Wandering over to game programming dev site GameDev.net, I spotted their multitude of interviews with 2007 Independent Games Festival finalists - it's great to see them going to the trouble to find and chat to most of the final 20 or so. [Obvious disclaimer: I'm the Chairman of the IGF, but you knew that.]

Anyhow, any number of the pieces are informative, but to pick a couple of random examples: Armadillo Run's Peter Stock talks about his inspirations:

"One of my friends showed me a couple of physics-based games back in 2001 and I really liked the idea of using physics as part of a game's gameplay. It seemed pretty novel and it can make the gameplay less linear and more freeform. The first game we found was Stair Dismount, which is great fun - all from just pushing a rag-doll man down a flight of stairs. We later found Bridge Builder, which we also spent a lot of time playing. I'd say that these two games helped me come up with the idea - combining the 2D design-test concept of Bridge Builder with some dynamics."

Also, the Armada Online chaps discuss the project's history, as follows: "My name is Mark Jordan. A long time ago Roger Fang and I made a game called Armada for the Dreamcast. We recently acquired the rights to our old game, and started EvStream in early 2005 to make Armada Online... Armada DC is a 4 player action game."

"Armada Online drives more like an RTS, though you are still controlling just one ship, and you can hold down the mouse button to continuously move, make tight turns, and dodge. Both were about exploring the universe and fighting biomechanical aliens, and both owe a lot to Starflight, but Armada DC skewed more toward Gauntlet, and Armada Online is closer to the core feel of Starflight."