A vertical slice is one small part of your game built to the quality of the finished game: gameplay, art, sound, UI and the way a new player starts it, all working together. Everything else stays unbuilt. It answers one question: can you actually make this game at the quality you have in mind, and how long does it take?

I make Tingbase, a 3v3 hero shooter, in Unity 6 and C# (Steam app 4086630), and I’m building my second game, Mini Games Arena (Steam app 5080600), in Unity too. Below is how I think about a slice for both of them.

Prototype, slice or demo

Prototype / grey box Vertical slice Demo

Question it answers Is it fun? Can we make this at final quality? Will players want more?

Quality Rough on purpose Near-final in every layer Polished where players look

Who it is for You and a few testers You, your team, a publisher Players and press

What you learn Whether to keep the idea What finished content costs How people react

A prototype comes first.…