docs(briefings): rewrite araminta.md around the Phase-4 landscape (T-1053)
Replaces the 2026-03-13 v0.2-pivot briefing (sprite pipeline, dropped scope framing, pre-Atlas) with the current shape: palette.md + conventions.md as the live authorities the briefing points at rather than restates, her standing rulings (category-first naming, D-257 toon/glazing) marked as hers to extend, D-235 co-maintenance with Miri, the wardrobe pipeline as reference model, D-255 stepped Atlas as active co-designed work, and her real open items (T-1049, D-257 shader, Q-119, T-1198). Every v0.2-era decision citation verified before dropping: D-114/D-117 superseded; D-119/D-122/D-128/D-135 live but not hers; D-033/D-045 kept. D-126/D-131 found REPURPOSED to unrelated content since the era docs cited them — the ID-drift sweep is T-1199. Lead added the briefs/ + deferred.md pointers (araminta's cross-agent note; her SendMessage to the author couldn't be delivered). Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
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---
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title: "Araminta - Project Briefing"
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description: "Visual art director responsible for zone visual grammar, tile palettes, entity color system, and placeholder art pipeline — generator-critical visual deliverables for v0.2"
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description: "Visual art director for the Phase-4 asset pipeline and Atlas map-art rendering — owns palette.md/conventions.md as the live style authority, co-maintains the D-235 ObjectTag rendered-look layer with Miri, co-designed the D-255 stepped Atlas"
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type: briefing
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status: active
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agent: Araminta
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updated: 2026-03-13
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updated: 2026-07-25
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---
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# Araminta - Project Briefing
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Last updated: 2026-03-13
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Last updated: 2026-07-25
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## Current Project State
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Check active work: `pql ticket list --status in_progress`
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Check your tickets: `pql ticket list --assigned araminta`
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## v0.2 Pivot — Key Changes for Your Role
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The visual system shifts from designing layouts for three hand-crafted social sites to designing the visual grammar that the generator uses to produce legible zones at scale.
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## Status
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**ACTIVE.** Araminta is visual art direction for the Phase-4 asset pipeline
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(D-244: 3D objects in-world, no per-object sprite layer — the sprite-era
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pipeline is gone) and for Atlas map-art rendering (the client's "map-art
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function" role in D-255's stepped render architecture). Her two style
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documents — `docs/assets/visual/palette.md` (T-1052) and
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`docs/assets/visual/conventions.md` (T-1050) — merged 2026-07-25 and are now
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the **live style authorities**. This briefing points at them; it does not
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restate their content, to avoid a second copy drifting out of sync the way
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the old stub `palette.md` drifted from D-148/D-019 for months.
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**What changes:**
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- The three specific social sites (Logistics Hub, The Last Shift bar, maintenance corridors) are no longer hand-crafted deliverables. They become instances of generated zone types.
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- D-033 player color split (smuggler `#e8e0d0` / detective `#e0e8ff`) no longer applies — single tycoon character type in v0.2.
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- D-034 FRIEND visual treatment as an authoring assignment is gone — the FRIEND pattern is now a generator template; Araminta's role is ensuring the entity color system communicates relationship progression clearly for generated NPCs.
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- Spatial layout deliverables shift: instead of three specific floor plans, Araminta produces zone type visual rules that the generator instantiates.
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## The two live style documents (read these, not this briefing, for content)
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**What survives:**
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- D-033 entity color = relationship to player (unknown teal, friendly green, POI amber, hostile red) — unchanged
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- Insert/minimap visual language
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- Monologue display system
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- Phase 1-3 placeholder art pipeline
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- Zone palette identities (D-036 three-zone breakdown maps to generator zone types)
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- **`docs/assets/visual/palette.md`** — camera (D-148 gameplay vs D-019
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offline-render-only, §1), toon-vs-PBR rendering treatment (D-257, §2), the
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D-235 ObjectTag rendered-look register — hue/grain/weathering per material
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tag (§3), what survives from the pre-cascade docs (§4), and the formal
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supersession statement for `visual-grammar-v01.md` /
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`workshop-outcomes.md` (§5). This is the single live style bible for
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Phase 4+ rendered look — new style guidance lands here, not in a new
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parallel document.
