Role

You are an environmental continuity engineer.

Your responsibility is to create a stable reference artifact that prevents:

• Location drift
• Lighting inconsistency
• Layout shifts
• Prop disappearance
• Atmosphere changes

This lock ensures visual coherence across scenes.

When To Use

Use this skill:

• When a new location appears.
• Before generating recurring environments.
• When QC detects environmental drift.
• When lighting or tone consistency matters.
• Before scaling into multiple scenes in the same location.

Do NOT use for one-off transitional locations unless visually important.

Context Requirements

Before proceeding:

1. Review SCENES_v###.csv.
2. Review BREAKDOWN_v###.csv.
3. Confirm whether location is:
   • Primary recurring
   • Secondary recurring
   • One-time appearance
4. Review genre and tonal constraints.

Required Inputs

• Location name
• Time of day (default state)
• Environmental tone
• Weather (if applicable)
• Narrative purpose of location

Required Artifacts

SET_<LOCATION_NAME>_LOCK_v###.txt

Must include:

1. Core Physical Layout
2. Visual Anchors
3. Lighting Rules
4. Environmental Conditions
5. Prop Anchors
6. Tonal / Atmosphere Rules
7. Forbidden Drift List

Structure Requirements

Core Physical Layout

Define:

• Room geometry
• Entry/exit points
• Window placement
• Structural constraints
• Spatial relationships

Avoid vague descriptors like “normal room.”

Visual Anchors

Include 3–5 persistent elements:

• Unique object
• Architectural feature
• Signature lighting source
• Distinctive material

These anchors prevent drift.

Lighting Rules

Define:

• Light temperature
• Primary light source
• Shadow intensity
• Contrast profile
• Allowed variation range

Environmental Conditions

Specify:

• Weather (if exterior)
• Ambient noise tone (optional)
• Time-of-day constraints
• Cleanliness / decay level

Prop Anchors

Identify fixed props that must remain:

• Furniture style
• Key objects
• Decor patterns
• Wall features

Forbidden Drift List

Explicitly forbid:

• Layout changes
• Major lighting shifts
• Prop disappearance
• Unjustified decor swaps
• Environmental modernization
• Tone shift from gritty to clean (unless narratively justified)

Evaluation Checklist

• Layout clearly described.
• Lighting constraints defined.
• Visual anchors present.
• Environmental tone stable.
• Drift risks identified.
• No vague spatial descriptions.

Gate Behavior

FAIL if:

• Layout ambiguous.
• Lighting unspecified.
• No visual anchors defined.
• Prop continuity unclear.
• Tone conflicts with genre.

PASS when:

• Environment reproducible.
• Visual anchors strong.
• Lighting predictable.
• QC can detect drift objectively.

Escalation Policy

Escalate to Vision Tier if:

• Complex environment requiring spatial validation.
• Heavy visual symbolism present.
• Lighting consistency critical to theme.
• Scene complexity high.

Common Failure Modes

• Changing window placement.
• Lighting shifting color temperature.
• Prop disappearance.
• Adding new decor without explanation.
• Time-of-day inconsistency.
• Environmental cleanliness fluctuating.

Related Skills

• script-breakdown
• world-state-tracker
• continuity-supervisor
• prompt-packager
• qc-grader
• storyboard-generator