Add art brief and palette references for the PixelLab pipeline
Resolves decision 8: art is generated in PixelLab from written prompts. docs/ART.md carries the palette spec, the sky/wood slot rule, per-asset sizes and return format, and prompts for Aki (needed for M3), the rest of the cast, and the shop background. art/palette.png (16x1, one pixel per entry) and art/palette_ref.png (512x64 swatch strip) are generated from g_Palette so the generator and the build cannot drift apart. Flags a constraint the palette had hidden: only one literal skin entry, so portraits use 6 -> 14 -> 4 as a hue-compatible skin ramp. Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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Claude Opus 5
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# Kissaten Yūgure — Art brief
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Pipeline: **you generate in PixelLab from the prompts below, drop the PNGs in
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`art/`, and I convert them to SCREEN 5 data.** I'll write the converter
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(`tools/convert_art.py`) once the first real images land — there's working
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precedent in `projects/mazegame/convert_screens.py`.
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---
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## 1. The palette — read this before generating anything
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Everything in the game shares **one 16-colour palette**. It is already in
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`kissaten.c` as `g_Palette` and is what the current build renders with.
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- `art/palette.png` — 16×1 px, one pixel per entry. Machine-readable; use it
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wherever PixelLab accepts a palette image.
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- `art/palette_ref.png` — 512×64 swatch strip, same order, for eyeballing.
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| # | Hex | Role | Notes |
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|---|---|---|---|
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| 0 | `#000000` | transparent | **Never paint with this.** It is the transparent index. |
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| 1 | `#242424` | outline | near-black; outlines, dark hair |
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| 2 | `#492424` | dark wood | deep shadow, dark brown hair |
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| 3 | `#924924` | mid wood | wall panels, doors, deep skin shadow |
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| 4 | `#B66D49` | light wood | counter top, **skin shadow** |
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| 5 | `#FFB649` | lamp glow | warm light |
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| 6 | `#FFDB92` | cream | glassware, **skin highlight** |
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| 7 | `#6D4949` | muted wall | upper wall, muted cloth |
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| 8 | `#492492` | dusk deep | **sky only** |
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| 9 | `#9249B6` | dusk violet | **sky only** |
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| 10 | `#DB6D6D` | dusk rose | **sky only** |
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| 11 | `#FF9249` | horizon amber | **sky only** |
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| 12 | `#6D2400` | coffee | coffee, dark red-brown cloth |
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| 13 | `#496DB6` | coat blue | uniforms, coats |
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| 14 | `#FFB692` | skin | **skin base** |
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| 15 | `#FFFFDB` | warm white | highlights, cup rims, eye whites |
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### The one non-negotiable rule
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**Slots 8–11 are sky. Slots 4–7 are wood and warm interior.** Nothing else may
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use 8–11.
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This is what makes seasons and time-of-day free: the background bitmap is
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authored once, and each season/hour is a 32-byte palette swap. If a character's
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jacket is painted in slot 9, that jacket changes colour every time the sun
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moves. Getting this wrong is not a cosmetic issue — it silently destroys the
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whole seasonal system, and you don't find out until M7.
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### Skin, specifically
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There is only one literal "skin" entry, which is too thin for a face. Use
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these three as a ramp — they're hue-compatible:
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- highlight `#FFDB92` (6) → base `#FFB692` (14) → shadow `#B66D49` (4)
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- deepest shadow / hair: `#924924` (3), `#492424` (2), `#242424` (1)
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---
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## 2. What I need back
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| Asset | Size | Count |
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|---|---|---|
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| Character portrait | **48×48** | 3 per character (neutral / happy / troubled) |
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| Shop background | **256×212** | 1 |
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| Customer sprite | **16×16** | 2 layers per character (fill + outline) |
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**PNG, generated natively at the target size — do not downscale a larger
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image.** Downscaling pixel art produces half-pixels and anti-aliased edges
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that cannot be quantised cleanly.
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No anti-aliasing, no gradients, no dithering unless it's deliberate hard
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checkerboard. If PixelLab can be constrained to the 16 colours, do that; if
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not, generate close and I'll quantise — but the sky/wood slot rule above
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still has to hold visually or the quantiser can't fix it.
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**48×48 is very small** — roughly 6 pixels of eye. Faces need a strong
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silhouette and simplified features. Detail that reads at 200×200 will turn to
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mud. If a generation looks great zoomed out and illegible at 1:1, it's wrong.
