Artist brief · v3.1 art ask · 2026-05-24

SIXTY-TWO&
NEW PIECES

A clean world, twenty mouths to open, forty walking legs,
and one shared nap.
Then we sleep.

Source of truth: NEXT_ART_ASK.md. This page is the operational read. If they disagree, the markdown wins.

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01 The shopping list sixty-two PNGs, four families.

ID	Family	Files	State	Canvas	Code change?	Scope
F1	World, no-bots variant /assets/reference/world-no-bots.png	1	n/a	1536 × 1024	1-line URL swap (separate PR)	Must
F2	Active speaking <id>/active/speaking.png	20	Active · color	256 × 310	None	Must
F3	Active walk cycle <id>/active/walk-a.png · walk-b.png	40	Active · color	256 × 310	None	Must
F4	Shared sleeping _shared/sleeping.png	1	Passive · sepia	256 × 310	None (wired)	Must
F5	Full turnaround set back · left · right × passive + active × 20	120	Both	256 × 310	None	Deferred
	v3.1 scope	62

02 F1 · World illustration, no-bots variant remove the inked-in bots. keep everything else.

CROP · LOCKED

World style guide with crop window overlay

origin (155, 15)

945 × 705 visible stage

remove bots from inside this rectangle only.

Full file1536 × 1024 (identical to v3)

Crop rectanglex:155 y:15 w:945 h:705

Chrome edgesright at x≈1100 · bottom at y≈720

Verify byoverlay at 100% — rooms must match

Acceptance

Pixel-identical canvas 1536 × 1024 to world-style-guide.png.
Crop x:155 y:15 w:945 h:705 overlays exactly — rooms, paths, props, rooflines unchanged.
All inked-in bot figures inside the crop are gone. Desks, props, "where they stood" floor markings stay.
No new bots, props, or annotations introduced.
No erase halos — paper tone holds inside the crop.

Spec

Path/assets/reference/world-no-bots.png
Canvas1536 × 1024
FormatPNG, sRGB
Backgroundopaque paper
Cropx:155 y:15 w:945 h:705

Reference

public/assets/reference/world-style-guide.png — anchor on this and only this. Open both at 100% side-by-side to verify.

Shifting layout inside the crop forces a world.json retune. Don't.

03 F2 · Active speaking poses twenty open mouths. one per resident.

Acceptance

Same character, same palette, same hat, same accent, same props as that resident's active/front.png.
Mouth clearly open. Subtle speaking gesture (raised hand, head tilt) welcome but not required.
Silhouette reads at 32px height.
Feet pivot on the same bottom-center pixel as front.png.
No speech-bubble graphic baked into the PNG — engine overlays it.

Spec

Path/assets/residents/<id>/active/speaking.png
Canvas256 × 310
FormatPNG RGBA, sRGB
Backgroundtransparent
Stateactive (color)
Pivotfeet-center, bottom

Reference

Each resident's existing active/front.png. Color-pick the accent before painting; do not reinterpret.

Passive bots do not speak in v3.1 — passive speaking.png is not requested.

04 F3 · Active walk cycle two frames, opposite legs, no bounce.

Acceptance

walk-a and walk-b are alternating gait frames of the same character. Same hat, accent, props.
Opposite legs forward in A vs B; opposite arms swinging.
Pivot stays on feet-center bottom edge in both frames. If a foot lifts, the standing foot is the pivot.
No vertical bounce between frames — the engine handles bob.
Forward-facing (south) gait. Side/back are F5 (deferred).

Spec

Path A<id>/active/walk-a.png
Path B<id>/active/walk-b.png
Canvas256 × 310
Backgroundtransparent
Stateactive (color)
Namingkebab-case · case-sensitive

TS enum: walkA/walkB. On disk: walk-a.png/walk-b.png via POSE_FILE_STEM.

Reference

Each resident's active/front.png.

Passive walk frames are not requested — the wander runtime only animates the bot the user is watching, which is active by definition.

