When I was a kid playing Minecraft, I remember not having a clue how to get redstone gates to work properly. This was a fun puzzle game, and I learned something from it!
The visual design is wonderful, and I love the help animations that describe the different gates' function. It's simple, cute, and helpful!
The sound effects are well done, and so is the menu music! I'd like to hear the music during the game too.
The two gameplay stages - free exploration of the level as a ghost to see its workings, and acting on it as the live robot - interact in a fun way. If you were to keep working on this game outside of the "fail to progress" theme, however, I'm conflicted on whether I would recommend keeping the death requirement. On one hand, requiring the player to die initially is just an extra, unnecessary step. Being able to press a button to view the whole level at once would be much easier. At the same time, when playing through a level, it's nice to get immediate feedback on your surrounding area when you die.
When I first learned about the invisible spikes, I was a bit worried because I've played a few other games with this mechanic that were just frustrating. Luckily, they weren't over-placed in this game and didn't cause too much annoyance. Still, I would prefer them being permanently visible. Over the (NOT) Gates shines as a logic and puzzle-solving game. Requiring the player to memorize spike positions on top of that is just an extra burden that gets in the way of the true fun.
With a few small changes and more levels, I would love to keep playing this game! The basic gates have been introduced. Now what kind of crazy levels can you make using their full potential?