Asset Pipeline¶

Skill ID: ivx-asset-pipeline

name: ivx-asset-pipeline description: >- Universal asset pipeline for game projects: 2D/3D character scaffolding, spritesheet generation, sound manifest management, and schema-based validation. Use when the user says "scaffold character", "create character", "generate spritesheet", "sprite sheet", "validate assets", "sound manifest", "character template", "3D character setup", "animation spec", "asset validation", "skeleton template", "state machine template", "blend shapes", "LOD setup", "asset standard", "asset pipeline", or needs help with any game asset creation, organization, or validation workflow. version: "1.0.0" author: "IntelliVerse-X team@intelli-verse-x.ai" allowed-tools: - Read - Write - Edit - Glob - Grep - Shell

Overview¶

The Asset Pipeline provides a Universal Asset Pipeline Standard for any game project on any engine. It includes Python CLI tools for scaffolding 2D/3D characters, generating sprite sheets, and validating assets against JSON Schema definitions. All tools produce engine-agnostic output (PNG + JSON) that can be imported into Unity, Unreal, Godot, or any other engine.

tools/asset-pipeline/
├── scaffold_character.py      → Create 2D character folder + placeholders
├── generate_spritesheet.py    → Combine frames into sprite sheet + spec
├── validate_specs.py          → Validate sprite specs against schema
├── validate_character.py      → Full 2D character validation
├── validate_sound_manifest.py → Audio manifest validation
├── templates/                 → 10 copy-ready JSON templates
└── schemas/                   → 9 JSON Schema validation files

1. Requirements¶

pip install Pillow jsonschema

These are the only dependencies. All tools run with Python 3.8+.

2. 2D Character Scaffolding¶

scaffold_character.py¶

Creates a complete character folder with placeholder PNGs, animation specs, and metadata — ready for artists to replace with real artwork.

# Minimal: mandatory animations only (idle, jump, hurt)
python tools/asset-pipeline/scaffold_character.py \
    --name Quizzy --output RemoteAssets/Characters/ --no-standard

# Standard: mandatory + standard animations (walk, run, attack)
python tools/asset-pipeline/scaffold_character.py \
    --name Quizzy --output RemoteAssets/Characters/

# Full: all tiers including extended (dance, wave, think, sleep, special, death, spawn)
python tools/asset-pipeline/scaffold_character.py \
    --name DragonLord --output RemoteAssets/Characters/ \
    --with-extended --rarity epic --tier 3

Animation Tiers¶

Output Structure¶

Characters/Quizzy/
├── character.json          ← Metadata (rarity, tags, views, animations, sounds)
├── front.png               ← 512×512 front view placeholder
├── back.png                ← 512×512 back view placeholder
├── thumbnail.png           ← 128×128 thumbnail placeholder
└── sprites/
    ├── idle.png            ← Sprite sheet (3×2 grid, 6 frames)
    ├── idle_spec.json      ← Animation spec (fps, loop, layout, events)
    ├── jump.png
    ├── jump_spec.json
    ├── hurt.png
    ├── hurt_spec.json
    ├── walk.png            ← (if standard tier)
    ├── walk_spec.json
    └── ...

character.json Format¶

{
    "id": "Quizzy",
    "display_name": "Quizzy",
    "description": "Replace with Quizzy's description.",
    "rarity": "common",
    "unlock_method": "default",
    "unlock_cost": {},
    "tier": 1,
    "tags": [],
    "views": {
        "front": "front.png",
        "back": "back.png",
        "thumbnail": "thumbnail.png"
    },
    "animations": {
        "idle": { "tier": "mandatory", "frames": 6, "fps": 10 },
        "jump": { "tier": "mandatory", "frames": 4, "fps": 12 },
        "hurt": { "tier": "mandatory", "frames": 4, "fps": 10 }
    },
    "sounds": {
        "on_select": "sfx_character_select",
        "on_hurt": "sfx_character_hurt",
        "on_victory": "stinger_victory"
    }
}

3. Sprite Sheet Generation¶

generate_spritesheet.py¶

Combines individual frame PNGs into a single optimized sprite sheet with companion _spec.json.

