Complex game worlds, simple interfaces
The whole point of egamebook is to allow for complex game worlds that are controlled by a series of simple choices. By simple, I don’t mean “easy” or “without complex consequences”. I just mean they’re not a complicated interface.1 They’re a list of 2 to 5 options to choose from.
A good way to explain this is to imagine that you’re playing a game through another person. Let’s call this person Interface. You’re sitting behind a curtain while Interface sits in front of the computer and describes to you the situation on the screen. He then gives you options.
If Interface is totally brain dead, he can give you options like “Do you want me to click on this button?” or “Do you want me to move forward one step?” Let’s call these micro-options. They are the lowest level of decisions and you make them a thousand of times per hour. Brain dead Interface would also give you another type of options: dumb options. These would be things like “Do you want to scrap the tank you just built?” or “Do you want to walk into the wall?”
But a person with any amount of intelligence would ask differently. Such Interface would give you options like “Do you want to attack from the north?” or “Do you want to peek into the other room?” I call those real options.
