All right, I've had my fill of trying to get flexible basics constructed in a total vacuum, and I'm fairly happy with where movement and collision handling ended up. It's time to actually start building something.
One level
Get some same-size tilesets from a bunch of places and mix-match em, to keep from getting too precious about it.
No walk-and-talk yet, just combat and traversal interactions.
One weapon/tool: zap whip.
Start w/ one enemy, expand later.
Add one traversal mechanic after the enemy's feeling good.
Start with just trying to reproduce a basic SoM feel, not expanding on it yet.
All right, I've had my fill of trying to get flexible basics constructed in a total vacuum, and I'm fairly happy with where movement and collision handling ended up. It's time to actually start building something.