heros_web/docs/visual-asset-prologue-exploration-report.md

# Exploration visual asset report

Generated on 2026-07-26 and extended on 2026-07-27 with the built-in image
generation workflow. These are original project assets; no commercial-game
screenshot, logo, or third-party character artwork is included in the runtime
files.

## Runtime assets

| Role | Project assets | Runtime format |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Zhuo village and militia camp | `src/assets/images/exploration/prologue-village.webp`, `prologue-militia-camp.webp` | 1920×1080 opaque WebP |
| Second-victory northern village and ferry | `src/assets/images/exploration/second-pursuit-village-ferry.webp` | 1920×1080 opaque WebP |
| Exploration SD characters | `src/assets/images/exploration/characters/exploration-*.webp` | 3072×768 transparent WebP sprite sheets |
| First-victory camp Jian Yong | `src/assets/images/exploration/characters/exploration-jian-yong.webp` | 3072×768 transparent WebP sprite sheet |
| Prologue NPC dialogue portraits | `src/assets/images/portraits/zhuo-*-yellow-turban.webp`, `zou-jing-yellow-turban.webp` | 1254×1254 WebP |

The three backgrounds reserve the exact top, right, and bottom HUD regions used
by the 1920×1080 desktop layout. Each playable portion was aligned to the
existing collision and interaction coordinate system before export.

Each exploration character sheet contains 192×192 frames: four direction rows
(`south`, `east`, `north`, `west`) and sixteen columns per row (eight idle
frames followed by eight walk frames). The SD characters are used only in
exploration scenes; battle units retain their separate tactical sprites.

## Final prompt set

### Exploration backgrounds

> Premium desktop historical-RPG exploration background, original
> late-Eastern-Han settlement or militia camp, strict preservation of the
> supplied road and landmark layout, elevated three-quarter orthographic
> camera, rich painterly realistic materials, warm natural light, strong
> small-character readability. No people, characters, text, UI, icons,
> watermark, logo, modern objects, or copyrighted game screen.

The village variant required the county office, tavern, recruiting hall,
notice board, peach orchard, and north gate. The camp variant required the
north gate, command tent, scout tent, sleeping tent, supply area, training
area, and central fire.

The second-victory relief variant used the first exploration background as a
camera-and-style reference and the second battle map as a spatial reference.
Its final built-in generation request was:

> Original late-Eastern-Han riverside village after victory, with a shallow
> river and ferry to the left, a broad central recovery road and courtyard,
> damaged farmhouses in the upper-right, a north road toward Guangzong, and a
> southern camp exit. Leave readable open ground for six small SD actors and
> the fixed desktop HUD, under clear warm late-afternoon light. No people,
> text, UI, logo, watermark, modern object, copied character, or copyrighted
> game design.

The generated master was converted to an opaque 1920×1080 WebP with
`scripts/build-exploration-background.py`; only the optimized runtime asset is
tracked.

### Dialogue portraits

> High-resolution realistic historical painting, late-Eastern-Han clothing,
> warm dusty Yellow Turban-era palette, square face-and-shoulders composition
> suitable for a dialogue window, natural skin and worn materials, original
> identity distinct from the named heroes. No copied face, signature armor,
> weapon, emblem, text, border, logo, watermark, or extra person.

Role variants were a lean recruiting clerk, weathered middle-aged villager,
practical quartermaster, disciplined local commander Zou Jing, and nervous
young volunteer.

### Exploration SD characters

> Production game sprite turnaround for a desktop historical RPG. Create a
> completely original 2.5-head-tall SD/chibi overworld character with a crisp
> painterly cel-shaded silhouette. Exactly three equal vertical views:
> front/south, right/east, back/north. Same identity, costume, scale, and
> lighting in every view; full body and feet visible; neutral walking-ready
> stance. Transparent or plain removable background. No floor, cast shadow,
> scenery, grid, labels, text, logo, watermark, extra characters, duplicate
> limbs, cropped body, or copyrighted game screen.

The three hero turnarounds used this project's existing Yellow Turban-era
portrait only as identity and palette reference. The recruiting clerk,
villager, quartermaster, and Zou Jing then received dedicated turnarounds
matched to their new dialogue portraits, so named characters no longer share
one generic field sprite. The young volunteer uses the original militia
infantry archetype. The west view is a mirrored side view, and restrained
idle/walk motion frames were assembled from the turnarounds for consistent
in-game scale.

The first-victory camp visit adds Jian Yong with the same built-in image
generation workflow. Its final request was:

> Original 2.5-head SD Jian Yong turnaround for a historical desktop RPG,
> exactly three equal front, right, and back views. Preserve the identity and
> practical early-campaign scholar-officer costume from the supplied project
> portrait, match the project's painterly cel-shaded exploration style, show
> the complete body and feet, and use a flat magenta removable background. No
> text, logo, watermark, extra character, or copyrighted likeness.

The generated turnaround was chroma-cleaned and assembled by
`scripts/build-exploration-character-sheet.py`; only the optimized transparent
runtime sheet is shipped.

## Optimization and verification

- Backgrounds are limited to 2 MiB each and 6 MiB combined.
- SD sheets use transparent WebP and remain under 0.6 MiB each.
- New NPC portraits were converted from generated PNG masters to high-quality
  WebP, reducing the five-file total from about 11.6 MiB to about 1.3 MiB.
- Static verifiers check background dimensions and opacity, sprite-sheet
  dimensions and file coverage, and prologue speaker portrait coverage.