Unity editor view while working on an individual room in a region. You can see an enemy state machine at the bottom and my organized object hierarchy on the left. I make use of the Unity tile system and prefabs to create quick levels with reusable enemies and obstacles.

This rough mock up of the game world allowed me to mentally test player paths and keep track of important locations. I take much inspiration from Hollow Knight, which allows the player to take alternate routes by exploiting features that may appear unintentional. This is a fantastic way to give the player a sense of discovery and agency, so I ensured there would be multiple viable routes, some harder to find than others.

The purpose of prototyping is to test if a feature is worth putting in the finished product, in other words, does it meaningfully contribute to the intended feeling the game tries to evoke. I wanted a smooth, expressive, and unique combat system for this game, so I closely tied both platforming and combat together. I included many enemy types that can all be used as jumping points, taking inspiration from the bash mechanic in Ori.