# Basic: combine idle frames into a sheet
python tools/asset-pipeline/generate_spritesheet.py \
    --frames "frames/idle_*.png" --output idle --cell-size 512

# Custom FPS and non-looping
python tools/asset-pipeline/generate_spritesheet.py \
    --frames "frames/death_*.png" --output death \
    --cell-size 256 --fps 12 --no-loop

# Ping-pong animation
python tools/asset-pipeline/generate_spritesheet.py \
    --frames "frames/dance_*.png" --output dance \
    --cell-size 512 --ping-pong

Features¶

Sprite Spec Format¶

{
    "action": "idle",
    "frames": 6,
    "cell_size": 512,
    "fps": 10,
    "loop": true,
    "ping_pong": false,
    "layout": {
        "columns": 3,
        "rows": 2
    }
}

4. 3D Character Templates¶

character_3d.json¶

Complete metadata template for rigged 3D characters:

skeleton.json¶

Humanoid skeleton definition:

state_machine.json¶

Animation state machine template:

Workflow¶

1. Copy templates/character_3d.json, skeleton.json, state_machine.json
2. Model in Blender/Maya → Export model.glb with rig + LODs
3. Bake textures → T_{Id}_Albedo.png, T_{Id}_Normal.png, T_{Id}_ARM.png
4. Export animation clips → idle.glb, walk.glb, etc.
5. Fill in character_3d.json with actual poly counts, bone counts, durations
6. Validate against schemas
7. Upload to S3/CDN → Update manifest

5. Sound Manifest¶

sound_manifest.json Template¶

Complete audio manifest covering all minimum required sounds for a game:

Validation¶

# Schema compliance check
python tools/asset-pipeline/validate_sound_manifest.py \
    --manifest RemoteAssets/sound_manifest.json

# Also verify all audio URLs are accessible
python tools/asset-pipeline/validate_sound_manifest.py \
    --manifest RemoteAssets/sound_manifest.json --check-urls

6. Asset Validation¶

validate_specs.py — Sprite Sheet Validation¶

python tools/asset-pipeline/validate_specs.py --directory RemoteAssets/Characters/

Checks: - All _spec.json files match schemas/sprite-spec-v1.json schema - PNG dimensions match spec (cell_size x columns, cell_size x rows) - Frame count is consistent between spec and grid layout

validate_character.py — Full Character Validation¶

# Single character
python tools/asset-pipeline/validate_character.py \
    --character RemoteAssets/Characters/Quizzy/

# All characters in directory
python tools/asset-pipeline/validate_character.py \
    --character RemoteAssets/Characters/ --all

Checks: - character.json has all required fields - Required views exist (front.png, thumbnail.png) - All declared animations have sprite sheets + specs - Mandatory animation tier is complete - PNG dimensions are correct

7. JSON Schemas¶

Available Schemas¶

Using Schemas in CI¶

# GitHub Actions example
- name: Validate game assets
  run: |
    pip install Pillow jsonschema
    python tools/asset-pipeline/validate_specs.py --directory assets/characters/
    python tools/asset-pipeline/validate_character.py --character assets/characters/ --all
    python tools/asset-pipeline/validate_sound_manifest.py --manifest assets/audio/sound_manifest.json

8. Cross-Engine Compatibility¶

All pipeline outputs are engine-agnostic (PNG + JSON). Import into any engine:

Engine-Specific Importers¶

The SDK provides optional importer scripts for each engine:

// Unity: auto-import from character.json
var character = IVXCharacterImporter.Import("RemoteAssets/Characters/Quizzy/character.json");
// Sets up AnimationClips, SpriteRenderer, and AudioSource references automatically

9. Integration with Other Skills¶

Platform-Specific Asset Considerations¶

VR Platforms¶

Console Platforms¶

Mobile / WebGL¶

Checklist¶

• Python dependencies installed (Pillow, jsonschema)
• 2D character scaffolded with appropriate animation tier
• Artist has replaced all placeholder PNGs with real artwork
• Sprite sheets generated from individual frames
• validate_character.py passes for all characters
• validate_specs.py passes for all sprite specs
• Sound manifest created from template with all required categories
• validate_sound_manifest.py passes (with --check-urls if hosted)
• 3D character metadata filled in from template (if using 3D)
• Skeleton and state machine JSONs populated (if using 3D rigged)
• Asset validation added to CI pipeline
• VR LOD and blend shape requirements met (if targeting VR)
• Console texture compression configured (if targeting consoles)
• Mobile sprite sheet size within 2048x2048 (if targeting mobile)