Android Cartoon Roguelike Development

Freelance Brief: ECHO — Android Roguelike
Overview

I'm building a roguelike exclusively for Android with one core hook: the screen is dark, and you can only see by emitting a sound pulse ("echo") that briefly reveals your surroundings. Every echo also risks alerting nearby enemies. Navigation, combat, and exploration are all built around this "sight is a limited, risky resource" mechanic.

This is not a bright, cartoonish game — the visual identity is intentionally minimal and high-contrast: a near-black screen with glowing wireframe/line-art reveals when you pulse (cool blue/white for environment, warm amber/red for enemies and danger). Clean and readable, but moody rather than playful. If your instinct is a colorful, cartoon-style rendering approach, this project is likely not the right fit — happy to clarify further if useful.

Core Mechanic (the part that must be nailed first)
Player taps/holds to emit an expanding echo pulse from their position.
Anything the pulse touches is revealed for ~1.5–3 seconds, then fades to black (static geometry like walls fades slower than moving objects like enemies).
Pulses have a cooldown/stamina cost and generate a noise radius that can alert nearby enemies.
Passive positional/binaural audio cues (footsteps, breathing, ambient enemy sound) let skilled players navigate with fewer pulses.
Procedural Generation Requirements

Each run needs freshly generated dungeon layouts — room shapes, enemy placement, and item/echo-charge pickups shuffled per run — while respecting a sensible difficulty curve as the player goes deeper (denser enemy placement, tighter echo-charge availability, etc.).

I want to hear your recommended approach — whether that's a custom C# solution, Godot's tilemap/room-randomizer tools, Unity ScriptableObject-driven generation, or something else you've had good results with. Strong preference for whatever runs smoothly across a wide range of Android hardware, including lower-end devices, since performance and battery drain matter more than visual fidelity here.

Audio Requirements (critical — this is not optional polish)

Because the entire mechanic is built on sound:

Full positional/binaural audio is required so players can judge direction and rough distance by ear.
Distinct sound signatures per enemy type.
A distinguishable, satisfying "echo pulse" sound separate from combat/ambient sound.
Please mention your experience (if any) with spatial audio implementation in your proposal — this matters more than general Android dev experience for this project.
Milestone 1 — Prototype (what I need first)
A lightweight, playable APK demonstrating:
Procedurally generated rooms/dungeon layout
Basic character movement
The core echo-pulse-reveal mechanic working end-to-end (even with placeholder wireframe art and placeholder/rough audio)
Full source project plus clear build instructions so I can test on multiple Android handsets myself.
Follow-Up Milestones (not needed yet, for context only)
Combat system (short-range, audio-telegraphed enemy attacks)
Full enemy roster with distinct sound signatures
UI (minimal — HUD should stay unobtrusive to preserve the darkness/immersion)
Final audio pass (positional/binaural implementation, mixing)
Meta-progression systems (unlockable echo types, characters, perks) — stretch goal, discuss after core loop is proven
What to Include in Your Proposal
How you'd technically implement the darkness/reveal-radius rendering (shader-based, mask/light-based, or another approach).
Your recommended procedural generation method and why, given the difficulty-curve and performance requirements above.
Any prior experience with positional/spatial audio on mobile.
Engine of choice (Godot, Unity, or other) and rough milestone-1 timeline/cost estimate.