I love games with cool puzzle mechanics like this...
Will the time travel be more about position (like with the elevator example) or do you spawn extras for certain things?
Ah, this might get a bit wordy, so I apologize ahead of time!
I didn't mention this in the main post, since its not what I'm working on for this game jam, but extra's are part of the game mechanic, or plot at least! The main focus of the plot is how when you leave old timelines behind to pursue a bitter one, you're still leaving versions of yourself behind. Due to not being a main timeline, they mostly see their world deteriorate as they live through the shitty situation you left them with. Basically, they end up coalescing into a 'beta' version compared to your 'alpha', who's sick and tired of having to deal with this bullshit and just wants you to stop. The overall theme I'm going for in this game is like... how much is it worth hurting yourself to help someone you care about.
I'm hoping to make it more about position, but I'm still very early on in puzzle design so it's likely that a bunch of changes will be made! My main concern right now is creating something interesting while still keeping it different from games that have similar mechanics!