I can’t believe it. I could not submit in time (because I had to start late and had setbacks), but I had an extremely similar idea (my prototype is still buggy and the levels are mainly simple demonstrations, but has several mechanics). XD I had even thought of the handles, but went for a gear-only version.
As a matter of interest, a small comparison of the concepts:
- You allowed moving the mechanisms during a jump, while I chose a fully turn-based approach;
- Your game has platforming orientation, while mine has a puzzle orientation;
- You used jumps, while I used infinite (linear) propelling;
- Your game asks to reach a static exit, mine asks to reach movable targets without having them fall;
- You defined cogs as deadly, while I made them the place where you can rotate;
- Your rotating mechanisms all have the same orientation and same angular speeds (except the one I saw in level 3 that is unmovable) (but differing radii), while mine can be inverted and have different angular speeds (and also differing radii).
Some remarks specific to the game:
- Just one small remark: the controls are QWERTY only instead of layout-independent, A does not map to Q on my AZERTY keyboard.
- I think the real-time aspect makes it more difficult to manage for the programmer (and the player!), since the collisions can happen at a lot of times and invert gravity (it happened to me several times and threw me away).
- When you are on the extremal tip of a handle, the character can detach himself when rotating.
I will take the fact that the concept was ranked first as an encouragement. :) Anyway, well done to you, yours is neat and effective (you limited yourself to three good levels and the core mechanic). If I had a suggestion, it would be to extend the game with more mechanics — which may be entirely different from the ones I implemented given the different genres, but hey, who knows. :)