Hi, I'm Fernando, from Brazil. I'm making an isometric 3D action-adventure set in a surreal dark fantasy world, Zelda, Alundra and Tunic are the main reference points. It's semi-open world*: you go around the world unlocking areas by finding items, getting new abilities and finishing quests.
Story
There are two stories running in parallel. The first is the player's own: he is searching for the relics of an ancient culture, and what he wants from them is to leave, to detach from the world completely. The second is the world's, a war between an oppressor race and the rebels fighting them, which he travels through rather than joins. Along the way you cross a fantasy world, meet the races living in it and take on their quests, and the more you learn about that war, the harder it gets to say which side you would have picked.
Gameplay
Simple attack and defense, and platforming with a single jump. What makes it its own thing is the grappling hook, which covers traversal, combat and puzzles on one button.
Fire it and you get pulled toward whatever you hit: an enemy, a ledge, an object. When you arrive you enter an action zone, a short window where each button does something different, jump off, attack, block. Jump off an enemy's head and you get a boost that reaches platforms a normal jump can't. Chain it in the air and you cross gaps that don't look crossable.
Combat is deliberately narrow. No combos, no stats, no skill tree, one attack that does the same thing every time you press it. The interest is meant to come from timing and positioning, not from memorising inputs.
Mechanics-first and intentionally ugly. Movement, jump, grapple and combat are working and playable. All assets, audio and visuals are placeholders, the in-game models are rough stand-ins, better than a capsule and not much more.
Where I am
I'm doing the design and programming, and I'm building a team around that. Concept art is the first hire, I've got a few artists working on it now, but this is an exploration phase. I'm trying directions with different people and nothing is locked, so treat what you see as a draft, not the art direction. Everything else is me: mechanics, world, systems.
What I really need input on
1. Level design for a fixed camera in 3D isometric space
- Height and depth read the same. In isometric, "higher up" and "closer to the camera" are the same direction on screen. A ledge above the player and a ledge behind him look identical until you move. How do you make a player confident about where a platform is before they commit to the jump?
- Occlusion when moving vertically. The moment the player climbs or drops, geometry ends up between the camera and the character. Fading that geometry solves seeing the player, it doesn't solve the player understanding the space.
- Choosing heights and sizes at all. I have no system for deciding how tall a step should be, how wide a landing needs to be, or how to place a ramp or ladder so it reads as up and not as depth. Every number is currently a guess.
If you've built isometric platforming: how did you settle on your vertical grid? Did you constrain heights to fixed multiples of the jump, and was that enough on its own, or did legibility come down to shadows and silhouette instead?
And if you know courses, videos or writing on this, I'd love the pointers. It's much easier for me to learn the theory first and then work through cases.
2. A concept artist who fits the game's vision.** I'm already talking to some people, but I am open to other artists. If you're interested, here's the brief: https://app.notion.com/p/Art-Bible-20bccd47cb9c8079b578d87ae3c40578?source=copy_...
Some GIFS: https://imgur.com/a/Q4meRNv