The Inventor is a puzzle game, in which the player plays a young inventor in a steampunk-style world. The player must complete inventions to be sold in the fictional world, and they watch as the inventor protagonist finds success!

The gameplay is based around placing, moving, and rotating certain pieces within the 2D game world. These pieces may be pipes, wheels, cogs or other steampunk-style machinery components. The win condition of each level varies, and could be spinning a wheel with water, or routing steam to an exit pipe. Oftentimes there will be multiple solutions to a level. Difficulty is created as the player is limited to certain numbers of each piece, and not all pieces will necessarily be available in each level.

Three acts are found in The Inventor's linear narrative, each act signifying a new section of the story. The first act covers the rising success of the protagonist's business, the second covers him being sabotaged by competition, and the third explores him finding success once again with the use of newly discovered steam power.

Image source 'xymonau', retrieved 11/08/2016 from http://www.rgbstock.com/bigphoto/nDdKQHa/Maze+of+Pipes+2