diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index c318b1c..d0bf673 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -1,5 +1,14 @@
 # Godot's import cache and editor state. Regenerated by `godot --import`.
 .godot/
+# Raw asset packs: gigabytes of source artwork and audio. Redistributable
+# third-party material belongs where it was bought or downloaded, not in a code
+# repo. The directory itself and its guards stay tracked, so a fresh clone has
+# the .gdignore in place before anyone drops packs back in -- without it the
+# next `tools/check.sh` tries to import the lot.
+/assetpacks/*
+!/assetpacks/.gdignore
+!/assetpacks/README.md
+
 # Export artefacts.
 build/
 *.pck
diff --git a/assetpacks/.gdignore b/assetpacks/.gdignore
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e69de29
diff --git a/assetpacks/README.md b/assetpacks/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..fef3ce3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/assetpacks/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,32 @@
+# Raw asset packs
+
+Source material as downloaded: unedited, uncropped, and mostly unused. **Not in
+git** — this directory is gigabytes, and the contents are redistributable
+artwork and audio that belong wherever you bought or downloaded them, not in a
+code repository. Only this README and the `.gdignore` beside it are tracked, so
+a fresh clone has the guard in place before anyone drops packs back in.
+
+## Why `.gdignore`
+
+Godot's importer walks everything under `res://`. Without the `.gdignore` here,
+`tools/check.sh` — which runs `--import` — would try to import several thousand
+PNGs and 2,100 studio-master WAVs on the next run, and every run after it. The
+`.gdignore` makes the engine skip this tree entirely: nothing here is imported,
+nothing lands in `.godot/imported/`, and nothing reaches an export.
+
+The cost of that is the point: **files here cannot be referenced from a scene or
+script.** Godot does not know they exist.
+
+## Getting an asset into the game
+
+Copy the specific files you need into `res://assets/`, converted to something
+game-ready first. That directory *is* imported and *is* committed, so it stays
+small and every file in it is one the game actually uses.
+
+Audio in particular needs conversion. The Helton Yan pack is 24-bit / 96 kHz
+stereo — studio masters, averaging ~2 MB for a single gunshot. Ship 16-bit /
+44.1 kHz mono for SFX unless something specifically needs better.
+
+Attribution and licence status for every pack is recorded in
+[docs/ASSETS.md](../docs/ASSETS.md). Keep it current — the licence files
+themselves are not in git, because the packs are not.
diff --git a/assets/README.md b/assets/README.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..ec19961
--- /dev/null
+++ b/assets/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,17 @@
+# Game-ready assets
+
+Assets the game actually references. Committed, imported by Godot, and expected
+to stay small.
+
+Everything here should already be in its final form: cropped, atlased where it
+helps, audio downsampled to something sane for a game. Raw packs live in
+[`assetpacks/`](../assetpacks/README.md), which Godot ignores and git does not
+track.
+
+The split exists so that adding a 3.9 GB pack of source material costs the
+repository and the import step nothing, while the handful of files the game
+loads stay reviewable.
+
+Nothing is here yet — the game currently draws itself from primitives and one
+runtime-generated dot texture ([src/view/bullet_renderer.gd](../src/view/bullet_renderer.gd)).
+Art is Stage 2 of [docs/ROADMAP.md](../docs/ROADMAP.md).
diff --git a/docs/ASSETS.md b/docs/ASSETS.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..9cafa6c
--- /dev/null
+++ b/docs/ASSETS.md
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+# Asset packs and attribution
+
+The packs themselves are **not in git** (see
+[`assetpacks/README.md`](../assetpacks/README.md)), which means their bundled
+licence files are not either. This file is the record that survives. Keep it
+current when a pack is added or removed.
+
+## Why nothing is imported yet
+
+`assetpacks/` carries a `.gdignore`, so Godot skips it entirely. Nothing there
+can be referenced from a scene or script until it is copied into
+`res://assets/` in game-ready form. That is deliberate: the tree is 3.9 GB, and
+`tools/check.sh` runs `--import`, which would otherwise walk all of it on every
+run.
+
+## Packs
+
+| Pack | Size | Intended use | Licence |
+| --- | --- | --- | --- |
+| 0x72 Dungeon Tileset II v1.7 | 1.6 MB | Dungeon tiles — maps to the `MapGrid.Kind` tiles the generator already emits | **Unrecorded.** Bundled README is technical, not legal. Widely distributed as CC0 by Robert Norenberg (0x72), but confirm at the source before shipping. |
+| Effect and FX Pixel All Free | 29 MB | Hit flashes, muzzle flashes, death effects | **Unrecorded** — no licence file in the pack. |
+| Helton Yan's Pixel Combat | 3.9 GB | Combat SFX | **Unrecorded** — no licence file in the pack. |
+| New All Fire Bullet Pixel 16x16 | 360 KB | Bullet sprites, to replace the generated dot in `bullet_renderer.gd` | **Unrecorded** — no licence file in the pack. |
+| `considering_dont_use_yet/` — RF Catacombs v1.0 | part of 1.6 MB | Undecided | **Public domain**, per bundled `public-license.txt`. "Free to use, personal or commercial. Credit not required but appreciated. You can edit, but not resell the asset pack." Artwork by Szadi art. |
+| `considering_dont_use_yet/` — Tiny RPG Character Pack 02, neo_zero v1.0 / 3.0 demo | part of 1.6 MB | Undecided | **Unrecorded.** |
+
+### Action needed before shipping anything
+
+Four of the six packs arrived with no licence text at all. Redistribution terms
+for pixel-art and audio packs vary a lot — some free packs forbid commercial
+use, some require credit, and "free demo" versions (two of the undecided packs
+are demos) are often more restricted than the paid ones.
+
+Record the source URL and terms for each **Unrecorded** row above before any of
+it goes into a build. The `considering_dont_use_yet/` packs are the user's own
+"not chosen yet" marker; leave them there until that changes.
+
+## Converting audio before use
+
+Helton Yan's pack is 24-bit / 96 kHz stereo — studio masters, averaging ~2 MB
+per file and 5 MB at the largest. That is roughly a hundred times what a game
+needs for a gunshot.
+
+Downsample to 16-bit / 44.1 kHz mono before copying anything into
+`res://assets/`. Godot imports `.wav` losslessly and keeps it in memory
+uncompressed for low-latency playback, so the source format is what you pay for
+in RAM and in export size.
+
+## Where converted assets go
+
+`res://assets/`, which is committed and imported. See
+[`assets/README.md`](../assets/README.md). Art is Stage 2 in
+[ROADMAP.md](ROADMAP.md); everything currently on screen is drawn from
+primitives plus one runtime-generated dot texture.
diff --git a/docs/ROADMAP.md b/docs/ROADMAP.md
index 41a38ca..abb25e3 100644
--- a/docs/ROADMAP.md
+++ b/docs/ROADMAP.md
@@ -4,6 +4,9 @@
 brief to its current state and the files that implement it, so you can find the
 relevant code without re-reading the whole project.
 
+Art and audio source packs, and their licence status, are recorded in
+[ASSETS.md](ASSETS.md) — the packs themselves are not in git.
+
 Design decisions that are already settled — and the reasoning behind them — live
 in [DECISIONS.md](DECISIONS.md). Check there before asking the user something
 that may already have an answer.