Pixelata

At a glance

• Outcome: Gives a small game team coherent pixel art without a full-time artist, and lets it reject a weak direction before a pack is built. One generated concept sheet was rejected against a stated rule; its revision made four human-accepted 32×32 sprites, a second-run identically hashed atlas and four Godot 4.6.3 AtlasTexture resources that imported. Records every July 2026 input/output SHA-256 in-repo.
• Status: Remains unreleased with three projects on September 11, 2026: Clankkers completed all seven Production Path stages through deterministic processing/QA; Multiplicity holds accepted sprites/verified engine import. On September 2, Marjorie’s Manor added a confirmed 21-row intake report, project/pack briefs, a three-item UI inventory, reference set and one adopted direction study; nothing is locked. No project reached implemented review signoff or delivery authorization; late-August commits cover only docs/plans/onboarding, not src/pixelata; September 9 consolidated 29 archived DAGs and one live tracker, with all 16 graph-native authoring nodes planned.
• Role: Solo.
• Stack & libraries: Uses Python 3.11+, 128 .py files, about 36,000 src/pixelata lines and 20,000 test lines. Base depends only on Pillow/jsonschema; extras add FastAPI/Jinja2/Uvicorn/httpx for a server-rendered workspace with vendored htmx as nearly its only JavaScript, plus the mcp SDK, PyInstaller and Playwright. Packages with setuptools/uv; targets Godot and Macroquad.
• Source: Remains private under a proprietary KnownBetter Studios license since August 29, 2026.
• Validation: Runs 736 tests in 61 unittest files. On September 11, 2026, python -m unittest discover took 55 seconds: all passed, 2 skipped. Uses 77 JSON Schemas, validate_profile.py --all, Python 3.11 GitHub Actions and separate Playwright browser-audit/native-package-build gates.
• Limitations: Has three projects before review/delivery; two July scaffolds contain only brief/reference sets. Packages the verified Godot pack with a separate script, not its kernel; legacy shortlisting writes a selection field into the completed generation run; a logged, unfixed September bug reads lineage locators as artifact paths, marking adopted studies’ intake stale. Plans canvas workspace layout and a Rust desktop; native release awaits macOS evidence and a recorded human decision; no Rust exists on September 11, 2026; September 9 keeps the first replay kernel in pure Python behind a replaceable interface and defers its long-term language.

Workflow

Organizes directions through bounded experiments stating questions, evidence and failure, not generation runs. Supports generation/manual import, external editing, native-pixel cleanup, benchmark comparison and runtime preview. Names missing evidence before a hundred coherent, correctly sized engine assets. Complements sprite editors/generators.

Discover records runtime constraints, pack needs, questions and risks; Explore compares directions. Prove tests representative native-scale prototypes for states, animation, tiles and coherence. Produce locks direction/spec, then runs deterministic processing/QA. Deliver reviews, then reproducibly exports accepted assets and engine handoffs.

Uses deterministic Pillow: nearest-neighbour scaling, binary alpha, palette snapping, PNG/JSON atlases and fixed-timestamp byte-identical zip files.

Stores seven separate human records: prototype confirmation, direction lock, Visual Spec confirmation, production authorization, art acceptance, review signoff and delivery authorization. Enforces prerequisites on write; locks reject non-human actors and require covered prototype sets. QA grants no authority. Rebuilds artifact-derived views; SHA-256 lineage binds exports to reviewed pixels.

Interfaces

• Provides 84 schema-backed CLI subcommands: intake/processing/preview/QA/review/export, batches, atlas diffs, Godot/Macroquad handoffs, local history/cache, copilot/adapter control, doctor and migrate.
• Serves optional local FastAPI workspace through 105 handlers: 37 GET, 68 POST. Jinja2/htmx render Production Path, Direction Board, Copilot Console, Adapter Console, focused review and read-only Delivery bench with separate POST export.
• Exposes 50 MCP tools sharing CLI-validated writes.