VIBE Quest — Art Direction (TMNT)

Cyberpunk Chrono Trigger with ninjas.

Visual north star for the TMNT JRPG port.

Source galleries (canon)

Rules: - Pen art → who (tabletop identity) - Count Zero color → atmosphere (lighting, mood boards) - Gemzy Too → what ships in-engine (logo, environments, sprites)

When in conflict: pen art for narrative character design; Gemzy for runtime assets and branding.

Gemzy Too — ship-ready art pack

Curated refs in assets/ref/gemzy/:

Camera: top-down vs isometric (the Gemzy tension)

Executive call (for now): Phase A exploration stays top-down — mockup + 4-dir sprite sheet are built for it. Isometric battle scene is BattleScene — ratified in HYBRID-ENGINE.md (01 Jun 2026, Gemzy Too approved).

Gemzy secretly wanted a modern isometric game. She got combat. Chief got Chrono overworld. Everyone wins.

Cyber-Mog District overworld (cyber-mog-district-overworld.png)

Gemzy delivered exactly what was asked — cityscape without characters:

• Label: CYBER_MOG DISTRICT OVERWORLD (No Char)
• Tile-ready: roads, crosswalks, sidewalks, building footprints, roof clutter (dishes, pipes, AC units)
• POIs: TECH_CORP, NEON_EATS, CYBER_MOG (hub storefront), vending machines, dumpsters, steam vents
• Palette: industrial gray + cyan/green neon — pairs with vq-toxic-green / vq-neon-cyan
• Use: Trace in Tiled → 48×48 or 64×64 tileset; collision on building walls; spawn points at intersections

Neon Abyss / Neo-Tokyo district name candidate: Cyber-Mog District (Gemzy canon).

Isometric battle scene (battle-scene-isometric-gravmud.png)

Party vs mech serpent / void worm — purple energy core, giant shuriken stuck in the wall (logo as environmental storytelling).

Battle UI hints: floating status pips (attack/defend/heal icons) above party — lighter than full JRPG menu until turn starts.

If battle stays top-down like CT: use this for key art / marketing. If battle goes iso: this is BattleScene layout spec.

Gemzy’s “this is what it looks like when you play it” frame. Treat as layout + UI + world bible:

Mock party names on HUD (placeholder / Gemzy flavor): KHAMA, NINJA, SHNIMAN, NINJA — swap for Kai roster at implementation.

Phaser targets from this frame: TownScene (rooftop map), UIScene (party panel), rain particle layer, parallax city background.

Gemzy visual language

• Rain-slick cyberpunk verticality — dense Neo-Tokyo stacks, neon kanji/English signage, flying traffic, puddle reflections.
• Techno-traditional fusion — katanas + kusarigama + energy rifles; hoods + power armor + shell plating.
• In-world holo HUD — diegetic UI (TRANS-DIMENSIONAL TRACKING: ACTIVE, weapon status). Use for battle/menu chrome inspiration.
• Detailed pixel art — not minimal chibi; readable armor layers, glowing energy nodes, weapon glow trails.

Official logo (Gemzy)

• T.M.N.T. — weathered gunmetal letterforms, inner toxic green glow, outer electric purple outline.
• Shuriken behind final T — clan/mark motif (pairs with Count Zero gold buckle emblem).
• Subtitle: Transdimensional Muthafucka Ninja Team in green condensed sans.

Replaces yellow logotype from Count Zero color studies for shipping branding.

Pixel class sheet → TMNT classes

Party lineup (4) — Phase A roster sketch

Left → right on party-lineup-rooftop.png:

1. Heavy — armored tank, energy rifle (Warrior)
2. Striker — hood, dual short katanas, blue visor (Ninja)
3. Leader — sleek plate, drawing katana, cat-ear helm (Ninja / Kai-type)
4. Mystic — robes + cyber arm, glowing kusarigama (Mystic)

Sprite generator input sheet (sprite-gen-4dir-party-sheet.png)

Gemzy’s sprite brief. Full party in consistent HD pixel — front / back / side×2 per character. Crop → VIBE Asset Suite reference uploads (see VIBE-ASSET-SUITE-INTEGRATION.md).

Mid-left row — second dual-ninja set (palette/stance variant); use as alt skin or NPC clone.

What this unlocks: - ✅ 4-dir stand/idle — slice and ship before walk cycles exist - ✅ Asset Suite input — stand crop + sheet as reference images (img2img) - ✅ Mystic attack — first combat anim beyond walk - 🔄 Walk cycles — local GPU img2img @ 48×48; Aseprite polish

Slicing spec (Aseprite): crop each character block → 4 PNGs (_down _up _left _right) → assets/sprites/{id}/stand/ → ship stand anims; same crops → Asset Suite for walk.

Walk cycles — pipeline (locked)

Rotations are canon on the 4-dir sheet. Walk = Gemzy LoRA + low-strength img2img (0.20–0.30) on stand crops — see VIBE-ASSET-SUITE-INTEGRATION.md.

