Don’t let your proto graveyard scare you. Its value cannot be measured in the present.

Whether it’s reusable code, lessons learned or simply having stumbled upon an unexpected idea the value is there. Musicians don’t sit down and write masterpieces start to finish, all screenplays have rewrites and every book has an editor. Games are no different. A discarded prototype may not reveal its worth to you as it’s going into the garbage bin, but that doesn’t mean it was without value.