# Layerline — Visual Brief v0.1

**Status:** locked for candidate reference generation; provisional for production

## Visual thesis

A calm instrument panel made from thin matte enamel shutters: precise enough to explain a network,
soft enough to avoid a technical PCB simulator. The signature image is one shutter midway through
a flat hinged flip while the old power path fades and the new path lights.

## Non-negotiable frame

- Portrait 9:16, orthographic front view, flat 2D composition; no 3D camera or perspective room.
- One centered puzzle board uses 70-78% of safe width.
- 4-7 overlapping shutters, each with an exposed hinge tab and large readable trace.
- One mint source, two distinct terminals, one clearly lit route, and one dashed prospective route.
- Current and alternate faces must read as one physical shutter, not two loose tiles.
- UI outside the board is minimal: level label, undo, restart, pause.

## Palette roles

| Role | Color | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Night field | `#101522` | full background |
| Board well | `#182033` | puzzle container |
| Cool shutter | `#D9E3EE` | primary face |
| Slate shutter | `#7F90A8` | alternate face and covered state |
| Ink trace | `#263148` | unpowered conductor |
| Live mint | `#63E2C2` | powered conductor/source |
| Terminal amber | `#FFC45C` | required endpoint, also shaped |
| Preview blue | `#73B7FF` | ghost footprint/dashed prospective flow |
| Fault coral | `#FF7B83` | blocked/invalid feedback only |
| Warm white | `#F4F7FA` | labels/icons |

Powered state must remain distinct in grayscale through bloom, line weight, and endpoint fill.

## Shape and material language

- Shutters: rounded rectangles, 12-16 px reference corner radius, 3:2 to 2:1 proportions.
- Hinges: short pill tabs integrated into one edge; never screws, bolts, rivets, or exposed hardware.
- Traces: 8-12 px monoline paths with rounded joins; no dense PCB micro-detail.
- Terminals: hollow geometric sockets that fill and pulse when powered.
- Material: opaque matte enamel/polymer with a shallow 6-10 px separation shadow. No paper grain,
  cardboard fold, wood, glassmorphism, metal grime, or photoreal texture.

## Typography and iconography

- Humanist geometric sans; candidate direction: rounded terminals, open counters, tabular numerals.
- Use sentence case. One weight for labels, one semibold weight for level/rule names.
- Icons are 2 px rounded-line symbols in 24 px boxes. Undo, restart, pause, sound, haptics, motion,
  and contrast must remain recognizable without labels but receive accessibility names.

## Motion and VFX

- Flip: 220-320 ms edge-axis squash/expand with face swap at midpoint; no perspective camera move.
- Preview: 120 ms ghost fade, dashed blue flow, coverage dim/brighten.
- Power: mint chase at constant speed, then steady soft halo; no sparks or particle storm.
- Completion: one board-wide synchronized pulse and a restrained 400 ms chord.
- Reduced motion: under-100 ms crossfade, static powered outline, no chase.

## Do / do not

Do show the two simultaneous consequences, readable hierarchy, real gameplay topology, and honest
mobile UI. Do not show origami pictures, independent pipe tiles, screw trays, botanical machines,
cyberpunk circuitry, isometric machinery, characters, coins, stars, reward chests, or UI text baked
into production sprites.

## Reference set

Generate three separate images with GPT Image 2:

1. gameplay master frame — authoritative composition, material, palette, and topology;
2. world-language sheet — shutters, traces, terminals, state and VFX examples on a neutral field;
3. UI-language frame — Home, Chapter Map, and Playing UI aligned to the master.

Generated UI is a visual reference only. Production UI must be reconstructed from components and
validated against the GDD/UX flow.