Every standard gameplay environment supports three major depth planes.
Plane 1 — Foreground. Very close architecture: usually dark, partially blurred, strongly occluding, high parallax — columns, ruined walls, arches, balustrades, broken masonry. The foreground makes the camera feel as if it exists somewhere inside the architecture.
Plane 2 — Combat plane. A relatively calm horizontal surface: gallery, bridge, terrace, aqueduct top, corridor, monumental platform. It holds the gameplay entities, and its immediate surroundings are calmer than the rest of the Tower. It must support 5 allied units, an enemy formation, HP/status information, projectiles, shadows and combat VFX. Do not place excessive high-contrast architecture directly behind every unit.
Plane 3 — Tower. An extremely detailed architectural background. The Tower may continue upward, downward, horizontally, through openings, behind other architecture and into atmospheric distance. The viewer should perceive architecture behind architecture behind architecture. This is where Tower gigantism is communicated.
Amended D-082 Each plane is a separate layer of the environment master in production, with Unity parallax, fog and light (§22).