# Pixel craft — optional ProDyn capability

A visual field guide, portable agent skill, original studies and runnable tools for contemporary editorial pixel-art-inspired illustration and deliberate native-grid craft. VHS tape, CRT display, digital glitch, 1980s graphics, synthwave and retro-sci-fi remain **separate selectable directions**, not a new default theme or a compulsory mixture.

## Enter at the appropriate depth

- **See and try:** [visual field guide](index.html), with original workshop/orbital/tram studies, the native-grid lighting comparison and contained effects lab.
- **Make:** [portable skill](../../skills/pixel-craft/SKILL.md), [usage and dependencies](../../skills/pixel-craft/README.md).
- **Research:** [craft](../../skills/pixel-craft/references/craft.md), [color/light](../../skills/pixel-craft/references/color-light.md), [production routes](../../skills/pixel-craft/references/production.md), [inspiration](../../skills/pixel-craft/references/inspiration.md).
- **Choose a direction:** [style-selection matrix](../../skills/pixel-craft/references/style-selection.md), [effect mechanisms](../../skills/pixel-craft/references/retro-effects.md), [ProDyn adapter](../../skills/pixel-craft/adapters/prodyn.md).
- **Practice and judge:** [curriculum](../../skills/pixel-craft/references/mastery-practice.md), [concrete drills](../../skills/pixel-craft/references/exercises.md), [verification record](../../skills/pixel-craft/EVIDENCE.md).
- **Trace the first study (private repository access required):** [private archive](https://github.com/cygnostik/prodyn-design-system/blob/main/dsm/pixel-craft/archive/initial-study/README.md), [changed-context study critique](https://github.com/cygnostik/prodyn-design-system/blob/main/dsm/pixel-craft/archive/expansion/README.md).

The skill's `references/craft-sources.json` and `references/retro-sources.json` are independent evidence ledgers. Citation numbers are local to each. Visually inspected art is labeled as observation of the delivered representation, not proof of an artist's toolchain.

## Core decisions

1. Resolve story, silhouettes and value grouping before microtexture.
2. Choose the actual production route. A generated hybrid, a procedural native-grid image and a hand-pixelled sprite are different claims.
3. Separate plausible light geometry, intentionally designed color relationships and verified colorimetric fidelity. A palette grade is not a relight.
4. Reserve tiny meaning-bearing colors before reduction. The initial cyan-eye failure demonstrates why frequency alone is not enough.
5. Build distinct material responses, cast shadows, contact and occlusion; don't add generic shine everywhere.
6. Apply at most one transport/display treatment by default, only inside imagery. Essential text and interface controls stay crisp.
7. Use an unfamiliar subject, changed light direction and a failure case to test transfer. Tests and a guide do not certify universal mastery.

## Canon boundary

This is an additive capability and an explicitly opted-in **learning** surface. Stable tokens, Mk.ii's opt-in layer, the approved logo, font licensing and M1–M18 contracts remain authoritative and unchanged. The guide starts in the stable palette and offers an explicit Mk.ii host switch using exact variables; the contained image palettes are not new UI tokens. M12 remains console/telemetry-only, not a blanket marketing-glitch permission. No ambient animation is needed for this reading/comparison task.

Availability is not permission to retrofit other projects or apply ProDyn branding to neutral/client artifacts. Agent consumers can use the portable method without the branded host page, DSM assets or private source archive.

## Reproduce

From the repository root, through the agent's execution tool or a terminal:

```text
npm ci --ignore-scripts
npx playwright install chromium
python3 -m pip install -r skills/pixel-craft/requirements.txt
npm run test:pixel
python3 -m unittest discover -s tests -p test_pixel_package.py -v
python3 skills/pixel-craft/scripts/pixel_studio.py --suite --scale 3 --out-dir .artifacts/pixel-native
```

Use a project-local virtual environment if the Python environment is externally managed. `CHROMIUM_PATH` may select a compatible existing browser where supported by the harness. Full repository gates remain `npm test`, `npm run test:export`, and `python3 scripts/validate.py`. The existing source inventory requires explicit refresh after reviewed changes; it is not a creative-quality test.

Preview the repository **only on loopback** and visit `/dsm/pixel-craft/`. The portable lab can instead be served from the skill directory alone at `/demo/`. Never expose the private repository as a public document root.

## Distribute the skill, not the archive

After validation, build with:

```text
python3 scripts/package_pixel_craft.py --output .artifacts/pixel-craft-0.1.0.zip
```

The output must not already exist. The builder exports only `skills/pixel-craft/package-files.json`'s reviewed allowlist, verifies ZIP inventory and every entry's bytes directly, and performs no installation or upload. Extract and actually exercise the result; a successful ZIP write is not runtime verification.

The portable folder contains original method/tools/assets, source links and short attributed quotations. It excludes original third-party reference artwork, private study archives, DSM font/logo/token binaries, caches and dependencies. Read [rights and notices](../../skills/pixel-craft/NOTICES.md). Sharing with authorized agents does not invent an open-source license or grant public rights to underlying inspiration art.

## Maintenance

Keep one source of truth for the portable capability in this repository, per the owner's explicit destination. Local installed skills should point here rather than fork the research. Other agent checkouts need an authorized fetch or install; publication does not automatically refresh them. Add demonstrated improvements with their source, failing case, corrected artifact and actual verification scope. Preserve recovery and never broaden identity permissions in the process.