i can get past the spikes, but the water kills me even after i wait for the switch to charge back up. i tried jumping over it, pressing jump while i was in it, and just jumping into it--i respawn back at the beginning no matter what i do. any tips?
i think this is an interesting idea and a good first game project (especially with a 48-hour deadline!!) are you planning to work on this any more? i think you should--this is a good starting point, and you already have the basic stuff down! game jams are fun, but if you're just starting out then it's nice to have more time. then you can play around and test things more, and that'll help you get more of an intuition for things like waiting times. 15 seconds sounds like a short time when you're coding, but it ends up feeling a lot longer when you actually play.
if you do keep working on this, i recommend playing around with that wait time for a while before you do anything else. try reducing the time until you find a wait that feels good. or could you take out the wait entirely, and just start refilling the switch immediately? the meter already takes some time to fill up, so that could be enough of a wait on its own. or do you even need a charge? maybe play around with letting the player switch whenever they want to, no charging or waiting. there's no "right" answer here, but you'll never know which you like best until you test it out.
but again: this is good for a first project! i think you have a good idea here, and i'd love to see more of it and see it more fleshed out. congrats on the jam!