| name | tcg-art-direction |
| description | Plan original trading card game and card-battler visual direction for TCG/CCG card frames, card illustrations, board styling, tokens/minions, hand/deck/graveyard zones, VFX, and Hearthstone-like fantasy tabletop polish while keeping references IP-safe. |
When to use
Use when the task asks for trading card game, collectible card game, deck-builder, card battler, card frame, board, token/minion, graveyard/discard, hand/deck presentation, rarity styling, or Hearthstone-like fantasy card-game visual guidance.
Output
- Target style family and rationale.
- Original card, board, token, and VFX art direction.
- Asset brief using the TCG template when implementation or generation will follow.
- IP-safety notes when named commercial games are used as inspiration.
- Sanity/readability checks for generated or implemented visuals.
Workflow
- Identify the artifact type: card illustration, card frame, board UI, token/minion, VFX, style bible, or full TCG art pack.
- Choose a style from
references/style-taxonomy.md; default to warm-tavern-fantasy for Hearthstone-like warmth.
- Read
references/ip-safety.md whenever named games, studios, or commercial card-game references are part of the request.
- Use
references/asset-brief-template.md to produce a handoff-ready brief.
- Preserve gameplay readability: hand, deck, graveyard/discard, battlefield tokens, counters, targeting, and active prompts must remain inspectable.
- For generated images, compose with
generative-art-designer, iterate-art-to-sanity, and enforce-art-language-safety.
- For UI/vector implementation, compose with
board-ui-artist, css-vector-artist, and frontend-developer.
Notes
- Treat Hearthstone, Magic: The Gathering Arena, Might & Magic Fates, and Gods Unchained as broad reference points only.
- Translate references into original materials, shape language, mood, color hierarchy, readability goals, and interaction patterns.
- Do not copy proprietary card frames, boards, logos, characters, factions, iconography, UI layouts, or exact compositions.
- Keep OpenCaw outputs reusable; host-project-specific art decisions belong in the host repository.
