Tanah Mbah — rough concept

Desa Sumberwangi, East Java, 1999. Generated with Meta AI as mood only: the real art is drawn new. Tap an image for full size.

Test 3 (Oct 2): can we animate ourselves, in code?

Walk in code from Meta's still poses + a hoe swing — Walk in code from Meta's still poses + a hoe swing — Rows 1-4: walk down / right / left (mirrored) / up, made by splitting the legs, lifting them 2px and bobbing the body 1px. Front and back walks WORK. Side walk is weaker than Meta's own side frames, so we use Meta's. Row 5: hoe swing with the hoe as a separate rotated layer: WEAK, because the arms do not move. Tools need about 16 drawn arm poses for the hero only. full size

Test 2 (Oct 1): which theories hold

A real screen from Meta assets only — WORKS, but flat — A real screen from Meta assets only — WORKS, but flat — Every asset at its natural size lands on a 32px grid, and the tiles repeat with no visible seam. What is missing: soil-to-grass edge tiles, ground clutter (tufts, stones, flowers), a matched palette, and a front-facing house. That is the gap between this and the mockups. full size

Walk cycle at Meta's natural size — WORKS — Walk cycle at Meta's natural size — WORKS — 36x51 px, feet aligned within half a pixel. The mush in test 1 came from forcing it down to 16x24. Fix: use a 32px tile grid, not 16. full size

Five girls at 64x64 — ONE FAMILY — Five girls at 64x64 — ONE FAMILY — Same face shape, eyes and outline. The fake-pixel grid varied (10-15px), so detail varies. Fix: crop every head to the same size before snapping. full size

Icons with the background removed automatically — WORKS — Icons with the background removed automatically — WORKS — 8 of 8 came out transparent. Shown on dark and on grass. full size

House — WRONG ANGLE — House — WRONG ANGLE — Meta drew the house turned at an angle, showing a corner. BTN and Stardew show buildings flat from the front. Fix: say front-facing in the prompt. full size

Asking Meta for true-size 16x32 sprites — FAILS — Asking Meta for true-size 16x32 sprites — FAILS — Directions come out wrong: the facing-down row is upside down, the up row faces down. Let Meta draw big, shrink it ourselves. full size

Hoe swing — WRONG DIRECTION — Hoe swing — WRONG DIRECTION — Asked for facing down, got facing away. The motion frames are fine. Tool animations need direction checks. full size

Test: can Meta AI make the actual game art?

Portrait (Ningsih) — YES — Portrait (Ningsih) — YES — Meta's raw output. Its fake pixels sit on a near-regular ~12.5px grid, so it snaps cleanly to a real 64x64 portrait (see the last image). full size

Item icons — YES, with cleanup — Item icons — YES, with cleanup — Clean grid (~15.5px). Snapped to 16x16 they stay readable. Needs background knock-out and a few pixels fixed by hand. full size

Walk-cycle sheet — BASE ONLY — Walk-cycle sheet — BASE ONLY — 4 directions x 4 frames, and the hero stays the same. But at true size (16x24) the arms and legs turn to mush, and frames do not line up. Animation needs a hand pass or a sprite tool. full size

After the pipeline, at real game size — After the pipeline, at real game size — Left: 64x64 portrait, 3x3 tiled soil (32px tile). Right: 16x16 icons, 16x24 walk frames. Grid-snap + 12-32 colour palette, no hand cleanup yet. full size

Gameplay view: top-down like BTN (HUD is ours)

Kebun Mbah, 06.40 — Kebun Mbah, 06.40 — The real camera: fixed steep top-down angle, no sky, the ground fills the screen. The hero is about 1.5 tiles tall. Date box at top-right, like BTN: weekday + pasaran + day, time, season. full size

Alun-alun, talking to Pak Lurah — Alun-alun, talking to Pak Lurah — The dialogue box. He speaks krama because you are new. At high hearts villagers drop to ngoko. full size

Inside the house, 21.50 — Inside the house, 21.50 — Bed (diary = save), CRT TV, cupboard, the gold-shop calendar on the wall. The grid lines are the generator's, not ours. full size

Pantai Kidul, 17.30, Jumat Kliwon — Pantai Kidul, 17.30, Jumat Kliwon — Fishing spot. Rendheng season. Jumat Kliwon: the villagers say stay off the beach tonight. full size

In-game look (pixel art)

Kebun Mbah — Kebun Mbah — Grandpa's overgrown farm, day 1. Gedhek walls, clay-tile roof, the volcano behind. full size

Alun-alun Sumberwangi — Alun-alun Sumberwangi — The village square: banyan tree, pos ronda with kenthongan, warung, red-white flags. full size

Warung & Losmen Pak Gimin — Warung & Losmen Pak Gimin — Evening at the warung. The wartel booth and the CRT TV. Ningsih serves tea. full size

Coban Sri — Coban Sri — Dewi Sri at the waterfall pool. Offerings on the stone. full size

Pantai Kidul — Pantai Kidul — The south shore at sunset. Jukung boats, the pier, Pak Darto fishing. full size

Malam Tirakatan — Malam Tirakatan — The night before 17 Agustus: tumpeng on mats, gamelan, the greased pole. full size

Key art (painted)

Puncak Simbok — Puncak Simbok — Sunrise over the sea of cloud. Title key art. full size

Janji — Janji — The childhood promise under the banyan. Her face stays hidden. full size

Sumberwangi — Sumberwangi — Apple orchards and the dairy farm. Mbah Karto. full size

Lima — Lima — The five girls at the festival. He holds the peningset jasmine. full size