# Omen Cat Codex Pet Design

## Goal

Create a Codex-compatible v2 animated pet inspired by the user-provided cartoon Omen cat reference. The pet should preserve the reference's feline silhouette and recognizable Omen cues while moving toward a darker, more detailed game-character interpretation that remains readable in a `192x208` sprite cell.

The working display name is `幽喵`. The package id will use an ASCII-safe derivative chosen by the hatch pipeline.

## Source Reference

Canonical input:

`C:/Users/admin/AppData/Local/Temp/codex-clipboard-ecce7d4b-e0a8-495f-98ba-9bf2f2d030b4.png`

The source is an identity reference, not an atlas. It must be copied into the pet run before generation so the temporary clipboard path is not a long-term dependency.

## Visual Direction

Use a dark flat-illustration style with restrained cel shading. Preserve these identity invariants across every animation row:

- oversized purple cat-eared hood with a layered, angular Omen silhouette
- black void face framed by the hood
- three cyan facial energy marks, with the center mark slightly longer
- compact feline body, short paws, and a long attached tail
- dark charcoal armor and bandage-like limb wraps
- deep violet, charcoal, cool gray, and luminous cyan palette
- heavy upper silhouette balanced by a compact grounded lower body

Compared with the source, add a segmented shoulder mantle, layered scarf or short cape panels, and readable foreleg wraps. Keep all added armor broad and simple enough to survive reduction to pet size.

Do not include readable logos, text, weaponry, scenery, floor shadows, smoke, floating particles, detached energy effects, or thin decorative fragments. Cyan glow should be represented by opaque hard-edged color shapes rather than blur or bloom.

## Animation Language

The standard animation rows follow the Codex v2 contract:

- `idle`: subtle breathing, ear twitch, and slow tail sway
- `running-right` and `running-left`: low feline dash with alternating paws and cape follow-through
- `waving`: one forepaw wave without motion marks
- `jumping`: compact crouch, lift, apex, and landing pose without a floor cue
- `failed`: ears lower, cyan face marks dim, body slumps, and tail curls inward
- `waiting`: alert seated pose with raised ears and an expectant head angle
- `running`: focused task pose using quick paw and eye activity, not literal locomotion
- `review`: narrowed cyan marks, deliberate head tilt, and restrained paw movement

`running-left` may be derived from `running-right` only when the generated armor, face marks, and lighting are fully symmetrical. Otherwise it must be generated independently.

## Look Mechanics

The body base and paws remain anchored. Direction is carried by a coordinated motion family:

1. The cyan face marks lead and shift within the black face plane.
2. The hood opening and head turn follow the target direction.
3. The cat ears tilt with restrained follow-through.
4. The upper mantle and tail lag slightly while remaining attached.

Cardinal directions must be unmistakable at normal pet size. Left and right require visible head and hood-opening turns, not only moving the cyan marks. Up and down use face-mark position, hood pitch, ear angle, and upper-body compression. Intermediate directions interpolate continuously without rotating or tilting the complete sprite.

## Production Flow

The `hatch-pet` workflow owns production:

1. Copy the canonical source into a durable run directory and prepare prompts plus layout guides.
2. Generate a grounded base image through `imagegen`.
3. Generate and incrementally validate all nine standard animation rows.
4. Define the final look-mechanics note, generate four cardinal anchors, and approve their semantics.
5. Generate coherent look rows 9 and 10 with deterministic registration and edge checks.
6. Assemble the `1536x2288` v2 atlas, remove the chroma key once, and validate the final WebP.
7. Run contact-sheet review, motion previews, three isolated blind direction reviews, labeled direction semantics, and continuity review.
8. Install `pet.json` and `spritesheet.webp` together with `spriteVersionNumber: 2`.

Generated row strips are always grounded by the canonical reference and the relevant layout guide. Repairs replace the smallest failed complete row rather than patching individual cells.

## Failure Handling

- Identity drift, missing cat features, replacement face marks, or materially changed armor require row regeneration.
- Clipping, extraction, registration, and chroma failures use deterministic corrections first.
- A wrong or ambiguous cardinal direction blocks packaging.
- Minor intermediate-direction uncertainty may be accepted only when labeled normal-size review confirms the intended quadrant and the ordered loop remains coherent.
- Detached effects, accidental transparent body holes, reversed gait, visible size popping, or broken tail attachment are hard failures.

## Acceptance Criteria

- The final pet visibly matches the source cat and the selected dark Omen interpretation.
- All nine standard animation rows communicate their intended state without text or detached effects.
- All 16 look directions form a continuous clockwise family with unmistakable cardinals.
- The final atlas is exactly `1536x2288`; used cells are non-empty and unused cells are transparent.
- Deterministic atlas validation, chroma despill validation, frame inspection, direction blind review, semantic review, continuity review, and final visual QA pass.
- The installed manifest declares `spriteVersionNumber: 2` and points to the packaged `spritesheet.webp`.

## Out Of Scope

- Reproducing an exact in-game model or official Riot asset
- Adding weapons, readable VALORANT branding, UI, or game environments
- Creating alternate skins or multiple pet variants in this run
- Publishing or distributing the resulting pet outside the local Codex installation
