Some game authors might be interested in reading The Craft of the Adventure by Graham Nelson. It is brief (only 37 pages) and contains principles and ideas you might find useful. It can be found here: http://www.ifarchive.org/if-archive/inf ... enture.pdf

Graham Nelson created the IF language, Inform, and is the author of several well-respected IF games. His biography is available on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graham_Nelson

Brass Lantern has more articles on game design, although they're primarily focused on interactive fiction.

Chris Crawford's seminal The Art of Computer Game Design might also be useful, although his tendency towards self-aggrandisement leaves me cold.

The Craft of Adventure also is focused primarily on IF games. I hoped authors would pay particular attention to chapter 3, The Player's Bill of Rights, which addresses many of the criticisms made of some of the games posted here.