> I was just talking with Sam about this last night, actually. I've got two maps drawn of the four that I plan to have (my game idea calls for four separate 'worlds'), but I currently haven't a clue as to what actually happens at any of the locations I've placed on the maps. I've got a pretty simplistic backstory sort of worked up, and that's pretty much it.

My game sounds similar to Dave's. And so does my design. I've got two maps worked out (actually, I have like 10 maps drawn, because I have gone through drafts and I also have maps that show the way the world looks, a map that shows the puzzles at each location [and how they fit in elsewhere], a map that just has locations [and the file names I intend to use for them] as well as a general overview). Perhaps I'm being a little anal here...

One problem I'm facing is that my game calls for the player to journey through each world in a non-linear order. But each world has a specific goal to accomplish that can't be accomplished without obtaining an item or doing something in every other world. This means that when I'm designing stuff I have to leave certain puzzles blank because I haven't designed the other world, and I'm not entirely certain what you'll need to get through that point. It's rather confusing to describe, but now that I'm almost done with one of the worlds (the one you start in acts as a hub to the others more than anything else) I'm fairly certain design will move much quicker on the others.

I'm also going to have rather little backstory. I'm purposely using a cliched plot just because I enjoy making puzzles and such more than I do writing. My story came out of my game, rather than the other way around. I decided on the idea of having to venture between the worlds and then thought up a reason to make you do this. My puzzles also dictate terrain and the "look" of the land rather than the other way; if there's a river or something it's there for a puzzle purpose more than I just think a river would be neat there (though this doesn't apply totally, but it's too difficult to describe without giving away more than I'd like to).

>
> Like I said to Sam, there is a very real danger of me completely losing interest once it comes to the actual implementation of the game in AGLL. I'm generally more 'into' the big picture aspect of any project--once I have it mapped out the way I want it to go, I often find I no longer have any real impetus to actually *do* it. For me, the fun is more in the design phase than the implementation phase.

I rather look forward to when I start doing the actual coding. I don't mean I'll relish every line, but I enjoy the logical puzzles that come with programming as much (if not more) as I like designing the world. One of the reasons my design was initially slowed was because I kept pausing to write the location file just to see if I could come up with a way to do what I wanted to (and then I'd send it off to Sam, who'd tell me I could do what I wanted, but I'd have to work it differently).

In all honesty though, this week was my finals week so the game got put on the back burner. Now that classes are out until January I intend to get back to work...