Andrew Rollings and Ernest Adams on Game Design

Special Design Considerations

The following special considerations apply especially to adventure games, although there is some crossover with RPGs as well.

Conversations with NPCs

From the original Adventure onward, adventure games have always faced the problem of how to create realistic NPCs in the game world. RPGs have this problem, too, but in most of them, the NPC's conversation is defined by the role to which he's assigned: blacksmith, healer, tavern keeper, and so on. The player doesn't expect to be able to discuss arms and armor with a tavern keeper (although the games might be more interesting, and certainly less formulaic, if he could). But because adventure games are interactive stories, players expect the characters in them to be more ...