Fallout co-creator Tim Cain has stressed the importance of not assuming what the players are going to do if your game is non-linear.
"Rule one, our game is nonlinear – don't assume that players will go somewhere first or talk to someone first," Cain explains in a new YouTube video titled Eight Level Design Guidelines. "I wanted to remind level designers that just because you put a guard outside the town, don't assume that everybody will stop and talk to that guard."