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- **`docs/assets/visual/conventions.md`** — model naming, mask sidecars,
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D-235-keyed texture naming, multi-tile footprint metadata. Mechanics, not
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taste; this is where "how do I name/organize the file" questions go.
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**New critical path items (Araminta prerequisites for generator spike):**
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- Zone visual grammar — what each zone type looks like visually; tile palette per zone type
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- Character creation visual spec — full character customisation (D-126): hair, clothing, colours
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Both documents are Araminta-authored and Araminta-owned going forward — she
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extends them, not this briefing.
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## Decisions Relevant to Your Role
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- D-013: Diegetic insert/POI navigation — in-world UI aesthetic
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- D-015: Camera locked to character — vision cone presentation
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- D-016: Internal monologue — text presentation, typography, positioning
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- D-017: Perception mode overlays
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- D-018: Three-range sound — visual indicators for medium range
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- D-019: Top-down art style
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- D-021: Official title "The Settled Reach"
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- D-033: Entity color = relationship to player (palette unchanged)
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- D-036: Sova Transit District visual zones — maps to generator zone types
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- D-114: v0.2 proof-of-life = generator + graphics (graphics = Araminta's domain)
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- D-117: Tycoon bookmark — single character type, apartment wakeup, goes to work
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- D-119: Generator spike — Phase 5 per D-166 cascade (not imminent)
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- D-122: All NPCs generated — visual system must handle generator-created entities
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- D-126: Full character customisation (hair, clothing, colours)
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- D-128: Culture implicit in starting location — visual language should communicate Van Maanen's Star culture
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- D-131: First Settled Reach moment = apartment + insert activation — visual priority
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- D-135: Setting delivery via both layers (visual + insert) in parallel
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## Standing rulings — hers to extend
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## Open Questions Assigned to You
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- Q-003: Art direction (LEAD)
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- Q-WTF-039: Character creation screen — portrait render or tile-scale preview?
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- Q-WTF-040: Do creation choices trace into the generated apartment?
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These are rulings Araminta has already made under delegated art-seat
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authority (T-1052/T-1050 activation). Treat them as settled defaults for any
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new asset-class work, extend rather than relitigate:
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## Current Priorities
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Consult `docs/sprints/` for active sprint briefing.
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- **Category-first model naming** (`conventions.md` §1) —
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`<category>_<descriptor>.glb` (e.g. `table_baroque.glb`), matching the
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shipped character-clothing convention. The 3dpipeline spike's
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descriptor-first naming was pre-convention scratch work, not precedent.
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- **D-257 toon/PBR ruling with the glazing carve-out** — environment props
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and furniture share the character toon shader family
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(`toon.gdshader`/`toon_masked.gdshader`) by default; `glass_curtain_wall`
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and `industrial_glazing` (the ratified D-235 glazing tokens) plus
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deliberately reflective/polished metal get a narrow minimal-PBR carve-out
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(`roughness` 0.05–0.2, non-zero specular/metallic) so transparency reads
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correctly — load-bearing because the game's core mechanic is
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occlusion-based perception (D-033). Reviewed by Tyre at PR #211.
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**Zone visual grammar is the single most important visual deliverable for the generator spike.**
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## Decisions relevant to your role
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1. **Zone type visual grammar** — blocked by Miri's zone identity spec. Once Miri delivers zone type definitions, Araminta produces tile palette and visual rules per zone type. Blocked by: Miri zone identity spec. Blocks: Tyre generator zone template parameters.
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2. **Character customisation visual spec** — hair, clothing, colours (D-126). What are the customisation dimensions? What does the creation screen communicate? Feeds Q-WTF-039 (portrait vs tile-scale preview).
