Claude-Code-Game-Studios/CCGS Skill Testing Framework/skills/utility/asset-spec.md

Skill Test Spec: /asset-spec

Skill Summary

/asset-spec turns one target's visual needs into asset specs with AI generation prompts. The argument names a target — system:<name>, level:<name> or character:<name> (an entity: entry from the inventory is read like a character) — plus an optional --review full|lean|solo. It reads the art bible at design/art/art-bible.md (and stops if it is missing, unless the minimal-path exception applies), performance.* and naming.* from project.yaml, and the target's source doc. It confirms the identified asset list with the user, drafts one ASSET-NNN block per asset, and after approval writes one file per target to design/assets/specs/[target-name]-assets.md, then updates design/assets/asset-manifest.md. Asset IDs run sequentially across the whole project. A re-run for a target whose spec file exists updates that file in place (existing blocks and IDs kept, new assets appended) after "May I update".

The resolved review mode decides who drafts: full spawns art-director and technical-artist in parallel, lean spawns art-director only, solo (the default, via modes.rigor: minimal) spawns no agents; full is also what modes.rigor: full resolves to. Every skipped agent is announced by name in the output. These are drafting consultations, not gates. The skill produces an artifact, not a judgement, so it has no run verdict; it closes with an AskUserQuestion offering the next target or /asset-audit.

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Static Assertions (Structural)

Checked against the SKILL.md by /skill-test spec — no fixture needed.

• Has required frontmatter fields: name, description, argument-hint, user-invocable, allowed-tools
• Has ≥2 phase headings
• Check 3 passes on the BLOCKED keyword of its Error Recovery Protocol; the skill has no run verdict by design (artifact producer), and the run closes with "Asset specs complete for [target]. What's next?"
• Contains "May I write" language for the spec file and "May I update" for the manifest
• Has a next-step handoff (/asset-spec [next-context], /asset-audit)

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Director Gate Checks

No gate IDs and no /gate-check. The review mode controls drafting agents only:

• Full mode (what modes.rigor: full resolves to): art-director and technical-artist spawned in parallel
• Lean mode: art-director only; the output says "technical-artist skipped — Lean mode: technical constraints not validated."
• Solo mode (default at modes.rigor: minimal): no agents; the main session derives specs from the art bible, and the output names both skipped agents and says technical constraints were not validated

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Test Cases

Case 1: Happy Path — Character spec in lean mode

Fixture:

• project.yaml sets modes.rigor: standard (review mode resolves to lean) and has performance.* and naming.* values
• design/art/art-bible.md exists with Shape Language, Color System and Section 8 Asset Standards
• design/narrative/characters/goblin-enemy.md exists with a visual description
• No design/assets/asset-manifest.md

Input: /asset-spec character:goblin-enemy

Expected behavior:

1. Skill reads the art bible, project config and the character doc before asking anything
2. Skill presents the context summary ("Asset Spec: Character — goblin-enemy")
3. Phase 2 identifies the character's assets (sprite sheets such as idle, walk, attack, death; portrait; ability VFX; UI icon), shows them grouped by category, and asks via AskUserQuestion before speccing
4. Lean mode: spawns art-director only, and says so: "technical-artist skipped — Lean mode: technical constraints not validated."
5. Phase 4 presents one ASSET-NNN block per asset with the field table (Category, Dimensions, Format, Naming, Polycount, Texture Res), Visual Description, Art Bible Anchors citing sections, Generation Prompt, and Status: Needed
6. After approval asks "May I write the spec to design/assets/specs/goblin-enemy-assets.md?"
7. Creates the manifest after asking "May I update design/assets/asset-manifest.md?"; IDs start at ASSET-001
8. Phase 6 AskUserQuestion offers another target or /asset-audit

Assertions:

• Asset list is confirmed with AskUserQuestion before any spec is generated
• Only art-director is spawned (no technical-artist in lean mode)
• The output names technical-artist as skipped and says technical constraints were not validated
• Each asset block has the field table, Art Bible Anchors (by section), a Generation Prompt and Status: Needed
• "May I write" names design/assets/specs/goblin-enemy-assets.md
• Manifest is created with a Progress Summary and IDs starting at ASSET-001
• Phase 6 offers /asset-audit among the next steps

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Case 2: No Art Bible — Skill stops before speccing

Fixture:

• project.yaml sets modes.rigor: standard
• design/gdd/combat.md exists with a Visual/Audio Requirements section
• design/art/art-bible.md does NOT exist
• design/game-brief.md does NOT exist

Input: /asset-spec system:combat

Expected behavior:

1. Phase 1 reads for design/art/art-bible.md and finds nothing
2. The minimal-path exception does not apply (no game brief)
3. Skill stops with: "No art bible found. Run /art-bible first — asset specs are anchored to the art bible's visual rules and asset standards."
4. No asset identification, no agents, no files

Assertions:

• The "No art bible found. Run /art-bible first" message is shown
• No asset list is presented and no Agent call is made
• No spec file or manifest is written
• Specs are not generated with invented style rules

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Case 3: Manifest Already Exists — IDs continue and shared assets are reused

Fixture:

• project.yaml sets modes.rigor: standard; art bible exists
• design/assets/asset-manifest.md exists; the highest ID is ASSET-014, and ASSET-012 (Generic Hit Spark) is specced for the Combat system in design/assets/specs/combat-assets.md
• design/gdd/tower-defense.md Visual/Audio section lists a hit spark and a tower-build VFX

