Leo's Fortune Prototype

The Leo's Fortune Prototype, also known as Pablo's Fortune, is the earliest known version of Leo's Fortune. Made in early 2013, it served as the groundwork for the final game. The prototype includes a very large number of differences, being barely recognizable from the final game, including a different art style, enemies, combat, a different story, and many other things. A full list of changes is available below.

## Summary

Leo wakes up one day to find his fortune stolen. At the same time, he notices he cannot find Mathilda, his wife, and that outside, the world has been covered in a strange purple mist. He goes on a quest to retrieve his fortune. While he explores, he is chased by an entity known as the Distortionist, who throws constant obstacles in Leo's way. Halfway through the game, he discovered that Mathilda was the one who stole the gold, working together with Leo's rival Dlop-Oel the Misfortunate in order to get back at Leo for losing his kindness. However, before they can make up, Oel backstabs Mathilda by stealing the gold all for himself.

The second part of the game has you chasing down Oel, avoiding his explosives and demolition, all while still being hunt down by the Distortionist. At the end of the game, Oel decides to face you, where he reveals the truth of the world; years ago, an incident known as the World's Core Event took place, where a mining company dug so deep for metal, they ended up striking the core of the world. This fractured the core, and released a purple mist in the form of the Distortionist. The Distortionist began distorting the lands and its people, with its ultimate goal being to wipe out Leo's species to bring the world back to its natural order. Oel discovered this years ago, and began destroying the world in order to cause the Distortionist to take more time repairing everything. Oel took Leo's gold to fund his destruction further to delay the end. Leo disagrees with his methods, and fights Oel. Leo ends up slaying him. As he grabs his fortune again, he discovers that they were fighting on the edge of the great chasm in which the World's Core Event took place. Looking down, Leo, using his engineering skills, comes up with an idea. If the core is fractured, he would need to repair it.

Leo heads down into spiral chasm towards the world's core, using contraptions to melt his gold, all while continuously being hunted down by the Distortionist. At the core, Leo pours all of his gold into it, however it's still not enough. He notices on the core a heart shaped hole. The core has lost its life. Realizing what he must do, Leo says goodbye to Mathilda, before jumping into the core, filling the heart with his blood. This completely fixes the core, and the Distortionist's influence fades away. The ending shows Mathilda sad at the death of Leo, but telling herself that he was still alive in a sense as the world itself.

## Changes

* The art style is completely different, being hand drawn and completely flat compared to the rendered 2.5D of the final game.
* Leo has the same moves that are seen in the final release (puffing and dropping). However, the physics and momentum are noticeably different and less refined.
* Dlop-Oel and the Distortionist have their one and only appearance in the games here, with other characters like Cousin Victor, Aunt Olga, The Steaming Apparatus, and Steam Leo being entirely absent.
* An early, unnamed version of Uncle Sergej appears briefly in the flashback of the World's Core Event.
* The game goes for a noticeably darker tone, with more disturbing and even graphic content being apparent.
* There are numerous unique death animations for Leo, some being surprisingly graphic. This was changed to give the game a more broad appeal.
* The Distortionist's gameplay function of adding obstacles as you played and messing with the player was entirely cut due to the push to streamline and casualize the game further.
* Before the prototype was made, Leo was originally named Pablo, and subsequently the game was thought to be titled "Pablo's Fortune". This was changed in order to give Leo a more original, recognizable name. In the files, Leo is still labeled as Pablo, even in the final release.
* A lot of the more surprising content, like the story of the disturbing elements, were added in order to surprise and catch the player off guard. While this philosophy carried over into the final game, it was heavily toned down so it could be enjoyed by everyone.