Story ideas..

[esmeco]

Hi!I'm planning to make an adventure game monkey island style,but now came to a part where I'm lacking ideas to continue developing the story for my game.It's about a pirate and his captain,who after looting an enemy pirate ship,he sees himself unintentionally breaking the PMOC(Pirates Manual of Conduct) and getting marroned on a desert island.That's basicly the intro.I'm now on the 1st part of the game where his goal is getting out of the island and cleaning up his name.He found a hut on the inside of the island habited by an old man who carves pirate ships on wood,and I want him to have something to do to help the character to exit the island but I can't figure out what to do now.I'm really lacking ideas,so any ideas are welcomed. 
Thanks in advance!

[Mr Flibble]

Whats the hero's ultimate goal? To defeat his old captain in battle? To ramsack the Carribean? To kill all humans?

[cyberbert]

The old man has a carving of a very simple ship (raft). His next quest is then to gather materials on the island to build a raft like this.

[Synthetique]

NO.. The old man will be carvin the most wondrous ship ever seen, with 8 sails n all that stuff. Painted in that really nice gold colour u get from gold.. He has the blueprints to show you, see?
His only payment (is this the word im looking for?).. His only wish is to sail the sea again, as a captain of a crew.. One-man-crew it'll be. YARrr!!
But he refuse to go unless he has some real nice looking captains clothing. The young pirate will have to make them out of parrots n coconuts!!
And the captain will be needin a pet that can squawk like a parrot, but aint one, cus you took them all for their precious feathers..
As the pirate has given him these things, the old bugger will chop down a tree. Unfortunately it falls right over him n kills him with a big splat!!
And so.. The young pirate sails off, on a big tree..

[esmeco]

Well the goal now would be to exit the island and discover who was the ship crew member that caused him to be marooned on a desert island,and clean up his name.But his goal will change since he finds a half part of a map in that island.And the goal now would be to get the other part and find the legendary treasure.With other minigoals,which I can't think of right now.

[poc301]

I like the idea of the old man carving a monsterous ship.  It would be a good humor element.

[esmeco]

Any more ideas?I'm lacking some...

[jetxl]

On the back of the map is a name. You don't know the person, but maybe Tri-boob Betty does. She shagged every pirate in the carabian. She says that the person you're looking for is dead, but his pet giant octopus is still alive. She even gives you the flute to summon it. After you traded in your tree for a coffin, you row to the location where the giant octopus lives. He knows where the other part of the map is.

[Eggie]

Cut down a massive tree by hypnotising a parrot to think it's a woodpecker. Then the old man can whittle a ship out of that.

And the octopus shouldn't just know where the map is. The map is inside the octopus, you need to get him to spit it out...

[esmeco]

Wow!Some pretty good ideas!I'm sure gonna use them...Thanks!!

[esmeco]

Well,I was thinking about using that idea about finding a large trunk and carving a ship out of that,then using an item/items to make the ship large enough to get the player out of the island,but I can't quite figure out a way to do it and turning it into a comical situation...
Also, looking at the lost treasure map he finds out it's his grandmother's(a well known and respected pirate,but which is dead now) lost map...What I need is how to give the player a clue to where the other half of the map is hidden,that will lead him to another island,after he gets out of the current island,but I don't have any ideas... 
Any help is greatly appreciated!Thanks in advance!

[Blade]

The ship is inflatable - he puts some air into it so it gets huge and pink and rubber.

[esmeco]

LOL...that's a really nice one 

[Peter Thomas]

The easiest way to get ideas is to plan your ultimate story first - i mean without puzzles and stuff. Just come up with a storyline that could be - feasibly - the plot of a short story. THEN add puzzles: they will come easily to you because you will already know where the character is heading.

For example, if you realize the character's ultimate goal is to win the heart of a female pirate who thinks HE is the reason her father is dead (or something crazy like that) then it's pretty obvious you're going to need a puzzle about finding a dead body, one about finding the she-pirate and one about collecting evidence to prove your innocence.

There have been some great suggestions so far, but - you yourself state - your only in the first real stage of the game. If you're having trouble thinking up puzzles already, it begs the question how well do you know what the character wants/needs to do.

However; all the best, and make sure you include a really large bumble-bee who's social ostracization has made him bitter, twisted, and quite promiscuous.

Sunshine, hugs, and many a goldfish.