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---
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## 3. Prompts — Aki (needed now, for M3)
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Hoshino Aki, 17, studying for Tokyo entrance exams, cream soda drinker.
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Character notes in `SCRIPT.md` §1. Written as a girl there; that's one word to
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change if you'd rather — the dialogue beats themselves use no gendered
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pronouns.
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**Common style stem** — prepend to all three:
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> 48x48 pixel art portrait, 1987 Japanese anime style as drawn for MSX2 or
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> PC-88 games, head and shoulders, three-quarter view, hard-edged pixels, no
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> anti-aliasing, limited 16 colour palette of warm browns oranges and creams,
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> flat cel shading, dark navy school uniform, simple readable silhouette,
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> plain dark background
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**Aki — neutral**
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> ...17 year old Japanese high school student, straight dark bob-length hair,
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> tired but polite expression, calm eyes, slight shadows under the eyes,
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> looking slightly off to one side
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**Aki — happy**
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> ...17 year old Japanese high school student, straight dark bob-length hair,
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> small genuine smile, eyes softened and slightly narrowed, faint blush,
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> looking toward the viewer
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**Aki — troubled**
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> ...17 year old Japanese high school student, straight dark bob-length hair,
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> eyes cast downward, faint frown, tense mouth, weary
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---
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## 4. Prompts — the rest of the cast (M8, not urgent)
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Same style stem, swapping the uniform line.
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**Ōta-san** — retired stationmaster, ~70, black coffee, punctual.
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> elderly Japanese man in his seventies, close-cropped grey hair, deeply
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> lined face, upright bearing, plain dark jacket buttoned to the collar
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- *neutral:* composed, formal · *happy:* faint dignified smile, eyes crinkled
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- *troubled:* jaw set, looking past the viewer
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**Fujimoto** — manga artist, ~30, exhausted, funny about it.
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> Japanese manga artist in their thirties, messy shoulder-length hair, heavy
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> shadows under the eyes, round glasses, rumpled shirt with sleeves pushed up
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- *neutral:* wired, sleepless · *happy:* crooked grin, animated
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- *troubled:* hollow stare, hand near face
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**Nakajima-san** — widow, ~65, orders two coffees.
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> Japanese woman in her mid-sixties, silver hair pinned back neatly, soft
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> composed face, high-collared blouse under a plain cardigan, small pearl
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> earrings
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- *neutral:* serene, self-possessed · *happy:* warm gentle smile
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- *troubled:* distant, looking at something not in the room
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---
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## 5. Prompt — the shop background (M6, longest lead time)
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256×212. This one carries the game's whole look and is the hardest to redo,
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so it's worth several attempts.
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Composition is fixed by the code — see `DESIGN.md` §4 and `DrawScene()`:
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- Top **16px** is the status bar (drawn over) — keep it empty/dark.
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- **y=16–148** is the shop scene.
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- Bottom **64px** is the dialogue window (drawn over) — keep it empty/dark.
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- Window on the **left** (~x16–88), showing dusk sky in slots 8–11 only.
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- Door on the **right** (~x208–244).
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- Counter running horizontally at **y≈98**, its top edge level.
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- Hanging lamp above the counter, centre.
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- Siphon coffee rig sits on the counter left of centre — I can keep drawing
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this procedurally if it's easier to leave out.
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> 256x212 pixel art interior of a small 1987 Japanese kissaten coffee shop at
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> dusk, viewed straight on, static single-screen game background, wooden
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> counter running across the lower third, tall window on the left showing a
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> violet and amber dusk sky, wooden door on the right, hanging lamp with warm
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> glow above the counter, wood panelling, shelves with glassware, cosy and
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> quiet, 1987 MSX2 game art, hard-edged pixels, no anti-aliasing, flat cel
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> shading, warm brown and orange interior with the sky in violet and amber
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**The sky through that window must use only slots 8–11.** Everything else in
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the room must avoid them. That's the whole seasonal system riding on one rule.
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---
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## 6. Sprites (M6)
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16×16, two layers per customer: a **fill** layer and an **outline** layer that
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is the same silhouette dilated by one pixel, drawn behind. Sprite mode 2, so
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each layer is a single colour — these are shapes, not shaded art. Current
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placeholders are in `kissaten.c` as `g_SprCustFill` / `g_SprCustLine`.
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Worth doing by hand rather than generating; a 16×16 single-colour silhouette
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is faster to draw than to prompt for.
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