LOOKING FOR ANY HELP ON HOW TO DESIGN A PUZZLE [DETAILS INSIDE]

So, long story short, I am a terrible programmer and combination creator and need help. I've searched through Youtube and Google, and couldn't find anything to even reverse-engineer.

I have a switch puzzle. It is linked to a large chess-like board with pieces on it. There are 28 pieces divided among 4 switches. If time a switch is hit, a certain amount of those pieces (portrayed by evented actors) will shift to a "Dead" state. However, a 4 step combination of switches is needed to complete it, so if the switches are hit out of order, some of the "Dead" actors return to an "Alive" state. The purpose is to have one actor remain standing at the end.

Is there anything I can base this off of? Any pre-existing code I could use, or someone's personal experience?

It was essentially that, yes.
I managed to get someone's in-depth help on that matter, so mods, feel free to close this.