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	Name	Quality Score	Purpose	Typical Usage
1	Placeholder	30-50%	Blocking, scale testing	Level layout, gameplay testing
2	Temp	50-70%	Development testing	Internal builds, playtesting
3	Final	70-90%	Production quality	Shipping game assets
4	Hero	90-100%	Maximum quality	Marketing, cutscenes, closeups

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

Upgrade	Key Techniques
Placeholder → Temp	Add proper UVs, calculate normals, triangulate
Temp → Final	Add bevels, improve silhouette, optimize topology
Final → Hero	Add secondary shapes, edge loops, micro-detail

Texture Enhancement by Tier

Upgrade	Key Techniques
Placeholder → Temp	Add noise variation, basic color palette
Temp → Final	Add contrast, detail layers, color richness
Final → Hero	Add wear maps, subtle variations, all channels

Audio Enhancement by Tier

Upgrade	Key Techniques
Placeholder → Temp	Add envelope shaping, basic layering
Temp → Final	Add multiple layers, filtering, variation
Final → Hero	Add subtle harmonics, pitch variations, spatial cues

Animation Enhancement by Tier

Upgrade	Key Techniques
Placeholder → Temp	Add proper timing, basic keyframes
Temp → Final	Add easing, secondary motion, proper arcs
Final → Hero	Add anticipation, follow-through, subtle overlap

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

Asset Class	Placeholder	Temp	Final	Hero
Small prop	20-50	50-150	150-300	300-500
Medium prop	50-100	100-300	300-500	500-800
Character	100-200	200-400	400-800	800-2000
Vehicle	100-300	300-600	600-1000	1000-2000
Environment	50-200	200-500	500-1500	1500-3000

Texture Resolution Guidelines

Tier	Typical Resolution	Channel Usage
Placeholder	32x32 - 64x64	Albedo only
Temp	64x64 - 128x128	Albedo + basic normal
Final	128x128 - 256x256	Albedo + MRE
Hero	256x256 - 512x512	Albedo + MRE + SSE + detail

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:

Asset Type	Index (load first)	Full Reference (load for code)
Textures	texture-enhancement-index.md	texture-enhancements.md (1290 lines)
Meshes	mesh-enhancement-index.md	mesh-enhancements.md (1142 lines)
Audio	-	audio-enhancements.md
Animation	-	animation-enhancements.md

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