Fred: Initial thoughts and ideas

Before designing the game, I thought about the aspects of Fred I wanted to keep, and which I wanted to change. I also took into consideration the different genres of game I could make Fred into.
Maze = puzzler
Enemies/gun = FPS
Collecting Treasure = adventure

I first started with the environment and thought about how I could change this. I wanted to keep the maze aspect of the game, but at first found it hard to think of anything different to caves, labyrinths and abandoned castles or mansions. The only other mazes I could think of were maize mazes and hedge grown mazes. I then started thinking about non physical environments and metaphorical mazes which lead me to the idea of using technology and the mazes of networks within computers and the Internet. These networks lead me to thinking about the nerves we have running through our body and the nerve centre that is our brain.

These lead me to two strong ideas I wanted to develop:

Idea 1.
 F.R.E.D standing for F R E Defence, where you play as an anti-virus system loaded into a computer that has to collect and destroy virus' within a maze of networks. Visually this would look like Tron, futuristic and modern.

Idea 2.
Fred is a man locked within his subconscious, he is in a coma trying to wake up by escaping surreal mazes representing his thoughts and memories.
The plot of the game would be to find out: Who is "Fred"? What happened to you? and most importantly Why are you in a coma? (The first level could be a tutorial where you find out your name and image)
Within these mazes would be objects that trigger Fred's memories, for example, within the first level you may find a mirror which would trigger a cut scene or image of Fred looking into a mirror which would give the character an image.
The story would be like a maze itself, where the player has to chose which direction to take. For example, within the first level Fred may find a name badge which would trigger a cut scene or image of Fred pinning a name badge to himself which shows his name as well as his place of work. This would then lead to two separate maze levels, the player can chose whether to focus on trying to remember who he is, or where Fred works and what this may have to do with the events leading up to Fred's comatose state.
Start at level one: Then the memory you gain from this level will lead to 2 or 3 different maze like memories to explore. Which may lead to more memories, or lead to a dead end. So this story follows the maze theme.
Multiple memories would be collectible but not all would be necessary. Some memories would lead to a dead end in the main story, but perhaps be enjoyable for the player to discover more e.g. a memory of where you live may lead to you remembering you have a cat, but this would not lead to any other memories.
Towards the end of the game you realise you’re a witness to a crime? E.g. murder/kidnap and you can save the victim as long as you can retrieve that memory and wake up.
Each level would be a surreal representation of the place or event Fred is remembering, but at the same time, seem normal (like dreams and how things only seem strange once you wake up)

The start of the game shows you asleep in a hospital bed, then at the start of each level, you hear someone visiting you and you have to work out who they are by finding the correct memories and  what role they play in the story (e.g. are they the reason you're in a hospital bed)