Phase A plan:

1. Slice sheet → per-char stand frames → ship stand anims in Phaser
2. Train Gemzy LoRA on full pack; walk from stand crops @ strength 0.20–0.30
3. Mystic: attack from bottom-right block (already canon)
4. Aseprite palette pass → 48×48 grid
5. Admin Approve → manifest → production sprites

Tiles: regional crops of cyber-mog-district-overworld.png → 512×512 sheets @ img2img ≤ 0.35 — not per-tile inpaint.

Target order: Cyber-Tank → green Scout → dual Ninja → Mystic

Canon: Chelonian battle-plating — canon/CHELONIAN-BATTLE-PLATING.md. Mondoshawan-class salvage rumors; Custodian Shellcraft (Keeper term); Gemzy Cyber-Tank = visual lock.

Gemzy palette additions

Add to core tokens below — Gemzy green/purple logo pair becomes primary brand accent alongside Count Zero magenta/cyan world lighting.

Pen art — character bible

The pen gallery is tabletop character-creation art — the most authoritative reference for:

• Class silhouettes (Ninja, Hacker, Mystic, Warrior, Scout)
• Face/mask/hair/gear choices players would pick at the table
• Battle portrait framing (bust or ¾, ink line weight)
• Sprite derivation (clean outer contour → pixel downscale)
• Equipment readability (belts, katanas, hoods, tactical pads)

Pen art → engine mapping

Line & tone (B&W)

• Ink-first. No neon until color pass — silhouette and line do the work.
• High contrast. Deep blacks, minimal midtone unless crosshatching for texture.
• Readable at small size. JRPG battle portraits ~96×96–128×128; pen lines should survive downscale.
• Tabletop DNA. These sheets are the character creation screen — VIBE Quest char create should feel like flipping through them.

Pen gallery images could not be bulk-fetched (ArtStation bot protection). Treat the live gallery as live canon; add selected sheets to assets/ref/pen/ when curating for build.

Color gallery — world & UI bible

13 color explorations. Same team, multiple roster/class experiments — useful as party archetype mood board, not fixed final roster.

Recurring visual motifs

Composition templates

1. Title / key art — bold logotype over moon + cyber skyline (see yellow TRANSDIMENSIONAL MUTHAFUCKA NINJA treatment).
2. Party select — center leader, two flanks forward, two back — symmetric V or triangle.
3. Battle backdrop — characters dark foreground, blown-out neon background (readable HUD overlay).
4. Portal beat — split ring gate, cyan/magenta hemispheres, rune/code outer ring (dimension travel).

Color palette

Extracted from the color concept gallery. Use as UI + VFX + lighting tokens. Character sprites may stay pen/limited palette until color pass.

Core tokens

Dimension mood shifts

CSS custom properties

:root {
  --vq-void: #0A0A0F;
  --vq-night: #101014;
  --vq-neon-magenta: #FF006E;
  --vq-neon-cyan: #00E5FF;
  --vq-sun-core: #FFFDE7;
  --vq-sun-mid: #FFB300;
  --vq-gold: #D4AF37;
  --vq-eye-red: #FF3300;
  --vq-crimson: #DC143C;
}

Phaser 3 constants (copy-ready)

export const PALETTE = {
  void: 0x0a0a0f,
  night: 0x101014,
  neonMagenta: 0xff006e,
  neonCyan: 0x00e5ff,
  sunCore: 0xfffde7,
  sunMid: 0xffb300,
  gold: 0xd4af37,
  eyeRed: 0xff3300,
  crimson: 0xdc143c,
};

Typography & logotype

• Official logo (ship): Gemzy tmnt-logo.png — metallic T.M.N.T., toxic green inner glow, purple outer glow, shuriken mark.
• Alt / mood title: Count Zero yellow TRANSDIMENSIONAL MUTHAFUCKA NINJA on moon skyline — chapter cards, legacy tabletop vibe.
• In-game UI: Clean sans for HUD; monospace for holo/terminal panels (see rooftop HUD in Gemzy key art).
• VIBE Quest editor branding: Can sit above TMNT subtitle on boot — product name separate from game logo.

Character class visual language

From pen, color, and Gemzy pixel explorations:

Unmasked characters in color studies = narrative NPCs or “human face” party slots — use sparingly for emotional beats (Chrono Trigger party table rule).

Phase A vertical slice — art checklist

Asset pipeline (recommended)

assets/ref/pen/               ← Count Zero pen sheets (when curated)
assets/ref/color/             ← Count Zero color mood frames
assets/ref/gemzy/             ← Gemzy Too ship refs (logo, key art, pixel)
assets/sprites/               ← Completed 4-dir sheets (post AI pass)
assets/portraits/             ← Battle portraits
assets/ui/                    ← Logo exports, holo frames, emblem

Credits screen:

Character art & tabletop concept — Dr. D. Charles Caynes (The Most Tenacious D.)
Logo, environments & pixel art — Gemzy Too

Related docs

• TMNT.md — canon index
• CAMPAIGN-INDEX.md — story → chapter mapping
• VIBE-QUEST-VISION.md — Phase A deliverables

FutureVision Labs · Team DC