While I have yet to actually publish any rooms, I am a writer by trade. I have noticed the potential for a lot of rooms, and with some of the clients that I work with, there are some things that people don't consider when trying to create their stories.

1. Ask yourself these questions, who, what, when, where, why, to what degree? These will help you create the basis of your story. Who is going where? Why are they going there? When are they going there? If emotion is meant to be felt, to what degree is that emotion supposed to be felt and why? These will lay out your characters, your setting, your audience, your plot, and so much more. They may be basic questions, but you can always ask more complicated questions later on.

2. In telling the story, and sometimes in puzzles you have to write or make them for someone who may not have any idea of what you are talking about. Do you want to use symbolism of a certain Pantheon, do you want to convey deep psychology of color, do your room/puzzle require the basic understanding of how to play chess? While you may know these things, not everyone who is going to attempt a room will have this knowledge. So always try to put guides for things that are not apparent. In this, I am not saying make everything obvious, deductive reasoning is ingrained into these games, and should be used, give something that will allow deductive reasoning of the players.

3. Work with the senses you want to use, one thing that can make or break a room is the music and how well it vibes with the overall meaning and message your room is trying to portray. Sight is a major thing as well, but acknowledge the senses you can't use, and build up the ones you can use.

4. While deciding on a genre isn't always necessary, this can help you determine what you need to show. Most genres have rulesets for something to be included into something. Historic? There needs to be a historic event that this is based around. Fantasy? You are building an image and it doesn't need to be explained but felt and conveyed. Sci-Fi? Details and explanations on how and why are necessary.

5. Grammar and punction really do help in conveying ideas. I do understand some creators might not speak a certain language but use sites or programs that will check grammar for you, so you can properly convey an idea. Also, I bet because this community is so inclusive and willing to help, that there would be people who would just look over a few notes for you. This isn't a must but it will really help you overall.

6. Consistency is so important with telling a story, if something changes this will create plot holes and most of those who are interested in the story will notice it. This rule can overturn number 5, for example if you are showing a specific type of writing (for example, the character is a child), they are not going to know finer details of a language, so using really basic words and making errors will show the point.

7. Write about things you enjoy and make you happy. If you find something tedious, it will show in your work. If you enjoy it, it will also show.

8. Lastly, decide how long you want a room to last and if it goes over, make a different room to finish the story. It is okay to break it into parts, it might even make it easier for computers to run smaller areas.


I look forward to all your rooms and if you have any suggestions, comments, or questions feel free to leave them for me!