rimlike/docs/art.md

rimlike — art / tileset strategy

Companion to memory.md. This file is the art strategy: owned tilesets (now substantial), aesthetic anchor, gaps, license notes, autotile gotchas.

Aesthetic anchor

Primary: ElvGames "Ultimate Farming RPG" bundle (Humble) — cute-farming-RPG palette.

The aesthetic shifted on 2026-05-10 when the bundle was found. Previously locked as "vibrant medieval-fantasy" via Ventilatore + planned Mana Seed; now the spine is ElvGames' bright, cheerful, Stardew-adjacent farming-RPG style. Project tone: "Going Medieval × Stardew × Rimworld" — cozier than Rimworld, deeper than Stardew, mobile-first.

Ventilatore Fantasy Tileset Bundle (already owned) stays as a secondary layer for biome variety, decorative props, and medieval-flavor accents. Mana Seed series is dropped from the buy plan entirely (the bundle covers what we'd planned to purchase).

Owned art foundation

Primary — ElvGames "Ultimate Farming RPG" Humble Bundle

Local path: /mnt/d/godot/assets/humble set new/. Three tiers, ~70 packs, ~2.8 GB. All 16×16 pixel art (matches our locked spec). License: commercial use OK with credit ("ElvGames"), no NFT/crypto, no resale of pack itself, modification permitted.

MVP-essential packs (the working art set):

Need	Pack	Tier
Default biome (forest)	Forest Tileset 4 Seasons	T3
Alt biome (open ground)	Farm Game Grasslands 4 Seasons	T1
Mining + caves + ores + crystals + minerals	Mines Tileset 16x16	T3
Crops with growth stages (16+ crops)	Crops with Stages 01 / 02 / 03	T2/T3
Pawn sprites (15 characters with anim)	Farming Characters Pack	T1
Animals / livestock (chicken, cow, duck, goat, pig)	Animal Sprites Pixelart	T2
Item icons	Item Icons 16x16	T2
Workbench / decoration	House Interior Tileset	T3
House exteriors (2 seasons)	Houses Tileset 2 Seasons	T3
Castle / fortress / keep	Fortress Tileset 2 Seasons	T3
Defensive structures (sandbags, towers)	Pixel Tower Defense 1	T2
Music — cozy ambient	Cozy Melodies Pack 1, Retro Farming Music 1	T1
SFX — combat / crafting / mining / monsters / UI / sword	Multiple SFX packs	T3

Bonus / post-MVP packs:

Use	Pack
Monster variety (15 species) for v2 threat events	EvoMonster Pack 01–15
RPG-style enemies for combat polish	Turn-Based RPG Monsters Pack 7–16
Modular building components	Modular Pixel Houses Pack 01–05
Alt aesthetic option	Retro Kingdom Explorer 16x16 series (Castle/Forest/Graveyard/Grotto/Plains/Town)
Additional biomes	Mountains 2 Seasons / Marketplace / Village / Frozen Caves / Magma Caves / Dark Castle
Effects / spells	Magic and Spells SFX 5/6

Secondary — Ventilatore Fantasy Tileset Complete Bundle

Owner: us. Bundle URL: https://itch.io/s/117124/the-fantasy-tileset-complete-bundle. Six packs, 16×16, vibrant medieval-fantasy.

Use as: decorative flourish — animated water, encampment props, medieval fences, foliage variety, bridges. Where ElvGames' farming-RPG palette feels too cute, slot in a Ventilatore prop.

Skip: prefab houses (wrong paradigm), most exterior buildings (ElvGames covers them).

Pack file structure

ElvGames packs are consistently structured:

<Pack Name>/
├── Characters/        # NPC sprite variants per pack
├── Item Icons/        # category-relevant icons
├── Objects/           # decorative / interactive objects
├── Tilesets/          # main tilesheet PNGs
├── RPG Maker/         # RPG-Maker import format (ignore)
├── License.txt
├── Read Me.txt
├── *.unitypackage     # Unity import (ignore)
└── *.yymps            # GameMaker import (ignore)

For Godot: import the Tilesets/*.png directly as TileSet sources. Objects + Item Icons are individual sprite assets.