05 F4 · Universal sleeping pose one file. shared by all twenty.

Acceptance

Reads as "asleep at desk" — slumped forward, eyes shut or Zz, head onto a small implied surface in front. No bed.
Monochrome sepia ink only. No accent colors.
Pivot on feet-center bottom edge so day↔night swap doesn't jump.
Generic body — strip hats, props, per-character accessories. Works for any resident.

Spec

Path/assets/residents/_shared/sleeping.png
Canvas256 × 310
Backgroundtransparent
Statepassive (sepia)
Pivotfeet-center, bottom

Reference

Any existing passive/front.png for ink weight and sepia tone.

Renderer already resolves every sleeping lookup to _shared/sleeping.png via residentAssetUrl() — drop the file, done.

06 F5 · Turnarounds stretch. do not start.

What it would unlock

Wander runtime already emits facing: 'N' | 'S' | 'E' | 'W'. Side/back PNGs let residents face the direction they walk. Today everyone faces south.

Nice-to-have. Not v3.1.

If approved (future)

Filesback · left · right
Statespassive + active
Per resident6 files × 20 = 120

Key rules (for later)

left and right are mirrored stances, not renamed duplicates.
back is a true rear view — no face.
Accent stays exact across all four directions.

07 Inherited rules (from v3 resident guide) the part nobody re-reads. read it.

Figure rules

Hand-drawn ink & paper. Closed shapes, soft outlines, slight wobble.
Proportions: 45% head · 30% torso · 25% legs.
Cute first, geometric never. Corners always rounded.
Skin is warm beige #e6c7a3. Never tinted.
One accent color per resident — locked by v3.

What stays off the sprite

Drop shadow — engine adds it. Don't bake one in.
Speech bubble — engine overlays it.
Alert badge, focus ring, path dashes — all engine.
Paper grain & ink specks — those live on the page background, not the sprite.
Selection halo — engine swap, not art.

Active palette

e9d4b3

c89568

6f8a4a

4f6b8a

6e4f7a

9c3a3a

b08a3a

SKIN ONLY · #e6c7a3

colors are locked. don't pick a new one.

08 Pre-delivery self-check run before you zip.

At 32px height, every figure has a clear, distinguishable silhouette.
No baked drop shadow under any figure — engine adds it.
No baked speech bubble, alert badge, focus ring, or path dashes.
Filenames match §3 paths exactly, case-sensitive.
Canvas 256 × 310 RGBA, transparent background. (file foo.png confirms.)
Pivot: dropping the new file on front.png lands feet on the same y-coordinate.
Active poses re-use the exact accent from that resident's active/front.png.
Passive sprites are sepia only — no color accents slipped in.
F1 no-bots world overlays x:155 y:15 w:945 h:705 on the v3 file pixel-for-pixel.
F4 shared sleeping.png reads as "asleep" with no character hat or prop.

09 Automated gate the build will tell on you.

The check

pnpm assets:check

Lists every expected F1–F4 path vs. what's on disk. Pass = 62/62 present, exit code 0.

Any ✗ line is a missing or misnamed file. Fix the spelling/casing, re-run.

Landing order (project lead)

Art PR first. Drop F1–F4 at the exact paths.
Run pnpm assets:check — expect 62/62.
Hard-reload the dev server. F2/F3/F4 render immediately.
Code PR second — one-line swap of WORLD_ILLUSTRATION_URL when F1 lands.

Never mix art and code in one PR.

10 Not asking (don't drift wide) out of scope.

Per-room interior scenesworld is one approved illustration
GIFs, APNGs, sprite sheetsengine swaps individual PNGs
New residentscast locked at 20
New props / icons / glyphslegend symbols are inline SVG
UI chrome, HUD, panelsCSS + tokens from lookbook.css
Selection rings / alert badges / halosengine overlays
Day-tint variants of the worldCSS overlays on the same PNG
Re-skins of existing residentsaccents locked by v3