Seeing as everyones pretty stuck on the idea of every character being human, the protagonist could possibly meet a mechanical companion along the way whos been damaged, also wanting to escape. That way he could just chill in a backpack (Banjo and Kazooie style) and would then have the ability to rotate levels, open gates, turn off steam vents/flame jets through game progression.
Also have some steampunky 3D gears and cogs etc to copy paste all over the show. I left all models untextured seeing as the games 2D, and can just use the renders to paint over in photoshop. And the unlimited poly count helps alot <3. Ill add the pictures later when theyre all finished.
