Hello, I had an idea for a flash game, basically it's a puzzle game that's tile-based. Each level has a finish that you must get to, but to get to it you need to place tiles that are given to you. I have a prototype going and it's not really a code intensive game, but the problem is creating the puzzles. Like, I only really thought of 1 or 2 levels but I can't come up with anything anymore, how do you do it? I mean, you could always "Borrow" them from other games and then take out some tiles to place, this is the last resort though.

I would start out doing paper prototypes for your puzzle game. Since it is tile based it would be easy to print out some quick art assets and play the game on your desk according to whatever rules you have established. This would be really easy to iterate over and to really see different patterns that emerge from playing the game over and over without having to hard code anything into flash. You will probably be able to see different mechanics or features that you would be able to add in while you are studying your paper prototype.

That's the thing about puzzle games. You don't have to come up with story, characters, dialogue so much but the actual content is in the puzzles. It does take a lot of time and you must be prepared for it. I guess that's the lesson to learn about puzzle game development.

You need to be smart to complete a puzzle game but you need to be a genius to create one.

One thing I recommend is finding a friend that can help you create them. Make puzzles for each other and see if you can in the end make them too hard. Keep everything you ever make and work on them to turn them into levels. Remember that you need ridiculously easy levels for learning the basics in the beginning as well as really challenging illogical near impossible ones.

I wouldn't borrow directly from other games but instead see what mechanics in other games are fun and try to improve them for your game.

Also I would look back at your first two puzzles and figure out how simplify them and add complexity to them. From what I've seen, most puzzle games start off with a ridiculously easy puzzle that takes 2 or 3 seconds to complete then the puzzles that follow gradually get harder and harder to the point where it feels impossible. See if you can make them easier and think about how you can add to them to make them longer and more difficult.

In order to this it will require a lot of thinking along with seeing what works and doesn't.