Do's and Don't's in Game Design

Making computer games is a departure from the typical "business" software development. It's closer to movie making and general entertainment. However, there are some best practices, and some far too common faults that can make or break your game, just like in normal software development.

• DO Break the Fourth Wall; The best games immerse the player into the game, by having a strong plot, a tight atmosphere, or by acknowledging the player's presence and making him part of the experience. Metal Gear Solid did this famously with the phantom Dual Shock controller; Batman Arkham Asylum turned everything upside down; The Command & Conquer install screen was a direct uplink to GDI. Games that erase the boundaries of the game with reality are stronger, and deserve their WTF moments.
• DON'T Release Crap; this seems obvious, yet somehow IT in all industries falls for this fate. Fatal bugs are death in the gaming industry. It puts me off when a game freezes every two steps, or drops back to the OS. It puts me off when multiplayer lobbies don't work. It puts me off when controls remain unresponsive. It puts me off when progress is broken if you don't do things EXACTLY as the programmer intended (and if you don't, you get stuck). If something isn't working, fix it, or don't bother releasing it.
• DO Have Strong Female Characters; Games with strong, attractive female leads generate sympathy from the player. Male players have something to ogle over, and care for (feeding their nurturing and heroic traits); female players have something to empower themselves with. Lara Croft, how horribly bimbo-ish she could be, she did inspire a legion of women to open up. If that ain't feminism, I don't know what is.
• DON'T Have a Skyrocketing Learning Curve; Games are supposed to be challenging, but still fun. Super Mario ended up as a very tough game, yet it eases you into things in the early going, giving you time to adjust to new challenges. It's also very easy to reward you modestly if you pick things up. How different was the first cycling manager game. There was no tutorial mode, and you basically mucked about, finishing last in every event, without the game telling you how you can be more successful.
• DO Have a powerful soundtrack; Indeed the exposure a video game soundtrack has on a player far outguns the exposure most recording artists have in the general public. And if you have a good one, you can double up and sell CDs as well. Uncharted had an amazing soundtrack. Metal Gear had an amazing soundtrack. C&C has always been a home run music-wise. EA Sports always has an eclectic selection of singles packed with its games. And for each and every single one of these games, I would actually have them on my iPod.
• DON'T Write the Plotline on the Back of a Napkin; You know why C&C4 is reviled among the gaming faithful? The plot makes no bloody sense. The motivations of the characters go from nice to bastard in no time flat; you have no idea whose side you're on, and why you are fighting for them. Final Fantasy XIII suffers much the same fate. Absolutely atrocious character development, whining little boys (always a pet peeve, as well as clowns), and too much jargon thrown around. Game designers don't need to insult my intelligence, but they also don't need to act to smug either.