Hello all, I have hatched an idea for a puzzle game which I think will be a good goal for me and not overly ambitious for a beginner-level project.

Here are my ideas--

You are a rat put in a maze by an evil scientist (or something, plot isn't really relevant yet) and the main mechanic of the game is that you will move through this maze (grid based) and at times will step on "cloning pads" which will make a copy of your sprite somewhere else on the level.  When you move, the sprite moves in the same direction.  Also, if one character tries to move up and hits a wall, the clone would still move up.  The catch, the evil scientist (or whatever) has put a time bomb on you, and each step on the grid you move ticks down one second on the bomb. I am thinking I want there to be a door the original character has to reach in order to go to the next level, or maybe all clones have to reach it, idk.   This idea is still in its infancy, so I am still toying with a few things, like:

Should I set it up where your clones also have a time bomb, and you need to strategically sacrifice them to open up paths?  i. e. blow up a door so the original character can enter.

Should I have multiple clone-machine styles, like one where instead of the clones doing the same movement as your character, they move in the opposite direction?

Should there even be enemies or would it detract from the joy of the puzzles?

I hope I was specific enough, I know it might be somewhat hard to visualize.  As I think about it, I believe this idea has good potential for making very complex puzzles, especially if there are multiple clones and multiple objectives etc.  I'm open to any feedback, additional ideas, or whatever.  Thanks!