notes.txt

Random shared notes go here.

Also some helpful philosophical reminders about things we've found
make a game really great:

  * great characters; they are the main story and focus, not the puzzles.
  * ongoing humor
  * backstory increasingly revealed
  * dynamically changing enivronment;  events progress around you
  * parser is a character, or at least has "attitude"
  * default responses are changed to match game's geist
  * rewards you with humor for repeating actions
  * xyzzy
  * context-sensitive hints
  * awesome denoument

If possible, try to write a transcript of the game before you type a
lick of code;  otherwise the novelty of programming/implementation
will distract you from doing good creative writing.  Implementation is
meaningless if you don't have a solid story and characters first.