Game Assets

---
name: game-assets
description: Create, edit, upgrade, animate, and prepare production-ready game assets with Meowa, including pixel and HD sprites, consistent item or character variants, multi-view characters, UI sheets, image and frame edits, seamless textures, terrain tilesets, isometric and side-scrolling maps, short video, sound effects, and game music. Use when a task requires choosing the right game-art workflow, planning a pixel or HD asset pipeline, running the bundled Meowa CLI, or validating final media for a game project.
x-alice-class: assist
---

# Meowa Game Assets

Create game-ready visual and audio assets. Establish the final asset contract first, choose the smallest suitable capability, and combine modules only when the downstream command accepts the upstream output.

## Establish the asset contract

Determine these requirements before selecting a command:

- Runtime asset type: sprite, prop, UI, texture, tileset, map layer, animation, video, sound, or music.
- Art representation: pixel or HD.
- Final dimensions, sprite-cell size, count, aspect ratio, transparency, and file format.
- Deliverable structure: one asset, a variant pack, sprite sheet, directional set, layer set, animation, or reusable atlas.

Treat preset-defined dimensions and output counts as fixed contracts. Do not imply that prompt wording can override them.

## Write simple natural-language prompts

Meowa capabilities use advanced generative models that understand ordinary natural language. Describe the required asset as simply and clearly as possible. Include only details that materially affect the deliverable, such as the subject, action, viewpoint, material, or relationship between elements.

Do not use legacy diffusion-style prompt engineering: no long keyword stacks, separate positive and negative prompt blocks, repeated quality terms, token weights, sampler syntax, or excessive camera and rendering jargon. These additions can interfere with the model's own interpretation and reduce consistency. Start with the shortest sufficient prompt, inspect the result, and add one necessary constraint at a time only when the output proves it is needed.

## Apply game-art fundamentals

### Pixel art

- Treat the pixel grid as part of the design, not merely as image resolution.
- Keep animated characters, monsters, and similar frame-based assets at 128×128 or smaller whenever practical. Larger pixel assets raise animation cost and often reduce generation or frame-edit consistency. Reserve larger pixel canvases mainly for maps, character illustrations, portraits, and other assets that do not need frame animation.
- Treat pixel assets generated by Meowa as already perfectly pixelated. Do not run standalone pixelation on them again.
- Use pixel-native generation, editing, cleanup, and animation paths for pixel assets.
- Preview only at integer zoom with nearest-neighbor sampling. Never smooth or shrink pixel art merely for display.
- Inspect transparency and every sprite-sheet cell at native resolution.

### HD art

- Treat resolution tiers as canvas and detail choices, not guarantees of one universal pixel dimension unless a preset defines it.
- Preserve smooth contours, material rendering, lighting, silhouette, and transparent-edge quality.
- Choose aspect ratio and composition for the asset's gameplay use rather than for presentation convenience.
- Do not treat ordinary downscaling as pixel-art production. Use pixel conversion only when conversion is explicitly requested, and validate the result as a new pixel asset.
- Inspect actual output dimensions and alpha after generation or editing.

### Shared production rules

- Use transparency only when the runtime asset needs it; backgrounds and repeatable terrain materials may intentionally remain opaque.
- Keep style, scale, camera, palette, light direction, and anchor conventions consistent across related assets.
- For HD Isometric and HD Hex tiles, preserve the generated transparent canvas and center anchor, use smooth sampling, and take the footprint from the generation mode: `standard = 1×1`, `tetraploid = 2×2`. Never infer footprint from the outer PNG size. Read the exact placement contract in [Maps, tiles, and textures](references/maps-tiles-and-textures.md) before assembly.
- Treat source images and downloaded references as inputs, never as generated deliverables.
- Prefer a specialized capability over a generic image path.
- Validate the asset at its intended gameplay scale, not only in a large preview.

