Puzzle help

[Glorb]

This is kind of an embarassing thing to ask for, but I'm working on an interactive fiction game and need help with designing puzzles. I can't say what the game is yet, but I will say it's set in a house. I need logic puzzles that involve stuff besides inserting things into other things and collecting keys (i.e., Zork-style puzzles). If I use the puzzle(s), I will definitely credit you for thinking of them.

[Insane Steve]

What program are you using? I've been wanting to make such a game for some time now.

[Glorb]

Inform (http://www.inform-fiction.org). It's a programming language, which entails typing a bunch of esoteric gobbledygook into a text file and compiling it, but it allows more power over the game itself than, say, Adrift. If you want to use it, I highly recommend the "Inform Designer's Manual" and "Inform Beginner's Guide", as well as studying the various source code examples on the Interactive Fiction Archive (http://www.ifarchive.org).

[NintendoExpert89]

One idea for a "puzzle" I implemented into a game I was working like 5 years ago but quit is to have a set of candles located somewhere, each of a different color. Somewhere in the house you find a memo or something that hints to the candles, saying the order you have to light them, but still relates in some way to the story you have set up. For example, the colors are pink, red, and yellow. The memo says, "There shall be light: Perry Y. Randell will lead the way." So that means you light the candles, first pink, then yellow, and last red, and then a door opens or something.

[Glorb]

Actually, that is a cool idea. Sounds pretty complex to code, but still cool.

[NintendoExpert89]

If you're still stumped for text adventure puzzle ideas, I recommend you play the game Anchorhead for inspiration. It's extremely well-written, and it has some of the best puzzles I've ever seen. (Many puzzles take place in a house. You need a lot of patience to play it though... it's easy to die in the final parts of the game, and the deaths are quite gruesome.)