I'm a little bit curious about TOTDC. How did you balance the game? It seems to be quite well balanced through the whole play through so wondered if you structured / planned all /most of the quests and storylines out before you made it or did you just go with an overall (chaotic) plan and then worked your way through from there?
Generally, for most of my games, I first decide how I want the game to play, and settle down on some of the main mechanics. For example, I knew I wanted to make a game on RAGS that had a bit more RPG sprinkled in it, with combat, and I wanted a different system for the mind control (so instead of a "you lose" if your willpower reaches 0, I made it so that the "willpower" of the game affected the corruption rate). For Caliross, I wanted some Zelda-like puzzles, a turn-based combat system and bit of choices and consequences like classic CRPGs.
At the same time, I also try to settle for the main themes, and then I think of the story. I try to have an idea for the main story and its trajectory at this point, while I start playing around with the mechanics, and I try to think what fits best. I never have the luxury of taking a long time to plan everything in detail, so a lot of the details are "improvised", but I always do my best to make it work with the original outline, I rarely ever go back to modify the premise or the characters' personalities, unless I think I did something really wrong.
Once I have the general idea, I just go with the flow. I am just one person, and I don't really have enough time to think carefully so most of the games are first drafts, with some revisions inspired/suggested by testers and players (that's why there are many typos, for example, although testers help with that whenever they can).
