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Designing an adventure game is both an art and a craft. Whereas art cannot be taught, only commented upon, craft at least can be handed down: but the tricks of the trade do not make an elegant narrative, only a catalogue. This small collection of essays is just such a string of grits of wisdom and half-baked critical opinions, which may well leave the reader feeling unsatisfied. One can only say to such a reader that any book claiming to reveal the secret of how to paint, or to write novels, should be recycled at once into something more genuinely artistic, say a papier-mache sculpture.

Thoughts on the art and craft of adventure game design. The articles cover design issues, elements of adventures such as puzzles, and analyses of successful games.

To build a theory of interactive fiction that is useful in deeply understanding how interactive fiction is experienced, and how better sorts of works can be created, a stronger approach than that of the theory-bag is necessary, one which distinguishes those elements of interactive fiction that result from it being [...]

If someone tells you that your story is 'episodic', they mean that your story is a series of episodes, or events, that are very loosely tied together. The "events" crop up one after the other as a way of entertaining the reader, but there is little character growth between one episode and the next. Nor can we easily see how one event grows out of the one before.

What does it look like, sound like, feel like, taste like, smell like? When you describe a person or event, your reader is there with you. When you tell, the reader relaxes to the point of mental slumber.