Puzzle Script Tips

Made-up scripts and ciphers can be great for puzzles, whether for tabletop role-playing games, escape rooms, or gamebooks.

Beyond just providing a mere puzzle, a script can also set the theme and add flavor.

Here are a few guiding principals to keep in mind when designing a script for a puzzle:

1. Readers should be able to tell letters apart (unless telling them apart is the actual puzzle).

2. If readers will need to write down the letters as part of solving puzzles, the letters should be easy to write.

3. Letters should ideally have enough "character" (no pun intended) that they are easy to remember.

It might get frustrating for players to constantly need to consult a reference in order to decrypt each individual letter when they're trying to read something.

These are just guides, and they're meant to be broken.

Sometimes for a puzzle's sake you'll want the letters to look alike, so that they can rotate and become other letters. Or make the streets of a city map form a hidden message.

It's your call.

One more thing to consider is inclusiveness.

Would people with dyslexia have a hard time with your script? What about other visual impairments?

You can't always solve this (especially not with a graphic-heavy puzzle game), but it's something to always keep in mind.