# 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.

## How assets get from a pack into the game

`assetpacks/` carries a `.gdignore`, so Godot skips it entirely — nothing there
can be referenced from a scene or script. Files are copied into `res://assets/`
in game-ready form, and only then imported. The tree is 3.9 GB and
`tools/check.sh` runs `--import`, which would otherwise walk all of it every run.

What is in the game today totals **548 KB** across seven files: three sprite
sheets and four sounds. Sprite rects and sound paths are all declared in one
place, [src/view/art.gd](../src/view/art.gd), and
`tests/unit/test_art.gd` asserts every rect lands inside its texture — a wrong
atlas coordinate does not error, it silently draws the wrong pixels.

## Licence findings

Checked against each pack's itch.io page. **Two of the four forbid
redistribution**, which is what publishing a repository containing them would
be — so they are not in the repository.

| Pack | Licence | Commercial | Credit | In this repo? |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [0x72 DungeonTileset II](https://0x72.itch.io/dungeontileset-ii) | **CC0 1.0** (public domain) | Yes | Not required | **Yes** — `assets/sprites/dungeon_tileset.png` |
| [Helton Yan Pixel Combat](https://heltonyan.itch.io/pixelcombat) | **CC BY 4.0** | Yes | **Required** | **Yes** — `assets/audio/sfx/` |
| [Fire Pixel Bullet 16x16](https://bdragon1727.itch.io/fire-pixel-bullet-16x16) | Custom | **Non-commercial only** unless you contribute | Encouraged | **No** — local only |
| [750+ Effect and FX Pixel All](https://bdragon1727.itch.io/750-effect-and-fx-pixel-all) | Custom | **Non-commercial only** unless you contribute | Encouraged | **No** — local only |

### The blocking clause

Both bdragon1727 packs state, verbatim:

> **You cannot do:** Resell / redistribute this asset.

And the paid tier of the FX pack is no better for this purpose:

> You can NOT re-distribute the file, no matter how much you modify it you can
> use it but not share or re-sell it.

Putting those files in a public repository distributes them to everyone who
clones it, which is squarely what that forbids. Paying for the commercial tier
does **not** unlock it — the restriction survives payment and survives
modification.

So they live in `assets/local/`, which is gitignored. `Art.bullets_texture()`
and `Art.impact_texture()` load them at runtime if present and return null if
not; the bullet renderer falls back to a generated dot. Verified both ways: with
the files present the game uses them, and with them hidden the suite still
passes 156/156 and the game runs.

This is also why nothing there may be `preload()`ed — `preload` resolves at
compile time and would fail the build on every machine that lacks the files.

### Two obligations this creates

1. **Helton Yan's CC BY 4.0 requires attribution**, and it is not satisfied by
   a file in the source tree once the game ships. Players need to be able to
   see it. [CREDITS.md](../CREDITS.md) records it for now; an in-game credits
   screen is a todo.
2. **Both bdragon packs are non-commercial in their free tier.** The stated
   goal is a Steam release. Before that happens they need either a paid
   contribution to bdragon1727 (which permits commercial use but still not
   redistribution) or replacement with CC0 art. A CC0 replacement solves both
   problems at once and lets the assets go back in the repo.

### Not in use

`assetpacks/considering_dont_use_yet/` is the "not chosen" marker and nothing
there is referenced. It contains RF Catacombs v1.0 (public domain per its
bundled `public-license.txt` — free for personal or commercial use, credit
appreciated, no reselling; artwork by Szadi art), plus Tiny RPG Character Pack
02 and neo_zero demos, whose terms are unrecorded.

## 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.