Gaps still uncovered

Even with the bundle, these need authoring or sourcing:

1. Autotile-ready buildable wall sets — UNKNOWN. The bundle's house and fortress sheets need an autotile audit (count corners / T-junctions / cap pieces). If insufficient, options are:
   • Custom-author terrain bits onto bundle wall tiles (~half-day per material)
   • Source a dedicated construction tileset (Mana Seed Iconic Homestead remains available as fallback at $19.99)
2. Designation overlays — blueprint ghosts, chop-this-tree marks, mine-this marks. ~4–8 tiles, custom (~2 hrs).
3. Indoor tint shader — a subtle blue-grey overlay on Layer 0/1 tiles when Roof flag set. Not asset, just shader work.
4. Lighting shader — for visual lighting at night (we locked this in mood/lighting). Not asset.
5. Cleaning visualization — dirty-tile decals. Some bundle packs (Mines? grass spring etc.) may have grunge tiles we can repurpose.
6. Wolf sprite — bundle's Animal Sprites pack does NOT include wolves. Options:
   • Reskin a different animal (a darker dog?)
   • Pick a suitable wild creature from EvoMonster Pack series
   • Custom wolf sprite (a few hours of pixel art) or external pack
7. Cremation pyre furniture — may be in House Interior or Marketplace; otherwise custom.
8. Grave marker tile — likely needs custom or graveyard-themed pack (Retro Graveyard 16×16 in Tier 3 might have it).

Audit list (action items before any release build)

Audit results, 2026-05-10 — three of five closed via visual inspection (researcher Haiku subagent + verification).

• FG_Houses.png autotile coverage — NOT autotile-solvable. Pieces are pre-built decorative house compositions across 4 distinct roof palettes (blue-roof timber, red-brick, dark-slate, plus accent details). No corner / T-junction / cap modular family. Estimated cost to author terrain bits on top: ~½–1 day per material.
• FG_Fortress.png autotile coverage — autotile-solvable. ~20–30 modular tan-stone pieces (straight, corners, battlement caps) with dark-grid mortar lines. Wang-style Godot 4 terrain works with minimal extra art. Iconic Homestead fallback not needed.
• Aesthetic harmony test — still open. Needs your eye on a Forest tile + a Ventilatore tile side-by-side. ~15 min.
• Wolf sprite source — none in the bundle, none in Ventilatore. Scanned EvoMonster Packs 03/04/06/09/10 (cute fantasy creatures, no canines), broader ElvGames Tier 1–3 sweep (farm animals + humanoid monsters only). Ventilatore (6 packs, all 6 scanned 2026-05-10) is character + terrain + decoration only — no animal sprites at all besides player + slimes. Remaining options: commission (~$30–60), CC0 source (OpenGameArt), or recolor-a-dog placeholder until Phase 10. Tracked in memory.md Open questions.
• Grave marker — Retro Graveyard 16x16 Tileset [Kingdom Explorer] confirmed in Tier 3. Path: Ultimate Farming RPG Tier 3/Retro Graveyard 16x16 Tileset [Kingdom Explorer]/Tilesets/KE_Graveyard.png. Contents: tombstones (varied), wooden crosses, grave mounds, crypt entries, skeletal markers, ground-transition tiles. Direct use in Phase 14.
• License attribution credits document — kick off the list now; add to it as packs come in. Include Kingdom Explorer (likely separate license from ElvGames — check License.txt).

Wall-material decision (locked 2026-05-10)

Player builds in two materials: wood (early) → stone (upgrade). Both visible in MVP.

