Don’t punish failure with frustration. One of the signature features of a good videogame is that defeat re-doubles your determination to succeed. Every knock out, spin out, time out or wipe out ought to ignite in the player a desperation to try again. So why put 17 menu selections between them and a restart. One button press – possibly two – is the most Edge is prepared to tolerate between itself and a second chance of victory.

V It’s behind you

Or rather, it isn’t. If you give camera control to the player, don’t require them to be cinematographic perfectionists. They may want to perform sweeping 360 degree shots, they may want to peer round corners at acute and sneaky angles, but mostly they want to see where they’re going. Let the centre the camera behind them with one reliable click.

VI The sound of silence

Game music has the potential to convey atmosphere, emotion and information to the player. But it also has the power to infuriate, enrage and bore. No matter how good, music will always wear thin before the game itself does, because even the most fixed of gameplay patterns is altered on each occasion by player action. The song, however, remains the same, and so the player must always be able to turn it off.

VII Choke chain training

The point of tutorials is to provide an opportunity for experimentation and familiarisation within the gameworld. Edge doesn’t appreciate being hectored and bullied and harassed. Don’t time players, or penalise them for trying out a few extra buttons, or force a restart just because a player dared to deviate from script.

VIII Out of your hands

One of the most delicate tasks a game designer faces is configuring an ideal control scheme, but Edge can see no persuasive argument for denying players the chance to tweak it for themselves. Games that put select where you expect cancel or that offer 16 useless presets are shooting themselves in the foot. Or, more precisely, games that don’t give the choice of whether or not to invert are most likely shooting players in their own foot.

IX Previously on Edge’s sofa

There’s nothing more frustrating than having to give up on a game simply because you left it for a week or two, and can’t remember where to go next. Games should always offer a way of refreshing your memory of your last few in-game accomplishments. Edge would like to make clear that this isn’t the same thing as a flashing, shrieking nagbot that you can’t switch off and won’t stop telling you where to go even when you’re already going there.

X The ten commandments: the final proclamation

Edge has had it with colons, and the simpering subtitles that trail after them. No more Bland Franchise Follow-Up: The Verbing Of The Noun. One game, one name – a simple enough equation and one which there is never any justification to break. If a sequel is fresh enough to deserve a name of its own, then give it a name of its own. If it’s loyal to its originator, then proudly trumpet the fact with a number and leave it at that.（Source：edge-online）