asset-quality-tiers

Asset Quality Tiers

A four-tier quality system for procedural asset generation that enables incremental quality improvement from rapid prototyping to hero-quality assets.

The Tier System

Assets progress through quality tiers, each appropriate for different development phases:

PLACEHOLDER (Tier 1) ──► TEMP (Tier 2) ──► FINAL (Tier 3) ──► HERO (Tier 4)
      │                      │                 │                  │
  Blocking              Development        Ship-ready         Showcase
  Scale testing         Testing            Production         Marketing
  Rapid iteration       Internal builds    Standard           Closeups

Tier Definitions

Tier Assessment Criteria

Determine asset tier by evaluating against these criteria:

Placeholder indicators:

• Basic primitives or box modeling
• Solid colors or single noise layer
• Missing UVs or normals
• Simple shapes without detail

Temp indicators:

• Basic shapes with proper UVs
• 1-2 noise layers on textures
• Meets minimum technical requirements
• Functional but lacks polish

Final indicators:

• Proper topology with bevels
• Multi-layer textures with detail
• Full material maps (albedo, MRE)
• Polished silhouettes

Hero indicators:

• Maximum detail within budget
• All material channels utilized
• Subtle variations and imperfections
• Perfect for close inspection

Enhancement Strategies

Mesh Enhancement by Tier

Texture Enhancement by Tier

Audio Enhancement by Tier

Animation Enhancement by Tier

Quality Score Calculation

Each asset type has weighted quality dimensions:

Mesh Quality Score

Score = (UV_Coverage × 0.25) + (Silhouette_Clarity × 0.20) +
        (Topology_Quality × 0.20) + (Detail_Level × 0.20) +
        (Budget_Compliance × 0.15)

Texture Quality Score

Score = (Contrast × 0.20) + (Color_Richness × 0.20) +
        (Detail_Layers × 0.25) + (Coherence × 0.20) +
        (Format_Compliance × 0.15)

Audio Quality Score

Score = (Layer_Richness × 0.25) + (Envelope_Quality × 0.20) +
        (Clarity × 0.20) + (Variation × 0.20) +
        (Format_Compliance × 0.15)

Tier Budget Guidelines

Each tier has different resource budgets:

Mesh Poly Budgets

Texture Resolution Guidelines

Using Tiers in Generation

Specifying Target Tier

When generating assets, specify the target tier:

"Generate a wooden barrel at Final tier"
"Create placeholder props for layout testing"
"Upgrade these meshes to Hero quality"

Style Tier Integration

Include tier specification in style recipes:

{
    "asset": {
        "name": "barrel",
        "type": "prop",
        "tier": "final",  # placeholder | temp | final | hero
    },

    "generation": {
        "mesh": {
            "detail_level": 3,  # 1-4 matching tier
            "subdivision": 2,
            "bevels": True,
        },
        "texture": {
            "resolution": 256,
            "layers": 3,
            "detail_maps": True,
        },
    },
}

Enhancement Workflow

Identifying Upgrade Candidates

1. Scan project assets
2. Assess current tier of each
3. Compare to target tier
4. Prioritize by visibility/importance

Executing Upgrades

1. Read current generation code/style spec
2. Identify specific enhancement parameters
3. Apply tier-appropriate techniques
4. Regenerate asset
5. Validate quality improvement

Bulk Upgrades

When upgrading multiple assets:

• Process in batches by asset type
• Maintain style consistency across batch
• Verify cohesion after upgrades

Additional Resources

Reference Files

For enhancement techniques, use the index files first (lean routing), then load full references as needed:

Related Agents

• quality-enhancer - Autonomous asset improvement
• quality-analyzer - Quality assessment and scoring
• asset-critic - style spec compliance checking

Related Commands

• /improve-assets - Guided quality improvement workflow