Accelerating game development with modular design
Build a game in three weeks. This was the challenge we faced at Magnopus during the development of The Gateway, a 3rd-person, non-linear adventure puzzle platformer. The solution? A relentless focus on modular design.
By deconstructing and reusing our core mechanics, we not only met our deadline but also delivered an engaging and polished experience. This article outlines the principles we followed.
First, what is modular design?
Modular design is an approach that breaks down complex systems into smaller, independent components that can be modified, replaced, or exchanged with others. This enables flexibility, scalability, and easier customization of the overall product. It’s used across engineering, software, and even fashion – and in game development, it can be a powerful accelerator.
Why does modular design matter in game development?
Game development is an iterative and costly process, with teams constantly experimenting, testing, and refining. Time saved is value gained. A modular approach helps by:
Enabling quick iteration – test and refine mechanics rapidly.
Reducing dependencies – disciplines can work in parallel without waiting on blockers.
Improving efficiency – core systems can scale without adding overhead.
Validating ideas faster – fun (or lack thereof) is surfaced quickly.
In The Gateway, this mindset allowed us to pivot, adapt scope, and still hit a tight three-week window with confidence.
How we used modular design on The Gateway
Modular design in ideation and brainstorming: Early on, it was important not to lock ourselves into costly mechanics or systems before validating the core experience. In our brainstorming sessions, we focused on flexible themes and lightweight ideas that could be quickly integrated and tested.
Brainstorming sessions in collaborative Miro boards were held to generate and prioritize ideas. The team focused on promoting concepts they were passionate about and that fit our modular approach, while filtering out ideas that were outside our expertise or too costly to pursue.
Modular design in creative direction: Modular thinking wasn’t limited to mechanics – it shaped our creative decisions too. At a high level, choices around genre, theme, player progression, and world-building were deliberately expandable and modular. This gave us the freedom later on to pivot quickly without derailing the project.
For example, midway through production, we reduced the scope of a planned level with minimal impact while on the fly. Thanks to our modular gameplay and progression systems, we could remove that section without breaking flow or creating rework elsewhere, all while saving time on art, VFX and fine-tuning. This ultimately allowed us to preserve quality while meeting our targets.
Designing for reusability & parallelization: From the outset, we built our mechanics and systems as reusable modules. This approach allowed different disciplines to work in parallel: artists focused on unique assets, engineers refined the core interaction logic, and designers built levels and cinematics — all without blocking each other. By prioritizing modular workflows, we accelerated content creation, reduced bottlenecks, and kept production efficient across the board.
Modular mechanics for scalable gameplay: At the gameplay level, this philosophy took shape in a unified magic system. A single framework powered all interactions: objects detected projectile hits, validated the type, and triggered logic like scaling, explosions, or activation states. Designers could fine-tune behaviors with exposed variables and prototype new interactions quickly, while the system itself scaled seamlessly across levels and themes. This consolidated approach expanded gameplay variety without increasing development complexity or requiring new code.
Modular design in level building: Our level pipeline mirrored the same philosophy:
Quick blockouts to validate puzzle flow, pacing and spatial requirements.
Swift Handoffs to art once initial layouts were proven fun.
Iterative refinement of puzzles and polish layered on top to increase quality.
Prioritizing tasks for parallelization to reduce the amount of time spent waiting on dependencies.
While building out levels, it was important to give each discipline as much time as possible to iterate. This meant reaching a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) state as quickly as possible, while co-ordinating areas of ownership to avoid work duplication and focusing on the intended core experience.
This allowed us to test core gameplay early, develop seamlessly, swap or cut sections quickly, and still hand over a stable foundation for art and VFX to iterate on.
Early blockout of the game environment
Extending gameplay value through smart reuse: Our modular systems were also used to enrich gameplay. We designed levels so the same mechanics could support multiple progression paths, strategies, and playstyles, giving players agency and replayability.
In Level 1 (Fire), players might discover hidden torch-lit shortcuts, leap across moving platforms, or trigger physics-based bridges.
In Level 2 (Gaia), they could progress gradually on vine platforms or test precision with bouncy pads. By layering mechanics in different contexts, each space felt distinct and challenging, while players learned through play.
This approach maximized gameplay variety without bespoke content, proving that smart reuse can deepen player experience as much as it streamlines production.
Modular progression systems and onboarding: We also applied modular thinking to progression and tutorials. Rather than building a linear onboarding flow, we designed systems that supported non-linear progression and discovery-based learning.
Each level included a lobby area where players could test the magic system and puzzle mechanics featured in the upcoming level. Brief explanations were provided via callouts in each lobby, while the basic control scheme was detailed in a collapsible UI. Cinematic cutscenes introduced the playing field, highlighted the player’s main objectives, and gave positive feedback when reached.
This approach encouraged exploration and discovery while eliminating the need to account for endless edge cases in player behaviour. Even if a player broke sequence or explored differently, the system still worked. By keeping onboarding modular, we reduced overhead, empowered players with agency, and freed the team to focus on delivering polished mechanics and content.
Lobby rooms leading into each level introduced core mechanics and puzzle elements diegetically
Final thought
Modular design gave us the agility to build The Gateway in just three weeks without sacrificing much scope or polish. From core mechanics to creative direction, level design to onboarding, the philosophy of modularity created flexibility, enabled parallel work, and let us validate the fun quickly.
For game developers, the takeaway is clear: by breaking your systems into modular, reusable parts, you can move faster, cut waste, and ship ambitious ideas under real-world constraints.
