Levels of abstraction can be both time-saving and frustrating at times.
However, the engineering of the 'find the needle in the haystack' machine seems to be underway...

How to choose PCB? YouTube video by Robert Feranec

Yes, Kincade is great!
Component lib (schematic & footprint) supported/available for download by distributors as Digikey, Mouser.

Will suggest to watch this regarding PCB stacking: youtu.be/Lqc1jmbSxnE?...

EDA Playground Edit, save, simulate, synthesize SystemVerilog, Verilog, VHDL and other HDLs from your web browser.

You can use EDAplayground right from your browser for demos and presentations.
You can share your work immediately or keep it private!

It supports VHDL, SV/Verilog, C++/SystemC, and more.

Here is a RAM emulation example with write access reports in a file with timestamps.
edaplayground.com/x/qyKE

FPGA prototyping:
1) a bit of discrete HW
2) an inexpensive FPGA development board
3) a cheap micro-controller running micro-python
4) a computer running python
5) a two channel oscilloscope

You may ask: why an FPGA ?
Simply put : no compromises on real time accuracy !

In a nutshell:
processors do "time sharing", FPGA do "silicon sharing". While GPU are smack in the middle !