Game development

Der Prototyp looks as if it ought to decline like der Zustandsautomat further down the list, and in the singular it does not. It belongs to a small group of masculine nouns that are strong in the singular and weak only in the plural: the genitive is des Prototyps, the dative dem Prototyp, and the -en turns up only when there are several, die Prototypen. Der Staat and die Staaten, der Schmerz and die Schmerzen work the same way. Der Zustandsautomat, by contrast, is a true weak noun and carries its -en everywhere but the nominative: vom Zustandsautomaten gesteuert. In a studio you will hear den Prototypen for a single build as well, but careful writing keeps the singular strong. The rest of the list follows the work itself, from das Spielprinzip to der Feinschliff.