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3. **Apartment visual spec** — generated apartment reflects economic position. What does a small business owner's apartment look like visually? How does the generator know which tiles/props to use? Q-WTF-040 feeds into this.
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4. **Entity color system for generated NPCs** — D-033 palette unchanged. Ensure relationship transition visuals (especially the first green→amber shift) work with generated NPC names and labels, not hand-authored ones.
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5. **Insert/HUD wireframe for tycoon** — single character type variant (vs previous smuggler/detective dual variants). One `lattice_profile` parameter for v0.2.
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Read `decisions/architecture.md` (primary) and `decisions/perception.md`
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(secondary — the still-live camera/color/neutrality bedrock). Key decisions:
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### Placeholder art pipeline (status)
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- Phase 1 (Structural): tile floor plans, entity rectangles, fog rendering — establish zone type rules
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- Phase 2 (Information): insert overlay, monologue display, dialogue panel — adapt for tycoon character
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- Phase 3 (Atmosphere): zone palettes per generated zone type, character customisation display
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- Phase 4 (Polish): sprite replacements, animations — post-generator spike
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- **D-033:** Entity color = relationship to player (unknown teal, friendly
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green, POI amber, hostile red) — active, unchanged since 2026-02-11. The
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single most important color system in the game; applies at any render
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fidelity. Also the rationale root for D-257's glazing carve-out (a player
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must be able to judge sightlines correctly).
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- **D-045:** Environmental neutrality — strict zero shift. Governs how the
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D-235 material register may and may not respond to game state (condition
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bands shift with `prosperity_score`, never with narrative state).
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- **D-148:** 30° low-angle `Camera3D`, 45° map rotation — the gameplay
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camera, supersedes D-019 for gameplay (D-019 survives only as the offline
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flat-2D-artwork render rig's angle — palette.md §1 corrects a
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long-standing conflation of the two).
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- **D-149:** 3D characters rendered live in scene, not pre-rendered sprites —
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backing precedent for the shared toon-shader argument in D-257.
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- **D-235:** Building exterior visual grammar — the ratified ObjectTag
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vocabulary (wall/roof/facade/street axes, `wiki/economics/object_tag_vocabulary.toml`).
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This is the **logical layer** (what material is this wall); Araminta
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renders the look on top of it (palette.md §3). **Co-maintained with Miri**
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per D-235's own Implementation note.
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- **D-244:** 3D objects in-world; 2D limited to textures + flat artwork.
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Retires the sprite catalog framing this briefing used to carry.
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- **D-255:** Body Map Viewer — the stepped Atlas render architecture (Global
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opener + Region/District/Quarter/Block/Chunk fixed rungs). Araminta is a
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**named co-designer** (named-feature encoding, payload schema, lakes) —
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see below.
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- **D-257:** Environment props share the character toon shading treatment;
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minimal-PBR carve-out for glazing — her own ruling, see Standing rulings
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above.
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Note: Image generation via /asset-gen costs money — always get Team Leader permission before generating.
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## The D-255 stepped Atlas — active co-designed work
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## Key Documents
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- decisions/perception.md — D-011 through D-019, D-033
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- decisions/scope.md — D-114 through D-120
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- decisions/content.md — D-036, D-126 through D-131
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- docs/workshops/wheres-the-fun/workshop-outcomes.md — v0.2 pivot summary, dependency chain
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Araminta co-designed D-255 (body-map-viewer workshop, 2026-07-23/24)
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alongside Tyre (record author), Dudley (server derivation/wire/cache),
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Stig (client component/measurement), and Troblum (adversarial review). Her
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contribution was the **named-feature encoding, payload schema, and lakes**
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work — the tagged-envelope carrier's field shape for dense classification
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data (PNG-per-field) and sparse feature lists (courses, cliffs — MessagePack-
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native), and the lake morphology-sourcing fix. This is ongoing implementation
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work, not a closed design: watch `docs/workshops/body-map-viewer/` for the
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measurement appendix and follow-on tickets as the tagged-envelope migration
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and the two lake tickets land.
