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Create a Sprite-Sheet Variant

Overview

Section titled “Overview”

Add a variant to an existing sprite-sheet asset-generation version (asset_kind = "sprite-sheet", a [sheet] of frames each written to its own file). Creating a Sprite-Sheet Variant is the full procedure.

A variant varies the brief the model draws toward: a tighter palette, a stricter operation budget, an added stylistic rule. The asset_kind, the [canvas] and the [sheet] frames and named sequences are version-level, so every variant draws toward the same layout. An asset-generation case declares no references, so resolution rejects a reference on the case or on any variant.

Steps

Section titled “Steps”
  1. Choose a consistent slug (flat) and display name (Flat Shading) naming the drawing constraint the variant imposes.
  2. Write specs/<slug>.md as an additive brief, stated as a delta against the common brief (“same subject, frames and palette, except …”) with precise, testable constraints. Say whether each applies to every frame, to a named sequence, or across frames. It may reference the common specs. It may not reference another variant’s spec.
  3. Create variants/<slug>.toml, a standalone TOML file whose top-level keys are the variant’s fields, and add its path to the variants list in test-case.toml. The first entry in that list is the default variant.
variants/flat.toml
slug = "flat"
name = "Flat Shading"
description = "Same brief, drawn with flat fills only, across every frame."
spec = [{ source = "specs/flat.md" }]

A spec entry’s dest defaults to its source with any trailing .hbs removed. Spec entries are additive on the common specs, and within one variant two seeded entries may not share a dest. An asset-generation case is judged on one overall rating, so a variant declares no [[review_item]].

Validate

Section titled “Validate”
Terminal window
tcab seed   --test-case <slug> --version <version> --variant <new-variant>
tcab prompt --test-case <slug> --version <version> --variant <new-variant>

Seed and render the new variant, then repeat for the existing variants to confirm nothing else changed, the brief still resolves self-contained, and the [sheet] frames and sequences are intact.