01 · Foundation
Visual direction
Define one coherent language that remains readable on an HDMI display and feasible within RP2350 rendering and memory constraints.
- One-page art-direction sheet
- Mood, personality, and intended audience
- Color palette with exact RGB or hex values
- Pixel-art resolution and scaling rules
- Character proportions
- Outline, lighting, and shading conventions
- Reference images or mood board
- Animation timing examples
- Visual-intensity progression at higher streaks
- Golden-sock glow and shimmer treatment
02–03 · Characters
Player and dog
Player character
- Character turnaround or model sheet
- Idle and run left/right animations
- Catch, miss, and hit/stumble animations
- High-streak reaction or energized catch
- Golden-sock catch or celebration
- Victory and defeat animations
- Character portrait or HUD icon
Dog character
- Dog model sheet, idle, walk/run, and chase
- Sock pickup and normal-sock carry
- Golden-sock carry
- Turn, distracted, confused, and caught reactions
- Normal-sock steal celebration
- Enhanced golden-sock celebration
- Dog portrait or HUD icon
| Player animation | First-pass frames | Required metadata |
|---|---|---|
| Idle | 2–4 | Ground-contact point, collision area, mouth or hand attachment point, anchor point, and horizontal-flipping rules. |
| Run | 4–6 | |
| Catch | 3–5 | |
| Miss / hit | 2–4 | |
| Golden catch / celebration | 4–6 |
04–05 · Core collectibles
Normal and golden socks
Normal sock set
- At least four distinct colors and patterns
- Falling or rotating poses
- Floor/resting, dog-carried, and player-saved poses
- Optional dirty or damaged pose
- Sock shadow and small HUD/results icon
Golden sock set
- Falling, resting, carried, and saved poses
- Animated shimmer plus glow/highlight treatment
- Spawn sparkles and warning indicator
- Catch burst, stolen effect, and optional trail
- GOLDEN SOCK! announcement and score popup
- Small HUD/results icon
The golden sock must remain recognizable without depending entirely on alpha blending or expensive transparency effects.
06 · World
One-screen room environment
- Complete room concept
- Back wall and floor
- Laundry basket or hamper
- Clothesline, dryer, or other spawn source
- Doors, windows, furniture, rugs, and shelves
- Foreground overlays and environment shadows
- Walkable-area reference
- Collision-obstacle reference
- Approved sock spawn locations
- Optional golden-sock emphasis or lighting layer
Deliver major objects as separate layers so engineering and game design can tune placement without repainting the room.
07–08 · Gameplay feedback
Effects, streaks, and multipliers
Normal gameplay effects
- Sock spawn, saved, and stolen effects
- Point-value popup
- Dog dust clouds and movement streaks
- Collision impact and warning indicator
- Lost-life and wave-complete effects
- Screen transitions
Streak feedback
- SOCK STREAK label and number treatment
- ×1 through ×5 multiplier treatments
- Normal and multiplied score popups
- Combo-increase and combo-break effects
- 5- and 10-sock milestone announcements
- Maximum-streak effect and results badge
| Consecutive saves | Multiplier | Visual treatment |
|---|---|---|
| 1–2 | ×1 | Standard |
| 3–4 | ×2 | Brighter popup |
| 5–7 | ×3 | Added accent or burst |
| 8–11 | ×4 | Stronger glow and motion |
| 12+ | ×5 | Maximum-intensity treatment |
09–10 · Interface & identity
HUD, screens, and branding
HUD and interface
- Score, streak, multiplier, and lives/safety meter
- Timer and wave indicator, if used
- Golden-sock notification area
- Pause icon and controller prompts
- Start, pause, game-over, victory, and results screens
- High-score entry; buttons, panels, borders, selectors
- Small/large number glyphs and bitmap font
Branding and title
- Sock Rescue logo and title treatment
- Platform splash-screen graphic
- Title-screen composition
- Game-selection thumbnail and loading icon
- Optional tagline
- High-score badge or emblem
- Optional golden-sock promotional motif
Results screen fields: final score, socks saved, socks stolen, longest streak, golden socks saved/stolen, and highest multiplier reached.
11 · Implementation contract
Animation specifications
Every animated asset should arrive with enough metadata that engineering does not have to infer timing, anchors, or collision behavior.
- Frame order and duration
- Looping behavior
- Animation origin
- Ground-contact point
- Collision-box recommendation
- Attachment points
- Horizontal-flipping permission
- Transition notes
- Preview GIF or video
- Golden shimmer loop timing and method
- Particle count, duration, and layer order
- Transparency requirements
12 · Sound
Audio assets and direction
Music
- Title and gameplay loop
- High-streak layer or variation
- Game-over and victory stingers
- Results-screen music
Normal gameplay
- Spawn, catch, dog pickup, and footsteps
- Barks and playful dog sounds
- Player movement and reactions
- Score, menu, pause, and resume
Streak system
- Streak and multiplier increase
- 5- and 10-sock milestones
- Maximum multiplier and combo break
- Escalating catch variations
Golden sock
- Spawn cue and shimmer/presence loop
- Catch and score award
- Stolen cue
- Player and dog celebration
Supply original audio as uncompressed WAV masters before conversion to the RP2350 runtime format.
13 · Human game design
Level and gameplay-design materials
- Room layout and movement boundaries
- Normal and golden-sock spawn locations
- Obstacle placement
- Difficulty progression and wave definitions
- Scoring rules and streak thresholds
- Multiplier progression and combo-reset conditions
- Golden-sock frequency and minimum gap
- Golden-sock availability time
- Dog behavior when a golden sock appears
- Win and loss conditions
- Tutorial sequence
- Desired moment-to-moment pacing
14 · Delivery
Required sources, exports, and manifest
Source & exports
- Editable Aseprite, Figma, Photoshop, Illustrator, or equivalent files
- Transparent PNG sprite sheets
- PNG backgrounds and separate environment layers
- Exact palette file
- Uncompressed WAV masters
- Animation preview GIFs/videos
- Licenses, attribution, and version IDs
Manifest fields
- Asset ID and filename
- Dimensions and frame count
- Frame duration and anchor point
- Collision and attachment guidance
- Palette and memory estimate
- Version and designer notes
games/sock-rescue/assets/
├── characters/
├── socks/
├── environment/
├── effects/
├── ui/
├── audio/
└── source/Game-specific assets stay inside
games/sock-rescue/assets/. Reusable loaders, converters, placeholder assets, and asset-processing tools remain part of the platform engine.First playable
Updated MVP design package
The smallest complete human-designed package needed for a convincing playable build.
- Art-direction sheet and palette
- Player idle, run, catch, and golden-catch sprites
- Dog idle, run, pickup, normal-carry, and golden-carry sprites
- Four normal sock variants
- Complete golden-sock sprite set
- One layered room background
- Score, lives, streak, and multiplier HUD
- ×1 through ×5 multiplier treatments
- Five- and ten-sock milestone graphics
- Combo-break effect
- Normal save, steal, and dust effects
- Golden spawn, shimmer, catch, and stolen effects
- Title, pause, game-over, and results screens
- Bitmap font
- Animation, anchor, attachment, and collision reference sheet
- Core normal, streak, and golden-sock sound effects
- Asset manifest