Interactive Entertainment Design Volume 7

I changed the name of the journal to reflect the new direction in which I was going. This marked the beginning of the end of the journal. The subscribers, mostly techies, stopped resubscribing when I chopped out the technical material. All that theory just didn't interest them. And boy, was there some great theory in this volume! "Fundamentals of Interactivity", "Segmentation Considerations", "Control Versus Interactivity", "Flawed Methods" -- these are all good solid essays. A new feature was the design review; the entries in this category were pretty good, but not great. Also good but not great were the "How to Think" essays. For the most part, these repeat truisms widely acknowledged and universally ignored. There are also some cute items: "The Mannikin and the Black Box", "A Thought on Box Copy", "Game Phylogeny, and "Objects Versus People". Embarrassingly defensive are "Ga-Ga Over Graphics", "Revolution and Apocalypse", "Thoughts on the Disney Brouhaha", and "I Told Ya So!".

Fundamentals of Interactivity

How to Think: Intellectual Integrity

Review: The Madness of Roland

Segmentation Considerations

Ga-Ga Over Graphics

How to Think: Algorithmic Thinking

Revolution and Apocalypse

Review of Myst

A Thought on Box Copy

Objects Versus People

How to Think: The Perils of GroupThink

Game Phylogeny Recapitulates Human Mental Ontogeny

Flawed Methods for Interactive Storytelling

Book Review: Understanding Comics

Control Versus Interactivity

Thoughts on the Disney Brouhaha

How to Think: Enconium Negativism

I Told Ya So!

Design Review and Analysis: Doom

How to Think: The Net

The Mannikin and the Black Box

Personality Modelling