• Wood walls are the day-one player-buildable material. Source pack: Houses Tileset 2 Seasons [Farming Game]/Tilesets/FG_Houses.png (the warm-brown timber + blue-roof palette). The audit found this pack is not autotile-solvable as-is — pieces are pre-built house compositions, not modular variants. Authoring task: extract or paint corner / T-junction / cap / cross variants for a Godot 4 Wang-style terrain. Estimated cost ~½ day. Lands in Phase 5 (implementation.md).
• Stone walls are the upgrade material. Source pack: Fortress Tileset 2 Seasons [Farming Game]/Tilesets/FG_Fortress.png (tan stonework with dark-grid mortar). The audit found this pack is autotile-solvable as-is — ~20–30 modular pieces are present. Authoring task: import as TileSet, build the terrain definition, sample-test on a small map. Estimated cost ~few hours. Lands in Phase 5 (alongside wood).
• Choosing both materials matches the aesthetic anchor: Stardew-cabin warmth carries the early game; the stone upgrade gestures toward Going Medieval as the colony grows. Loses the Fortress-stone-only "pure Going Medieval" option but keeps the project's design DNA intact.
• Phase 5 wall sub-tasks (record-keeping for implementation.md):
  1. Author wood-wall corner/T/cap variants on top of FG_Houses (~½ day, custom pixel art on existing tiles)
  2. Build Godot TileSet terrain for wood walls (~½ day, in editor)
  3. Build Godot TileSet terrain for stone walls (FG_Fortress, ~few hours, mostly assembly)
  4. Phase 5's existing wall/floor/door rendering logic stays unchanged — both materials plug in via the same WallMaterial enum / data path.

Iconic Homestead $19.99 fallback not needed — the bundle covers both materials with ~½ day of art work.

Tileset prep (the gotcha)

ElvGames packs are RPG-style — designed primarily for RPG Maker / GameMaker hand-painted maps, not tile-by-tile colony construction. Same caveat as Mana Seed: walls and floors may not have full 47-tile autotile coverage. Plan for ~half-day per buildable material to author Godot terrain bits onto the existing tiles.

Designation overlays still custom. Estimated 4–8 tiles, ~2 hours of pixel art.

License notes

ElvGames terms (most packs in the bundle):

You can: use in personal or commercial projects. Edit/modify to fit your game. Credits to ElvGames. You cannot: use in NFT/crypto projects. Sell this asset pack (even modified). Claim it as your own.

Source: License.txt in each pack. Full terms: https://elv-games.itch.io/terms

Some packs may be by other authors (e.g. Retro Kingdom Explorer series). License for each is in the pack's own License.txt. Audit and honor each.

Ventilatore terms: confirmed commercial-friendly during prior owner-of-bundle research; verify before any commercial release build.

Credits screen requirement: maintain a list of pack names + creator names; display in game's credits UI.

What was dropped from the plan

• Mana Seed series purchases — Smithing Gear, Crops #1, Iconic Homestead. Bundle's coverage replaces them. Free Mana Seed forest packs and Character Base remain optional fallbacks if Bundle palettes mismatch a specific need.
• Gold Rush / Pixel Farm RPG / LimeZu / Cute Fantasy / Mars Colony — all dropped from active consideration; bundle covers their roles.

Comprehensive survey (kept for reference)

Earlier-session survey of itch.io / OpenGameArt candidates (now superseded). Maintained so future sessions don't redo the search.

• Mana Seed by Seliel the Shaper (itch profile) — only tileset family explicitly authored for tile-by-tile player construction. Free seasonal forest + Farmer Base remain optional fallbacks.
• Iconic Homestead ($19.99) — fallback if bundle's wall autotile coverage is insufficient. Stone/wood/plaster wall variants explicitly construction-authored.
• Modern Interiors / Exteriors by LimeZu — modern aesthetic, wrong direction.
• Cute Fantasy RPG by Kenmi — Stardew-adjacent (similar to bundle's tone, could supplement).
• Base Building Tileset by Eli Haun — Rimworld-genre match but small.
• Colony Sim Assets by Buch — CC0 fallback.

Reading list (TBD)

• ElvGames license fine-print on each pack used.
• Godot 4 docs: TileMap, TileSet terrains, AStarGrid2D.
• Rimworld design talks (Tynan Sylvester) — storyteller / drama / interest curve.

What lives elsewhere

• Game design / mechanics — see design.md.
• Engine architecture and TileMap layer plan — see architecture.md.
• Touch UI — see ui.md.
• Pillars and vertical slice — see memory.md.