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[JasonPickering]

So I am making this small game. Its going to be a side project from my other games. Its going to require a lot of design on paper so its good for a side project when I am away from my computer.

the game will be about traversing ancient ruins. So think  lara croft or indiana jones but without the combat. in the above example you can see the traversal in action and how the player can use a switch to activate certain parts of the level. This is one kind of puzzle I can have, but I also want to have other types of puzzles. think of it almost like a reverse room escape. The problem is I need help to design these. I will also have a "Map" this will be a single static image of the temple, but not a great example, that I can hide symbols and hints on. so maybe a small symbol in the corner is actually an answer to one of the puzzles. the below example is pretty much the kind of puzzles I want. the player will have to think about the answer and pay attention to their surrounding like if you were really exploring an ancient temple.

First puzzle idea
the entrance to the ruins will be across a small jungle area that will act as a tutorial. Along the way the player will pass broken ruins, trees, and pillars. The pillars will have three symbols on them. They will just be small icons that look like decoration. Once the player gets into the first room they will be met with 3 large stone squares with symbols on them. If they punch in the correct code the doorway will open. So if they were paying attention they may recognize those symbols and know where to find the code.

[JasonPickering]

so another thing that was brought up to me. was maybe thinking about the iconography and culture of this temple. So one example might be the large snake railings you see carved in some aztec temples. well that got me thinking so maybe one test could be snake heads and the player can light their eyes, but the beginning of the snakes are in other rooms so the player must traverse these rooms looking for the snakes as they twist and turn through this temple. to get the correct answer. like perhaps their rattles are a specific color.

the next question is doing a match 3 puzzle, with 3 options would it be to easy to just brute force the puzzle?

[bombjack]

The snakes idea is great By the way, I loved microgue 

Here are some ideas:

1) You could have a hub room with several doors. Each door go to another rooms.
The twist is that the same door can lead to different rooms.
The puzzle will be finding the correct exploration order.
Clues could be given by symbols on the walls or colors or notes.

2) The classic colored keys puzzle. The keys could be gems or statues.

3) The exit could be shown on the first room but impossible to reach.
You could have some mirrors that flips the level or change gravity in order to get to the exit

Regarding the match 3; if I understand correctly the question: you have 3 elements(n) that you can combine by 3(m) ?
In this case you have n! / (n-m)! = 3! - (3-3)! = 3*2 - 0 = 6

[JasonPickering]

I am really bad at stats and stuff but I thought I would have 8 different options? I am subtracting the starting configuration.

[bombjack]

what do you mean by 3 options?
How many different items do you have?

[JasonPickering]

Diamond square and triangle.

[BorisTheBrave]

Is this a roguelike? Makes quite a difference to what sort of puzzles you can have.

If not, try a walkthrough of La Mulana for insprication. Aside from the the brutal difficulty level of the puzzle, and a quite heavy reliance of hint tablets, the majority of the puzzles sound like exactly what you are looking for. For example:
 - you have to navigate a deliberately confusing maze
 - you have to spot symmetry in level design
 - you have to apply spacial knowledge to spot where a secret room is
 - you have to spot the odd one out
 - you have to understand what the levels original function was (e.g. was it a forge? maybe it needs re-heating)
 - you have to understand what the levels original meaning was (e.g. this was a sun temple, how should you angle those mirrors?)
 - you have to whip every dang wall of the entire temple (ok, maybe don't do that :D )

[diegzumillo]

I specifically like the everything about this.

Assuming this is not procedurally generated, I suggest freeing yourself from completely abstract puzzles and using the context to drive them. For example, you can have a box pushing puzzle there that could be exactly transposed to any other game but, if the solution requires taking in the environment, like the snake thing, it becomes contextual. And that's more interesting, in my opinion.

You mentioned no combat, but what about enemies? You can't fight but they can still be there as moving hazards. You can use their behaviors to design puzzles around. To make things even more contextual you can have their behavior dynamically changing as hints to what needs to be done. Like, for instance, the combination to a door is a mystery but the monster next to the door gets more aggressive the closer you are to the combination. Escape goat has this enemy that throws fire balls at you and you need to jump around them to make them break specific blocks.

[The Armorman]

Make a puzzle really hard and then if you only manage to beat it once, everything will maybe be fine.

[Ordnas]

Or you could start in iterate an already-made puzzles from other games  (Lara Croft Go for example) and start from there.

I like the camera fixed, showing all the room, so the puzzle solving is more likeable, I do not have to remember what there is out of screen.