I was carousing through a local bookseller's wares today and found an interesting book in the graphics section entitled 'Game Architecture and Design.' Refreshingly, this is the first book about game design I've seen that doesn't revolve around code. While some of the book seems like it might be irrelevant to Coldstone users, I found the first section to pose many questions about things I had taken for granted. Amazon.com like for the book is (url="http://"http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1576104257/o/qid=973930852/sr=8-1/ref=aps_sr_b_1_1/104-1331509-2713504")http://www.amazon.co...o/qid=973930852 /sr=8-1/ref=aps_sr_b_1_1/104-1331509-2713504://http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/A...1331509-2713504://http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/A...1331509-2713504(/url)
Non-Linear/Interactive Storytelling
Are many people planning to create games with a non-linear storyline? How does one go about making the player feel like their choices actually matter? Games like Myst are essentially interactive puzzles with stories attached, and even something like Final Fantasy 3/6 could be an electronic novel if you took out the combat. How important do you want the player (not the player's character) to feel in your story? Anybody have any tips for writing stories in this manner?
Balance
I've given up on shareware games of all kinds before because the seduction curve (that is, the amount of time you have to spend to get hooked) was too steep. On the other hand, making things too easy for the player will strip any sense of challenge (and therefore reason for playing) they might otherwise get from your game. How do you strike a correct balance?
There were quite a number of other things I'm forgetting at the moment; but I think that since we have many budding game designers on this forum, a discussion the pitfalls is probably a good idea.
Call me selfish; I'd rather have better games to choose from. 
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(This message has been edited by sanehatter (edited 11-11-2000).)