## Follow common pixel and HD workflows

### Pixel workflow

1. **Characters and props:** use preset-driven `pixel-gen-run` when exact sprite dimensions or the highest available pixel quality matter. Select the target resolution first, describe one readable asset, and add a reference image when art direction or identity must match an existing game.
2. **Large pixel assets:** use `large-pixel-gen-run` for larger scenes, illustrations, portraits, buildings, and other compositions that do not fit a small sprite preset.
3. **Low-cost sprite batches and prototypes:** use the general pixel canvas through `pixel-universal-gen-run` when speed, volume, and low cost matter more than exact per-sprite sizing or maximum fidelity. Ask for a clearly arranged sprite sheet or asset batch. Its pixel quality is somewhat lower than preset-driven pixel generation, but it is efficient for producing many assets and quickly building a playable prototype.
4. **Pixel Universal Generation:** the same command is the pixel-art counterpart to a general Nano Banana-style image workflow. It uses a large 4:3 canvas and supports a normal composition or a top-down game view. Typical uses include converting HD artwork into a new pixel composition, generating pixel scenes or character illustrations, and designing multi-stage building-upgrade artwork.
5. **Animation:** animate only after the character or prop design is stable. Before running, follow the high-quality animation workflow in [Animation and video](references/animation-and-video.md); it defines prompt preparation, automatic prompt enhancement, size-based mode routing, and mandatory transparent motion space.

Do not run standalone pixelation after any Meowa pixel-generation command. Pixel outputs are already perfectly pixelated.

### HD workflow

1. **Characters and props:** use an HD preset when the deliverable needs a controlled asset family, count, or composition, and use references for style or identity consistency.
2. **General or batch generation:** use `nano-banana-run` or `image-2-run` for scenes, illustrations, portraits, sprite sheets, and batches of art assets. Default both to a shared 1K, 1:1 square canvas so a prompt or composition can move between them. Start Image-2 with `standard` for inexpensive prompt testing, then rerun an approved prompt with `detailed`. These paths prioritize composition freedom and throughput over a preset asset contract.
3. **Automatic background removal and component segmentation:** use `ui-gen-run` when an HD asset sheet should be generated with background removal and automatic component detection. It can generate UI, ordinary art assets, or a sprite sheet; the result depends primarily on the prompt, not on the name of the module. The public final media remains one aggregate sheet accompanied by component segmentation data.
4. **Animation:** finalize the still asset before animation, then follow the prompt, mode-routing, and motion-canvas checks in [Animation and video](references/animation-and-video.md). Use `animate-run` for most game animation. For an ordinary but complex action, prepare intermediate poses and use `keyframes-run` before considering video. Use `video-run` only as a fallback for motion that frame animation cannot represent or when higher video resolution is required.

## Understand the modules

| Module | Responsibility | Typical role in a production chain |
|---|---|---|
| [CLI setup and authentication](meowart_api.md) | Install the runner, configure a Meowa account key locally, and verify the first authenticated request | Read for a new installation or missing authentication |
| [Capability routing](references/capability-routing.md) | Select the correct capability and public command | Read first for every task |
| [Pixel and HD assets](references/pixel-and-hd-assets.md) | Create base assets and directional characters; perform background removal or pixel conversion | Feed finalized still assets into editing or animation |
| [UI and image editing](references/ui-and-image-editing.md) | Generate UI sheets, create consistent upgrade variants, extract an aggregate UI sheet, and edit still images or animated frames | Refine or branch an existing visual asset without changing its media role |
| [Maps, tiles, and textures](references/maps-tiles-and-textures.md) | Create repeatable materials, terrain atlases, isometric or hex tiles, and side-scrolling layers | Build environment assets from materials through map-ready outputs |
| [Animation and video](references/animation-and-video.md) | Create seamless image loops, sprite animation, or short video clips | Consume a stable, finalized still asset |
| [Audio](references/audio.md) | Create sound effects, coherent sound packs, music direction, and rendered tracks | Add audio after gameplay timing and visual direction are known |
| [Running and outputs](references/running-and-outputs.md) | Execute safely, recover interrupted jobs, validate outputs, and hand off final files | Apply to every module |

