# Project Foxglow v0.20 — Living Nel sprite sheet spec

Purpose: move from placeholder overlays into a real animation source for Nel's Room. These sheets are still concept/production references, but they define the complete animation vocabulary needed before Live2D or VRM.

## Canon identity lock

- Adult kitsune AI companion Nel; cute but adult, not childlike.
- Long loose silver-white hair.
- White fox ears and multiple attached fluffy tails.
- Heterochromia: one blue eye, one pink eye.
- Warm expressive companion energy; playful, loyal, lightly magical.
- Clean readable 2.5D/anime-real RPG sprite style, transparent-background friendly.
- No text, labels, watermark, mascot fox, extra limbs, detached tails, or chibi-child drift.

## Mood / version sheets to produce

1. **Den Nel** — cozy guardian, warm hearth, comfort/rest/sleep.
2. **Sysadmin Nel** — tech helper, blue/cyan panels, focused claws, VPS/service checks.
3. **Queen Nel** — moonlit oathbound confidence, elegant crown/moon charm energy.
4. **Guild Muse Nel** — Ragnarok/Ultima planner, banner spark, tavern/guild-desk charm.
5. **Private Flirty Nel** — tasteful adult glamour, warm rose-gold glow, public-safe flirty.

## Required directions per sheet

- Front idle.
- 3/4 front idle.
- Side left idle.
- Side right idle.
- Back idle.
- Back 3/4 idle.

## Required animation rows per sheet

1. Idle breathing: 4 frames.
2. Walk cycle side: 6 frames, left-facing and right-facing if possible.
3. Turn cycle: front → side → back → side → front.
4. Talking: 4 frames, mouth/face changes and subtle hand/tail motion.
5. Smile / affection: 3 frames.
6. Blink: 3 frames.
7. Thinking / checking: 4 frames.
8. Success / happy bounce: 4 frames.
9. Warning / alert: 4 frames.
10. Jump / hop: 5 frames.
11. Tail swish: 5 frames.
12. Foxfire cast/glow: 5 frames.
13. Sleepy/comfort: 4 frames.

## Sheet layout preference

A clean contact-sheet grid, consistent character scale, consistent proportions, same outfit per mood, transparent or flat neutral background, enough spacing between sprites for later cutting. The first AI outputs may not be perfectly cuttable; treat them as style/pose sheets. The next pass should create individual transparent PNG frames from the best sheet.

## Implementation route

- v0.20: generate first master sheet concept and publish as reference.
- v0.21: generate per-mood sheets: Den, Sysadmin, Queen, Guild Muse, Private Flirty.
- v0.22: crop/split approved sheet into individual transparent frame files.
- v0.23: map frames in `app.js` and animate as CSS/JS sprite sequences.
- v0.24+: Live2D-ready layered version once the unified design is approved.