smokedsalmon

Blades in the Dark is pretty close. It's "whale oil punk" more than steampunk per se. The vibes are there though (think Dishonored).

Ohhhhhh, I see what you mean now, my b. Yeah it would be a real nice add.

Actually, if you select "Remote" in the hierarchy, you can view the scene while its running. Kinda clunky workflow though

I'd say abstract, but only abstract as needed. It's easy to get deep in the weeds future proofing, but spending all your time on interfaces is a surefire way to burn out.

I remember recently trying to read through the ICON playtest (a sort of magitech fantasy RPG by the Lancer/KSBD guy), and maybe it's my particular cocktail of mental illnesses talking, but it was pretty hard to read. Then, more art got added later and it definitely helped the metaphorical medicine go down. Definitely something hard to measure or really pin down at all

Blades is an interesting case. At least when I ran it, I mostly used the quick start guide/starter kit, and only used the book as reference. As for reading it cover to cover, I think art does admittedly break up sections better than type formatting ever can.