## Combine modules deliberately

Use these common chains only when each downstream module accepts the preceding file:

- Pixel character: preset discovery → exact-size pixel generation → still edit or background cleanup → directional views when required → sprite animation.
- Large pixel composition: large-pixel preset discovery → `large-pixel-gen-run` → still edit when required.
- General pixel composition: `pixel-universal-gen-run` with a normal or top-down view → still edit when required → animate only when the resulting asset is suitably small.
- HD character or prop: HD generation → still edit → optional background removal → sprite animation or short video.
- HD batch: `nano-banana-run` or `image-2-run` → inspect the generated asset arrangement → use `ui-gen-run` instead when automatic background removal and component segmentation are required.
- Consistent upgrades or variants: inspect and minimally pad the source canvas when the largest requested change needs more room → use `one-click-upgrade-prompts` for a concise editable prompt list → run `one-click-upgrade-run` with the reviewed prompts → compare style, scale, anchor, and dimensions across every result.
- Existing animation: animated-frame editing. Do not regenerate it as a new animation unless the user asks for a new motion design.
- Environment materials: search and download a standard 64×64 texture reference, or generate a new 64×64 seamless texture → choose a foreground-only, background-only, or dual top-down tileset → pass the matching validated texture inputs → remove the unused background for a one-terrain atlas when needed → validate the 4×4 atlas → map integration. A standalone HD image, object render, photo, or scene is not a texture.
- Isometric or hex environment tiles: inspect map-reference categories → select and download matching built-in references → preview the references when layout or style needs comparison → generate from those references → preview and assemble the final tiles by logical centers → validate the composed map. Do not start these tile generators from arbitrary images. Generate side-scrolling layers directly because that command does not accept downloaded map presets.
- Side-scrolling environment: define the playable midground, distant background, and near-camera foreground separately → run `side-scrolling-map-run` for pixel layers or `hd-side-scrolling-map-run` for HD layers → open all three final layers in the bundled map preview → validate shared canvas alignment, parallax speed, layer offsets, and any requested horizontal loop.
- UI: UI generation or extraction → still-image refinement. UI extraction currently returns one aggregate sheet, not separate component files.
- Audio-visual asset: finalize timing and action first → create matching effects or music.

Avoid unnecessary chains. Every generative step can change identity, scale, palette, edges, timing, and cost.

## Route and execute

1. For a new installation or missing authentication, read [meowart_api.md](meowart_api.md) and help the user configure the key locally. Never ask them to paste it into chat.
2. Read [capability-routing.md](references/capability-routing.md).
3. Read the selected capability module; read multiple modules only for an intentional production chain.
4. Inspect `python3 meowart_api.py <command> --help` for current product options.
5. Run one primary `*-run` command with a new explicit `--output-dir`.
6. Apply a downstream edit or post-process only when required by the asset contract.
7. Open the saved media, inspect `final_outputs.json`, and validate every promised property before handoff.
8. For isometric, hex, dual-grid, or side-scrolling work, start `scripts/map-preview-server.py` with downloaded public references or declared final outputs. Select `hd-isometric` or `hd-hex-isometric` for HD tiles, and declare tetraploid assets as `"footprint": "2x2"` in a JSON library; direct `--image` entries default to `1×1`. For side-scrolling, pass the directory containing the three final layers or a user-owned prefab manifest. Open its temporary loopback URL with the user's browser when browser control is available. Do not make the user browse deep directories, select files, copy paths, or navigate manually.

## Keep the public boundary clean

- Guide users to configure Meowa account authentication locally when needed, but never request the key itself or expose credentials, provider, model, endpoint, sampling, internal-stage, or raw-request controls.
- Never overwrite source assets or return input references, internal templates, masks, metadata, debug artifacts, or intermediate files.
- Return only declared final deliverables.
- Do not claim dimensions, transparency, seamlessness, directional consistency, component separation, or animation quality until the final files have been inspected.