Parley Hatch
2abfe4abd1
Working title 'tgame' is provisional. Top-level samples/ and docs/samples/ are gitignored; visual/art pipeline lives outside this repo.
110 lines
8.6 KiB
Markdown
110 lines
8.6 KiB
Markdown
# Smoke Test: "Caewin's Forge"
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Visual pipeline validation exercise. Bounded scope (1–2 days). Defined 2026-05-13.
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## What we're validating
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**This is a vibe test, not a pipeline test.** The pipeline is already proven (see [samples/README.md](samples/README.md) — C64 multicolor tiger demonstrates extreme-constraint capability; skeleton sample demonstrates target-aesthetic capability). Mechanical correctness is solved.
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The open question: can the human-in-the-loop (prompting + curation + composition discipline) produce work with **vibe** — atmospheric storytelling, faces with inner lives, items with identity beyond function, tier differences that evoke *wanting*? Or does competent-but-lifeless output cap the project's ceiling?
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If vibe lands, "every meaningful progression beat has a visual expression" is structurally credible and the bones-first roadmap is greenlit. If it doesn't, we know now — before committing 4–6 months to data layer, sim, and game code that all assume a visual layer with soul.
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## The character
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**Caewin the Steady** (already canonized in [12-onboarding.md](12-onboarding.md) as the starter minion).
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- **Heritage:** Human, late 20s / early 30s
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- **Class:** Apprentice Engineer, Forge specialty
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- **Traits:** Steady, Lucky
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- **Bearing:** Competent, grounded, soot-stained working clothes. The kind of person who rarely raises his voice but everyone in the workshop listens when he does. Not heroic, not chibi, not idealized.
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- **Visual cues:** Dark hair, slight beard, leather apron over plain linen tunic, sleeves rolled. Calluses you can't see in a bust shot but can feel in the silhouette.
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## Asset 1 — Backdrop: The Forge (Tier 1)
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- **Canvas:** 640×360 native, palette-locked + Floyd-Steinberg dither
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- **Perspective:** First-person POV, looking across the workshop floor from the player's vantage as guildmaster
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- **Composition:** Anvil center-foreground, forge to the right with embers glowing, bellows visible, tool rack on the left wall, one window with warm afternoon light slanting in, smoke staining the ceiling
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- **Tier-1 humble cues:** Exposed timber beams, cracked plaster, half-finished projects on the bench, dust motes in the light. No banners, no polished surfaces — apprentice's workshop, not guildmaster's forge
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- **Anchor point:** Clear space where Caewin would stand to work (right of anvil, between anvil and forge). Should *read* as a place a figure could stand without obscuring the forge mouth
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- **Atmosphere:** Warm hearth-light dominant. Muted earthen palette — browns, sepias, rust-reds, restrained ember oranges
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- **References:** Diablo II Lut Gholein blacksmith, Baldur's Gate Friendly Arm Inn workshop, Machinarium's atmospheric interiors
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## Asset 2 — Portrait: Caewin the Steady
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- **Canvas:** ~256×384 (or your standard portrait canvas), palette-locked + dither
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- **Framing:** Bust shot, frontal, slight off-axis
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- **Expression:** Focused, calm, mouth closed, eyes attentive. *Not* smiling, *not* glowering
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- **Wardrobe:** Leather apron over linen tunic, soot stains, no ornamentation, no gear, no jewelry
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- **Background:** Simple atmospheric — soft blur of workshop tones, or flat muted neutral. Low contrast so the face reads
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- **Tone target:** Competent and grounded. If it slips toward heroic-fantasy-protagonist or mobile-cute, it's missing
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## Asset 3 — Item Card: Crude Pickaxe (Common quality)
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- **Canvas:** 256×384 card canvas, palette-locked + dither
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- **Frame:** Common quality border (silver-toned, no flourish, no gold inlay)
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- **Silhouette scale:** Standard tool at ~85% of canvas, slight diagonal
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- **Composition layers** (per [07-item-cards.md](07-item-cards.md)):
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- Base: pickaxe silhouette
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- Material tint: iron head (cool gray, slightly rusted), hardwood haft (warm brown)
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- Component overlays: simple iron pommel cap at the haft base, basic leather grip wrap
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- Effect aura: none (Common tier)
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- Maker's mark: small stamp (e.g., "C." or whatever your mark style allows)
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- **Tone target:** Honest, functional, almost-but-not-quite drab. The tool a competent apprentice produces — workmanlike, no embarrassment, no glory
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## Stretch goal — Same recipe, Fine quality
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If time permits, generate the **same pickaxe at Fine quality (Tier 3 reveal)** for direct side-by-side comparison:
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- Frame: silver border with subtle gold inlay
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- Material: refined moonsilver pickaxe head (pale blue sheen), lacquered ironwood haft (deep brown with grain)
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- Component overlays: ornate silver pommel cap, dyed leather grip wrap with small copper studs
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- Effect aura: subtle outer glow (per [13-reveal-choreography.md](13-reveal-choreography.md) — Fine tier visual treatment)
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- Same maker's mark, same silhouette, same scale
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**The test:** Common and Fine placed side by side. The visible difference should be *immediately readable at a glance*, without reading the quality label. If it isn't, the north star is in trouble.
