How Metroid Forces Players to Remember the Whole World

Whenever a Metroid player aquires a new power-up, her mind races back in time in a way not unlike what happens at a turning point in a movie. When a secret is revealed we are forced back through the story to mentally review everything we've seen so far, sometimes changing the interpretation of entire scenes. [...] Since the player never completely leaves an area behind and forgets about it, the game world constantly expands in the mind of the player. By never completely exhausting an area b...

 Developing Puzzle Games Requires Experimentations

...you need fewer art assets to build a simple puzzle game. This is very good news for small developers, and for those just starting out in gaming. One or two people can build a world-class puzzle game. It would be next to impossible for one or two people to build a world-class third-person action game from scratch (and be finished by the end of the millennium). Puzzle games generally require puzzle pieces, such as blocks, widgets, shapes, or gizmos of some kind. Once you have built these obj...

 Characteristics of Good Computer RPG Games

RPG players are challenged to build many physical, mental, magical, and alliance- oriented traits and leanings for their characters, and to then build relationships with other characters as well. There is a natural design emphasis on how characters are built, and what building a character then means in the context of that character’s world. RPGs can be heavy on asset creation in art, because multiple character types, features, unique abilities, costuming, settings, props, items, and specia...