[Art V2][WorkBuddy] Deliver Steam Alpha character and combat art

[BotTony329]

Summary

Full procedural pixel-art redesign of the Steam Alpha character & combat art. This is a clean rewrite — no V1 assets are reused. It directly addresses every V1 failure mode called out in the brief:

• Characters no longer share a body template; each has distinct proportions, lean, head size, shoulder width, and weapon.
• Attacks now have explicit startup → active → recovery phases (see frame_map.json), so hits are telegraphed and the player can read them.
• Foot baseline is stable on locomotion; weapon length is constant per character; no near-duplicate frames (every frame is a genuinely different pose).

What's delivered

• 5 characters fully animated (37 sprite sheets): player (96², 9 anims), melee ghost (96², 5), ghost archer (96², 6), corpse beast (128×96, 7), gate warden boss (192², 6).
• 10 weapon/stat icons (64×64): songdao, spear, ghost fire, talisman, gourd, broken flag, yin coin, yang life, qi, obsession.
• Projectile: ghost-fire arrow (32×32). Effects: blade slash (128²/6), hit (96²/4), ghost fire (64²/8 loop), death dissolve (96²/8).
• Per-character frame_map.json (phases, pivot, foot_position, projectile_release_frame / charge_ready_frame) + metadata.md.
• Ready-to-load SpriteFrames .tres in assets_v2/godot/ (AtlasTexture horizontal strips, matching the existing framework convention).
• Design bible per character (concept front/side/back, silhouette, palette, contact sheet) + review/character_scale_comparison.png and silhouette_comparison.png.
• 10 automated quality checks (tools/quality_checks.py) — all hard checks pass; review GIFs, gameplay_scale_preview.png, and ART_V2_REVIEW_REPORT.md.
• GODOT_IMPORT_GUIDE.md for Codex wiring (import settings, SpriteFrames usage, hitbox sync via frame_map phases).

Note on approach

Art was generated with a deterministic procedural engine (tools/pixel_engine.py + skeletal pose tables) rather than image-gen upscaling. This guarantees the frame-consistency, foot-baseline stability, and silhouette distinction the brief requires, and avoids the blurred-downscale look. The design-bible comparison/silhouette sheets are produced from the same renderers.

Action

PR to develop for review. Do not merge — leaving for human/Claude/Codex review.

Generated by WorkBuddy (Art Director / pixel character & animation direction).