# Asset status — 17 October candidate build

All current art is **unapproved**. “Selected” means used in this review build.

## Selected cast

| Character | Walk atlas in sprites/ | Portrait family in portraits/ | Extra pose |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ganoes | ganoes_walk_v6.png | ganoes/*_v1.png: neutral, proud, scowl, surprised | tiptoe_v3 |
| Commander | commander_walk_v6.png | commander/*_v1.png: neutral, grimace | lean_v3 held |
| Fiddle soldier | fiddler_walk_v7.png + fiddler_run_v2.png | fiddler/*_v2.png: neutral, wry | lean_v3 held |
| Surly | surly_walk_v6.png | surly/*_v2.png: neutral, cold_smile | — |
| Claw guards | claw_walk_v2.png | none required | — |

See `../content/characters.json` for authoritative runtime paths. Five models play six actors; the two guards reuse one model. Motion revision 2 adds stable idle strips, four-phase walks for speakers and a separate fiddle-soldier run. Revision 3 corrects missing leaning arms and the duplicate running chin, and aligns the wall stops to gaps. See ../MOTION_REVISION.md.

Walk_v6 adds eight timed weight phases from four key drawings, with small head/body movement and retained planted soles. The original key atlases and selected idle strips remain separate. Fiddler v7 removes the older head/back overlay and rebuilds idle from the same complete source figure; his instrument no longer dictates a head replacement. The fiddle remains painted into this candidate. See ../WALK_STUDY.md.

## Selected environment

- Opening: `source/mocks_hold_background_v2.png`. Distant inland smoke, intact intervening city, silt river and correct pike-tip vane mounting.
- City layer: `environment/city_band_v4.png`, 640×128 crop/export from that panorama.
- Masonry: `tiles/mocks_hold_tiles_v1.png`, sixteen 32×32 cells.
- Selected floor: `tiles/mocks_hold_floor_quiet_v2.png`, four 32×32 cells. M previews the denser floor alternative.
- Props: `props/citadel_portal_v1.png` and `props/mocks_vane_v2.png`.
- Smoke: `smoke.gdshader`; vane-head motion is scripted.

## History and exclusions

- `characters/ganoes_12_idle_south_v2*.png`: user-rejected distortion/readability. Never approved or selected.
- `characters/*_v3.png`: earlier single-frame scale studies, not the current animated cast.
- `sprites/*_walk_v1.png`: superseded naive slicing, some clipped heads. Never use as final atlases.
- Speaker walk_v2/v3: previous three-column animation candidates criticised for stiffness/jitter. Retained for comparison, superseded in the current cast.
- `source/walk_commander_v3.png`: discarded six-column attempt; poses repeated too much.
- Lean_v2 exports and Fiddler run_v1: rejected idle-reference overlays erased arms or left a duplicate jaw. Current exports preserve complete pose anatomy.
- Surly walk/idle_v4: superseded round head and bulky hair; v5 is a new ImageGen revision with its own stable head/neck reference and comparison previews.
- Ganoes tiptoe_v2 export: rejected exaggerated six-pixel rise and stretched shins; v3 keeps fixed neutral leg proportions and a two-pixel heel lift.
- Pose_v1 strips: superseded by the visible anchored tiptoe rise and held soldier lean poses.
- Fiddler portrait v1: reads older and has invented linear scars; v2 removes these.
- Surly portrait/walk source v1: fuller haircut; newer selected sources crop it closer.
- Panorama v1: fires too widespread. Vane source/prop v1: incorrect mounting interpretation.
- City bands v1–v3: crop/coverage experiments, superseded by v4.
- `sprites/clean/`: optional shared-palette experiment, not silently adopted.

## Remaining art issues

Sprites need frame-by-frame motion/silhouette polish, scar-side review and clearer broken-fiddle damage. Surly still risks looking too elegant. The portal needs integration into an actual square tower mass; the current map is a broad staging rectangle. Masonry is still busy. City architecture and bridges remain interpretations rather than established geography.

The complete source/prompt index is `CANDIDATE_MANIFEST.json`; previews and all bust variants are collected in `../review.html`.