Its refreshing to see other game developers on here, but its mostly been us programmers. Design is so critical. A lot of great thoughts in your posts so far.
I'm looking forward to the prototyping phase. Both when I was in AAA and now as indie / hobby we use the paper simulation method, getting a group together, putting game elements on paper and playing through it on a table, discussing what we like, don't like and what could make it better along the way.
But I don't want to steal your fire, so I'll stop there. :) I can't wait to read about that and perhaps other prototyping methods you have used!
Nice to meet you and thanks for the comments! You are right on the money about prototyping. Cheap and fast is the name of the game and paper prototyping is one of the best tools available. More in the next article ;)