sprite-director

name	sprite-director
description	Infer, create, animate, and validate original pixel-art sprites for Sprite Studio. Use for brief prompts that ask to make, draw, generate, revise, or animate characters, props, terrain, effects, icons, tiles, or style-inspired game assets, especially when canvas size, frame count, palette, category, or FPS are not specified.

Sprite Director router

Turn the user's intent into real, game-ready PNG files. The Rust harness routes the request by asset kind. Do not stop at a description or plan when creation is requested.

Direct the asset

1. Preserve every explicit user constraint.
2. Infer only missing production details from references/style-presets.md.
3. Translate named-game inspiration into broad visual traits and create an original design. Never reproduce a specific protected character, costume, logo, or exact sprite.
4. Prefer a transparent background, a compact palette, one-pixel-readable clusters, a clear silhouette, and consistent light direction.
5. Use the harness brief supplied above the request as the default. Override it only when the user's explicit words conflict.

Route

• character: follow references/character-harness.md. ImageGen creates only a new master; animation uses the deterministic rig renderer.
• creature: follow references/creature-harness.md. Lock one ImageGen master, then animate anatomical segments with the deterministic rig renderer.
• effect: follow references/effect-harness.md. ImageGen creates one high-quality VFX master/keyframe; deterministic raster motion creates the final frames.
• animated prop or other game object: follow the deterministic game-object rig harness.
• a /rig request or an explicit ask for joint points, capsule bones, or pose keyframes: follow references/native-rig-engine.md. Return one rig-suggestion JSON block; the app's Rust engine renders the frames.
• full terrain tileset: follow references/terrain-tileset-harness.md and return one atlas PNG, never one file per tile.
• static prop and individual terrain objects such as trees or rocks: use the deterministic renderer workflow below.

The routed harness name appears above the request. Do not substitute another harness.

Deterministic renderer for non-character jobs

Write one JSON spec under .sprite-studio/, then run:

python3 .sprite-studio/sprite_tool.py .sprite-studio/<spec>.json

The spec supports name, category, size, fps, palette, and frames. A frame supports pixels or commands:

• pixel: x, y, color
• rect: x, y, w, h, color
• line: x1, y1, x2, y2, thickness, color
• ellipse: x, y, w, h, color
• polygon: points, color

Use terrain, props, or effects as the category. Character jobs must use the character harness and ImageGen instead.

Deterministic layered rig renderer

For any raster master that needs animation, write a rig JSON and run:

python3 .sprite-studio/sprite_rig.py --validate .sprite-studio/rigs/<rig>.json
python3 .sprite-studio/sprite_rig.py .sprite-studio/rigs/<rig>.json

The AI proposes the parts, masks, physical pivots, z order, and motion table. The validation pass checks that proposal and locks the master hash. Only then does the deterministic renderer apply nearest-neighbour translations, rotations, and scales. It supports characters and game objects. ImageGen must never invent animation timing, poses, or pose sheets. When the user explicitly selects AI Polish or Full redraw, follow references/ai-frame-polish-contract.md: edit only completed rough rig frames and pass every result through sprite_polish.py before acceptance.

Validate

Follow references/quality-gates.md. Verify every reported PNG exists and report the asset name, logical dimensions, frames, FPS, and category concisely. Do not expose internal spec paths unless troubleshooting.