but the simplest interactions? Flowcharts and diagrams don’t work. Prototyping saves the day by focusing on the application and conveying its “magic.” Prototypes can help you sell a decision that is fundamentally or radically different from the client’s current solution or application. Sit a stakeholder down in front of a working prototype and show him or her why your approach is compelling.

The advantages of building this prototype rather than going straight to the 3D version are obvious; by the time the world was being implemented in 3D, the team already knew that they had a working game on their hands. Moreover, they knew that they had something fun - and The Sims 3 was already capable of surprising its creators with the emergent behaviour that came out of its complex, trait-based character creation system.

[...]

The blue-sky approach used [...] may seem decadent to other developers working to shorter schedules and tighter budgets, but the principles at work here remain fascinating. It’s not just about exploring concepts for the design, after all; the studio’s prototypes also allowed mistakes to be made in simple, cheap 2D models, rather than in an expensive, artwork-filled 3D world. So while some aspects of the process may sound more pie-in-the-sky than blue-sky - in some regards, taking lessons from how The Sims 3 has been built could be a decision that’s as sound financially as it is creatively.

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