Give a hint at the right time¶
A useful hint responds to the obstacle the player faces now. Start with two or three stages of a puzzle, then write one helpful observation for each.
Imagine a locked gate, a missing key and a chest that contains it.
Give hints their own request¶
Put Run Story Director, category Companion/Hint, on a hint button or companion interaction.
Your puzzle should already keep track of whether the gate is open, whether the player has the key and whether they have inspected the chest. These are game facts. Use the variables or module conditions that already represent them.
Write stage-specific Rules¶
| Rule | Required facts | Possible line |
|---|---|---|
| Look around | Gate closed, no key, chest not inspected | "That chest by the stairs might be worth a look." |
| Check the chest | Gate closed, no key, chest inspected | "There was something under the cloth. Did you take it?" |
| Try the key | Gate closed, player has key | "That key looks about the right size." |
| Keep going | Gate open | "We have a way through. Let's see where it leads." |
Make these facts mandatory. The player should not hear "try the key" without having it.
Avoid repeating the same advice immediately¶
Add Rule Not Played Recently to each hint's mandatory criteria and choose This Rule. Use Director-run recency for pacing based on story requests, or seconds when elapsed wall-clock time fits your game.
For a pause across every hint, use Story Category Not Played Recently with This Rule's Category. Test how often your game makes Director requests before choosing the interval.
Decide what should happen while all hints are on cooldown. It may be fine to give no response. If you want a neutral line, add a Flavor fallback that does not accidentally give stage-specific advice. A fallback in the same category also contributes to that category's history, so test how it affects a category-wide cooldown.
Test from a player's point of view¶
Ask for a hint before finding the chest, after inspecting it, after taking the key and after opening the gate. Ask several times in a row too.
Then change one line based on what a player could actually know. A clear observation often works better than explaining the puzzle's hidden logic.