Some core decisions

Wonderfl is seriously awesome.

So, I'm deciding between many methods here. I've got the following dichotomies:

Platform vs Adventure
On the one hand, I want left to send you left, right to send you right, and when you lift those keys, you should stop. I would like, which is to say that it isn't indispensable, for the act of killing to be a tense skill challenge. Pointing and clicking is right out.
On the other hand, you can investigate items and navigate menus. It almost sounds like an adventure game, like Monkey Island in Space where you play as LeChuck, but I want it to remain solid, I want to see a little health bar as you drain the life from a crewmember. Hmm.

Invincible vs Vulnerable
While combat should be tense, I don't want players frustrated by the skill of an npc. I also don't want to make a game out of "run at people while they shoot you with very advanced weapons". But can it be done? If you're never in any danger and all they can do is run, won't you just plod along until you corner them? Where is the urgency?

The fact is, in the Crossing, you don't live and die by the sword. There is no "Game Over" screen when you fail; you know your goal, and you know your failure. It's a little sand boxy in that way. But adding player health could add some tension. Maybe a big health bar could appear when you're shot, and the miniscule portion that vanishes as you get hit just feeds your experience of being an intimidating monster. Or maybe npcs could pull out a firearm and shoot you to no effect.

Scripted vs Dynamic
I could give the NPCs a loose daily schedule, something like an AI package for work, a package for recreation, meals, and sleep. I could let little disputes and romances boil up and whirl off like dust bunnies. This is close to my original idea for the game, but it's far-fetched in its full glory.

What I could also do is tightly script the whole thing, and branch off many paths. I don't want to cut corners, so this would be...

4 crew members, each with an important job and a distinct personality.
1 dies every day for 4 days; this is the game.
Every death affects a person differently at every stage, so in effect, there are 24 endings. Start out by killing x's loved one, and he might not even bother to call for help. Man, this game is sick. And not in that annoying way that means "really good", I mean like, if you play this game, (thankyou and) you should be locked up.

Getting back on track, scripting it will be tedious and only a little fun. Writing AI is always fun, but it's easier this way to forget something. This is my main problem right now, but I do have one more.

Goodfellow vs Moloch
You play as a monster. You aren't a monster in real life though (ARE YOU?!), and you don't want to kill people and hide the bodies and drink their blood (DO YOU?!), so how do I motivate the player to play the game? Make it necessary, and give them a bastard to kill first. When you've killed, you get stronger, and people get tense and say horrible things. There's a fine line emerging here between Righteous Fury and Power Overwhelming; if you're on a ship full of bastards, even a normal person might just accidentally open an airlock. If you're basically toying with helpless mortals, you'll get bored. Nobody knows why this hasn't happened with GTA yet. Maybe because it's really really fun.

Okay, so maybe this isn't a choice I have to make. Maybe there's merit to both sides. Maybe I'll have a few bastard qualities for everyone, and maybe I'll put in a "lift crew member ten feet up and drain them dry during Seinfeld in the rec room" mode.

Free vs Modestly Priced
Two things can happen. Number one, next month this blog is covered in dust. Number two, in two years I release an awesome game beyond any of my current expectations. For free. Like an ass. I want to make some money on it just as a matter of principle, so I can cite it as experience. But I don't want to try to sell something worthless; there are a lot of excellent designers, and I'm sure lots of people knock out vaguely interesting tripe in game maker. This is a question for the beta.