Need Help With Puzzle Design

[consolcwby]

Hi everybody! I'm new to this site and RMMV, but not programming. I am AWFUL coming up with ideas for puzzles and I was hoping if people here could weigh in on some general ideas. It might even give others some food for thought. (But if I posted in the wrong place, I apologize in advance.)

So, here's the set-up:
The first town the player goes into has four businesses, which have been cursed. They all look the same, barren but stockpiled - with a clown and a playboy bunny as workers. There is a stairway leading nowhere but to the ceiling. When the player solves each step of the puzzle, the businesses will revert to normal shops. My idea was to finish the quests in the town before tackling this, and I have completely run out of ideas for this! So... what the HELL kind of puzzle(s) leaps out at you? I mean, what can I possibly do with this?

A pic of the "Typical" Businesses:

 

[Dad3353]

@consolcwby ...

If you like reading, you could start here...

Adventure Game Puzzles ...

... which might inspire you, as many differing concepts are raised, which you could turn into something suitable.
If not, I could list a dozen puzzle types, such as searching for a Key hidden in the Shop (maybe not the Shop where it is to be found..?), asking each NPC for clues, which have to be pieced together, being given a Task by each, to be achieved in a different Shop ("Fetch me a pound of Sugar, please..?"), or simply moving Events to uncover a Trap to a Cellar, with hidden Passages to the other Shops.
I could go on; have you any preference in the type of Puzzle you're after (Logic, Maths, Dialogue, Riddles, Quests etc, or a mix of several...)
Once we get a handle on your thinking, I'm sure they'll be a flood of suggestions.

 

[consolcwby]

Dad, thanks for the link. Honestly, between the world building and the main quest-line I haven't had the foggiest idea what to do. One of my problems has always been integration. For example, I hated playing Myst and Riven - yet the puzzle integration is (imho) fantastic. I think the creative and logic sides of my brain don't get along very well, and it amazes me how easy puzzles come to some people. One of the Key Items which the player can uncover in the town will unlock the puzzle quest. Right now it's just called McGuffin_232. Why? I have no idea. It's just a placeholder for a clue. The game itself is about Order becoming fused with Chaos. The town, Heartfelt, is the first signs of this happening. That's why I'm stumped - it's important the puzzle reinforces this idea. But how do I keep it inline with the idea without revealing to the player too soon what is really going on. The only background in puzzles is xand and xor binary puzzles. And their always lame. If you or anyone else has any ideas, I could use some experienced advice. The link is fantastic, btw. It's an excellent primer on the stuff I used to play! So, thanks!

 

[Dad3353]

@consolcwby ...

Just a word to say 'Don't despair'... I'm working on a puzzle which may fit the '4 Shops' bill; the only way I can find out how to create it is by doing it myself..! I've done the Shops, and have a notion of what's to happen; hang on in there and chaos may, indeed, tend towards an order of sorts..! Based rather loosely on the old 'how to cross a river with a wolf, a goat and a cabbage' principle, it gets a little bit more complicated when one mixes in more elements. No idea how long it'll take me, but I'll keep you up to date on progress.
[Terminator] "I"ll be back..!" [/Terminator]

 

[Jiriki9]

@consolcwby: If it is clueish item names you long for, how about something like "strange bill" and a description that gives more clues, like different items on the shopping list which seem reasonable, but with some strange edges...4 example: 3 flagons of swords, 1 bag of milk, 2 ripe torches and a 7 steel peaches. And of course there would have to be SOME resemblance in the shops. Here, the items could appear in the shops' boxes, only obtainable with that bill, and obtaining the item is the first step to revert the shops to normal. Just a quick idea, brought up by you mentioning key item names.

 

[Dad3353]

@consolcwby ...

Well, I finally managed to master the maths of this, and got a working model of the key part of the puzzle. Here's a screen shot, just as a 'tease'...

Spoiler

The idea is that these have been delivered to the wrong Shop (which is why they're stored on the roof...). Our Hero will be asked to take them, 1 or 2 at a time, in a basket, to the correct Shop. There are constraints, however... The basket must never be empty, and no Egg is to be left alone with the other Parents (because it'll get eaten..!).

Spoiler

How to get all 6 across to their correct Shop, all intact..? Aha..!

Here they all are, on another Shop (...but is that the right Shop for these..?

)

Spoiler

Does this look like the kind of puzzle you could use..? It's been fun so far, and I've already decided to push further, so as to have all 4 Shops with mixed-up goods to be sorted out in the same fashion. Hours of fun..!
Obviously, the graphics are fine for me, but can be considered as 'place-holders' if it's to be integrated into another concept of Mapping.
Any good to you..? Feel free to not like it; I'll be working it out fully anyway; I'm daft like that..!

 

[Stevushka]

@consolcwby ...

Well, I finally managed to master the maths of this, and got a working model of the key part of the puzzle. Here's a screen shot, just as a 'tease'...

Spoiler

The idea is that these have been delivered to the wrong Shop (which is why they're stored on the roof...). Our Hero will be asked to take them, 1 or 2 at a time, in a basket, to the correct Shop. There are constraints, however... The basket must never be empty, and no Egg is to be left alone with the other Parents (because it'll get eaten..!).

Spoiler

How to get all 6 across to their correct Shop, all intact..? Aha..!

Here they all are, on another Shop (...but is that the right Shop for these..?

)

Spoiler

Does this look like the kind of puzzle you could use..? It's been fun so far, and I've already decided to push further, so as to have all 4 Shops with mixed-up goods to be sorted out in the same fashion. Hours of fun..!
Obviously, the graphics are fine for me, but can be considered as 'place-holders' if it's to be integrated into another concept of Mapping.
Any good to you..? Feel free to not like it; I'll be working it out fully anyway; I'm daft like that..!

Wow, I really love the idea of replicating the wolf-goat-cabbage puzzle into the game, I'll have to use that in my game somehow!