Hi everyone.

I've recently had an idea for a maze game where the player can push specially marked pieces of wall to get through the maze. The first maze has been designed so that then player starts from the center and works his way out. I've thought of the maze being in a spaceship and the player must find his way out. However, I'm not sure how I can come up with a shortstory to accompany the level. Any ideas? How do you write a story around a game mechani?

Asking yourself a number of questions, as you answer some then others will probably become easier to answer and lead to further questions.

Some examples in no particular order:

Why is the player in the maze?

Why does the player need/want to escape?

Why is the location a maze?

Who is the player?

For you example of a spaceship this might be:

The player was the pilot of the spaceship which crashed so due to the damage the spaceship has become a maze which the player needs to escape to survive.

This could then lead you to other locations to continue the story such as a garden then a cave system then a communications tower.

Tough questions. I mean, I have ideas.but they all seem vague.

The player could have been exploring the area (like a valley or something). And discovered it, got lost in it?

Its an abandoned alien ship?

I read a novel by Octavia Butker called "Dawn". The aliens in the novel used their hands to open walls (so,etching about their DNA I think). But I thought their had to be a trade off for that like a loss of mass. That's how I justify the player moving different pieces of wall.

Am I over thinking the story?nit still doesn't feel complete.

Am I over thinking the story?

No. Think more. Dragoncar's questions are a good place to start. Make your answers un-vague.

What about the Hero is trapped inside Is mind due to space dementia and the puzzles is his way to fight it so he can be sane an come back to earth. I would go along those lines if it is a slow paced puzzle game. For a fast paced one would prefer the clumsy spaceship engineer who is trying to keep is job. Hope it helps!

The player is an archaeologist in the jungle and discovered an ancient city. But one misstep sends him tumbling down a deep, deep hole.. He must find a way out or become like the pile of bones he fell on that broke his fall.

Do you need a story in the first place? I mean, if it's puzzle players probably would not care anyway. Note that not all games require story (Tetris does not for example :D).

Also skeleton stories might work here. Like no text, but you see a kitten on the other side of the river, when you reach the animal the level is completed (story being obvious here).

Do you need a story in the first place? I mean, if it's puzzle players probably would not care anyway. Note that not all games require story (Tetris does not for example ).

Also skeleton stories might work here. Like no text, but you see a kitten on the other side of the river, when you reach the animal the level is completed (story being obvious here).

I agree completely. The main story-related question is how knowing the story would help the player solve wall-pushing maze puzzles: probably not at all.

In a roleplaying game knowledge of the "story" is useful because it puts characters and situations in context and allows the player to predict what will happen and make wiser choices, but in a true puzzle game nothing beyond the actual structure of puzzles can be allowed to have any relevance. If you want a puzzle game with a story, you actually want an hybrid of puzzle and something else, in which puzzles should still be "pure".