Input: /asset-spec system:tower-defense

Expected behavior:

1. Skill reads the manifest and globs design/assets/specs/*.md for shareable assets
2. Context summary lists the shared asset found in another spec
3. The hit spark reuses ASSET-012 instead of creating a duplicate, with a note like "ASSET-012 (Generic Hit Spark) already specced for Combat system. Reusing for Tower Defense"
4. The new tower-build VFX is numbered ASSET-015
5. After "May I write" for design/assets/specs/tower-defense-assets.md, the skill asks "May I update design/assets/asset-manifest.md?", appends a Tower Defense context block, and updates the Progress Summary counts

Assertions:

• The hit spark references ASSET-012; no duplicate hit-spark spec is created
• The new asset's ID is ASSET-015 (project-wide sequence, not restarted per target)
• The manifest is appended to, not recreated, after a "May I update" ask
• Progress Summary counts are updated

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Case 4: Several Assets in One Target — One file, per-asset revision before write

Fixture:

• project.yaml sets modes.rigor: standard; art bible exists; no manifest
• design/gdd/combat.md Visual/Audio section names a hit-spark VFX, a floating damage number (UI) and a hit sound (audio)

Input: /asset-spec system:combat

Expected behavior:

1. Phase 2 lists all three assets grouped under VFX, UI and Audio and asks the user to confirm
2. Phase 4 presents ASSET-001 to ASSET-003; the audio asset carries a description of its sonic character and no image generation prompt
3. User picks [B] Revise a specific asset for the damage number; the skill revises it inline and re-presents without re-spawning agents
4. User approves all; the skill asks "May I write" once, for design/assets/specs/combat-assets.md, which holds all three assets

Assertions:

• One "May I write" ask covers all three assets in one file (not one ask or file per asset)
• The audio asset has no image generation prompt
• The minor revision does not re-spawn art-director
• All three ASSET-NNN blocks are in design/assets/specs/combat-assets.md

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Case 5: Director Gate Check — Solo default, brief instead of art bible

Fixture:

• project.yaml has no modes block (review mode resolves to solo via modes.rigor: minimal)
• design/game-brief.md exists with an Art & audio direction line
• No design/art/art-bible.md
• No character profile for hero in design/narrative/ or design/assets/entity-inventory.md

Input: /asset-spec character:hero

Expected behavior:

1. The minimal-path exception applies: the skill does not stop, and states at the top "Anchored to the brief's one-line art direction; there is no art bible, so colour, shape and asset-standard rules below are proposals, not constraints."
2. /art-bible is offered once, as optional
3. No profile found → AskUserQuestion: "No profile found for hero. Describe it briefly" with Describe / Skip / Stop options
4. Solo mode: no Agent calls; the output announces "art-director and technical-artist skipped — Solo mode: specs derived in this session; technical constraints not validated."
5. No gate IDs appear and /gate-check is not invoked

Assertions:

• Skill continues without an art bible and says the specs are anchored to the brief
• Missing profile triggers the "Describe it briefly" question rather than a failure
• No art-director or technical-artist is spawned
• Both skipped agents are named in the output, which says technical constraints were not validated
• If the spec is written, its header names design/game-brief.md as the art direction (no > **Art Bible**: line), each asset carries a **Brief anchor:** line instead of Art Bible Anchors, and no Art Bible section or §8 tier is cited
• No gate IDs appear — the skip note names agents, not gates

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Case 6: Re-run on an Existing Spec — Updated in place, not overwritten

Fixture:

• project.yaml sets modes.rigor: standard; art bible exists
• design/assets/specs/goblin-enemy-assets.md exists with ASSET-001 to ASSET-004 (idle, walk and attack sprites; portrait); the manifest's highest ID is ASSET-009
• design/narrative/characters/goblin-enemy.md has since gained a charge-attack ability

Input: /asset-spec character:goblin-enemy

Expected behavior:

1. Phase 1 reads the existing spec file for this target as well as the character doc
2. Phase 2 proposes only what is new — the charge-attack sprite and its VFX — and confirms the list with the user
3. The new assets are numbered ASSET-010 and ASSET-011 (project-wide sequence)
4. The skill shows what changes, then asks "May I update design/assets/specs/goblin-enemy-assets.md?" — not "May I write"
5. ASSET-001 to ASSET-004 are kept unchanged in the file; the new blocks are appended

Assertions:

• The existing spec file is detected and read before the asset list is proposed
• The ask is "May I update", naming the existing file
• Existing blocks and IDs are preserved; the file is not overwritten wholesale
• New assets continue the project-wide ID sequence (ASSET-010, ASSET-011)

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Protocol Compliance

• Reads the art bible, project config and source doc before asking the user anything
• Never specs assets before the user confirms the asset list
• Spawns agents strictly per the resolved review mode (--review overrides for one run), and names every skipped agent in the output
• Surfaces any art-director / technical-artist conflict instead of silently resolving it
• Asks "May I write" before a new spec file, "May I update" before changing an existing one, and "May I update" before the manifest
• Assigns asset IDs sequentially across the project, reading the manifest first

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Coverage Notes

• The no-argument flow (pick the next "Needed" item from design/assets/entity-inventory.md, or build the inventory in Phase 0b) is not separately tested.
• level: targets and full-mode parallel spawning with a surfaced art-director / technical-artist conflict are not separately tested.
• Agent BLOCKED handling (Error Recovery Protocol: always produce a partial spec) is not separately tested.