How do you balance "challenging" and "frustrating" in a minimalist puzzle game?

Hi Product Hunt community! 👋

I’m Jeevin, a solo developer launching my first mobile game, Blind Logic, this Saturday.

The game is based on spatial memory: you look at a scene of shapes, they disappear, and you have to mentally track where they were.

As a solo dev, my biggest design challenge has been the difficulty curve. I want players to feel smart when they solve a puzzle, but I don't want them to rage-quit on Level 3. I added a "Show Solution" feature (which plays a rewarded ad) so players never feel permanently stuck, but I'm wondering if there's a better way.

For the gamers and product builders here: How do you balance making a product challenging enough to be engaging, without making it frustrating for beginners?

I’d love to hear your thoughts! If you want to see how I handled it, you can check out the game here: https://play.google.com/store/ap...