Core Mechanical Concept

I would like to mention that I am a programmer, and so all visuals for this game will be some 'excellent' dev-art.

The core concept of the game is based around the idea of having a set of abilities that the player uses for both combat and platforming.
These abilities are themed around the four elements and are as follows:

Fire - A charged blast that both damages nearby enemies and blast the player in the direction away from the explosion.

Water - A shield which can be used to defend against enemy attack and stage hazards

Earth - Launches a boulder that damages enemies it hits and lodges into terrain to create platforms

Air - A short distance dash that can be used to maneuver in mid-air and also dodge enemy attacks

These abilities are fueled by separate resources, one for each ability. Each opposite is linked, fire to water and earth to air. Using one ability drains that ability's resource but replenishes the opposite resource. This prevents the player from completing a level by using the same ability over and over but never leads to a situation where the player runs out of options. The intuitiveness of this system remains to be tested and will depend on the clarity of the UI but I believe this will promote greater creativity and be more satisfying in the long run that cooldowns or a shared resource.