2D Animation

Role

Own the temporal asset from motion planning through delivery as ordered frames, a uniform-grid animation sheet, or both. Also own mechanical assembly, slicing, validation, and preview of existing animation sheets. Use the available image, video, or local compositing tool best suited to the sequence. Prefer video harvesting for organic continuous motion; prefer controlled keyframes or compositing for pixel art, exact attack timing, UI motion, and tightly registered VFX.

Apply the asset-core discipline. Use sprite-gen only when an independent base still does not already exist; use character-consistency when the subject must match approved art. For any animation-sheet input or output, read references/spritesheets.md completely before acting.

Animation Spec

• subject: the base frame - produce it via sprite-gen (or take the approved base from character-consistency for recurring characters).
• motion: one motion per sequence ("walks", "swings the axe overhead", "flame flickers"). Split compound requests into separate sequences.
• view: side view for platformer gaits; match the game's camera.
• loop or one-shot: cycles (walk, idle, flame) must close; one-shots (death, explosion) must settle.
• fps and frame budget: engines commonly run 8-12 fps for stylized sprites; do not force a count - deliver the frames the motion needs.
• canvas_size, anchor, and display_size: keep one canvas and one registration point across the sequence, then verify at runtime scale.
• delivery: numbered frames, a uniform-grid sheet, or both. For frames, set output_dir and zero-padded play order (walk-001.png, ...). For sheets, define the grid and output path using the sheet reference.

Video-Harvest Pipeline