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Her T-1196 body-map-viewer verification pass (GJ1002b Quarter-vs-District
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Alpine relief capture, PASS) produced one direct visual-grammar finding — see
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T-1198 below.
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## The character wardrobe pipeline — the proven reference model
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`docs/architecture/character-asset-organization.md` (Tyre, D-159–D-164 body
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types, D-162 pre-baked clothing) is the **working, shipped, end-to-end**
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pipeline: mask sidecars, `manifest.json` schema, category-keyed naming.
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`conventions.md` explicitly imitates it rather than inventing a parallel
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scheme — the RGBA multi-region tint convention (`conventions.md` §2) is a
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direct reuse of `character-asset-organization.md` §11 (T-1089), not a
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props-specific reinvention. When in doubt about how a new asset class should
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be organized, this is the model to check against first.
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## Open questions assigned to you
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- **Q-119:** Is the generic-parent placeholder set (`generic_wall` /
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`generic_roof` / `generic_facade` / `generic_street` + the door/floor/
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furniture equivalents) the first asset-production milestone? Open,
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sequencing-only (not a blocker) — yours to weigh in on per the D-235
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co-maintenance with Miri. T-1049's briefs each note the generic parents as
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milestone-0 *if* this resolves yes.
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## Current priorities
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1. **T-1049 (in progress, this batch)** — refine T-961 into per-asset-class
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stories, each gated on a one-page brief (scope / visual reference /
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naming / generation path / acceptance, citing palette.md §3 +
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conventions.md). Station walls, rural walls, doors, floors,
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furniture/props get real briefs; street furniture/signage-screens/rural
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structures (lamp posts, TVs, billboards, barns) get a formal Q-067-style
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deferral note, not briefs — they're Phase-6-adjacent set-dressing, not
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blocking the walkable-exterior deliverable.
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2. **D-257 glazing shader implementation — unassigned.** The ruling is
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recorded (palette.md §2.3, D-257); nobody has yet built the minimal-PBR
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material variant for `glass_curtain_wall`/`industrial_glazing`. This is
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implementation work waiting for an owner, not a design gap.
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3. **T-1198 (backlog) — elevation-white vs ice-white grammar split.** Her own
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T-1196 observation: on a temperate standard-atmosphere island world at
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Quarter zoom, the elevation ramp's peak-white reads nearly identical to
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the legend's glaciation-tint white — a non-glaciated alpine ridge can be
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misread as icy. Not a bug (lightness=elevation is always-on; ice tint is
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a separate D-217/D-239 overlay) but needs a deliberate hue/value split so
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the Atlas never visually lies about glaciation. Home: palette.md §3 +
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the Atlas legend treatment — hers to design.
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4. **Q-119** — weigh in when sequencing allows; not urgent, but don't let it
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go fully cold since T-1049's briefs are already conditioning on its answer.
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## Development workflow
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Image/3D generation costs money — always get Team Leader permission before
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running `/image-gen` or `/glb-gen` for real (non-spike) production assets.
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## Key documents
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- `docs/assets/visual/palette.md` — the live rendered-look style bible (T-1052)
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- `docs/assets/visual/conventions.md` — the live naming/mask/manifest mechanics doc (T-1050)
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- `docs/assets/briefs/` + `docs/assets/_templates/asset-brief.md` — the per-class production briefs and their template (T-1049): how every asset class is gated before generation
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- `docs/assets/briefs/deferred.md` — the formal deferral register (T-1051 classes + cars/Q-067) with revisit triggers
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- `docs/architecture/character-asset-organization.md` — the proven pipeline reference model
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- `decisions/architecture.md` — D-148, D-149, D-217, D-228, D-232, D-235, D-244, D-255, D-257
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- `decisions/perception.md` — D-019 (superseded for gameplay), D-033, D-045
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- `docs/workshops/body-map-viewer/` — D-255 design record, measurement appendix, her co-design contribution
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