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## Vibe evaluation — the actual eval
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This is the load-bearing question. Per asset:
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**Forge backdrop — atmospheric storytelling.** Does the workshop feel *lived in*? Details that suggest someone just was here — half-finished hilt on the bench, rag draped over tongs, a boot print in soot. Lighting that tells you the time of day and mood. The eye knows where to settle.
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- *Failure mode:* forge + anvil + bellows + fire + tools all rendered correctly, reads as a list of objects in a room. No mood.
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**Caewin portrait — a face with inner life.** Do you look at it and think "yeah, that person would be quiet, notice things, never panic"? Personality readable. Traits (Steady, Lucky) subtly legible without being telegraphed.
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- *Failure mode:* competent human male in leather apron, all features correct, no spark. Could be any tutorial NPC.
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**Item card — object with identity beyond function.** Does the pickaxe feel like a specific tool a specific person made and used? Wear pattern on the haft, character to the iron. Not generic stock-photo pickaxe.
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- *Failure mode:* functionally-correct pickaxe centered in a frame that neither fights nor helps it.
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**Common vs. Fine (stretch) — the Fine makes you want it.** Not because of the border, but because materials are obviously richer, construction obviously more careful, pride visibly taken.
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- *Failure mode:* Fine looks like Common with a gold border and glow shader.
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**The unifying test:** could a stranger looking at these assets, with no context, guess what kind of game this is and want to know more? Pipeline-correctness with vibe = the game ships. Pipeline-correctness without vibe = competent screensaver.
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## Mechanical checks (these matter, but they're table stakes)
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These are below the vibe eval, not in place of it — they need to pass but won't determine the verdict on their own:
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1. **Cross-asset coherence.** All three feel like they belong in the same game? Same palette density, same dither character?
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2. **Composition cleanliness.** Item layers compose without floating bits or misaligned anchors? Backdrop has a real "place to stand"?
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3. **Tier readability (stretch).** Common → Fine difference visible at a glance without reading labels?
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4. **Production tractability.** *How long did each asset take?* If each is 8 hours of hand-cleanup, the envelope doesn't close even with great vibe. If it's 30 minutes of generate-and-curate, the production plan stands.
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## Verdict format
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One of three:
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- **"This will ship."** — Pipeline holds, output supports the claims, no major blockers. Specific praise + minor refinements.
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- **"Close, but..."** — Promising direction with a specific gap (dither too dense / not dense enough, tone slips, anchors don't read). Concrete pivots.
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- **"Stick with digital twins."** — Honest evaluation that the pipeline can't sustain the ambition. Specific reasons why, and whether a scope/style pivot would unlock it.
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Evaluation will be honest, not generous. That's what makes the smoke test useful.
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## Why this exercise gates the roadmap
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The bones-first roadmap (sim + data + game code first, art last) assumes the visual pipeline can produce the assets the design needs, in the volume and quality required, at a production cost that closes within solo + AI augmentation. That's a load-bearing assumption.
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The visual-progression north star *can't be validated by simulation*. It's a felt design claim. The only way to know whether the pipeline supports it is to render a tier-1 and a tier-3 asset and see if the difference produces the "I want that for my character" pull.
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If the smoke test ships green, the rest of the roadmap proceeds. If it ships red, we pivot — possibly to a different art direction, possibly to a different scope, possibly to a different style discipline. Better to find out now than at month 4.
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