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Creature Generation Pipeline

WEFA uses a 2D+3D hybrid pipeline to generate unique creatures from the player's element choice and local environment.

Pipeline Stages​

1. Template Selection​

A base creature template is selected from the 9 Massiah creatures based on the player's element. Each template has:

  • Anatomy description and silhouette
  • Color palette and materials
  • Stage descriptors (Seed through Elder)
  • Reference image path

2. Trait Generation​

A serverless function (/api/creatures/traits) calls Claude API (Sonnet) with a three-layer prompt:

  • Layer 1 (immutable anchor): Template anatomy + silhouette constraints
  • Layer 2 (stage modifier): Stage-specific descriptors from the template
  • Layer 3 (environment adaptation): Biome colors, textures, and local flora

Returns: variant name, traits, signature move, lore, adapted colors, personality.

3. Image Generation​

A serverless function (/api/creatures/image) generates a 512x512 PNG sprite via image generation API (Flux/SDXL).

4. 3D Model Generation​

A serverless function (/api/creatures/model) starts a Meshy Image-to-3D task. The client polls every 5 seconds with a 180-second timeout.

Target: 15k triangles, PBR textures, GLB format.

5. Fallback​

On any failure at any stage, the system falls back to the seed pack — pre-generated creature data stored locally in src/data/creature-seeds.json.

Caching​

Creature assets are cached in Dexie's creatureAssets table:

  • Sprites: ~100KB per image
  • GLB models: ~2-5MB per model
  • Stored as Blobs, loaded via createObjectURL for R3F

iOS Safari has a ~50MB IndexedDB quota per origin. The cache manager monitors usage and evicts old assets.

Prompt Engineering​

The three-layer prompt system ensures:

  • Structural consistency: The creature always matches its template silhouette
  • Stage-appropriate detail: Seed-stage creatures are small and simple; Elder-stage are elaborate
  • Environmental uniqueness: Desert biome creatures have different coloring than rainforest ones
  • Meshy compatibility: Texture prompts stay under 600 characters

Key Files​

  • src/modules/creature-generator/prompt-builder.ts - Three-layer prompt system
  • src/modules/creature-generator/trait-service.ts - Claude API trait generation
  • src/modules/creature-generator/image-service.ts - Image generation
  • src/modules/creature-generator/meshy-service.ts - Meshy 3D model generation
  • src/modules/creature-generator/seed-pack.ts - Offline fallback
  • src/modules/creature-generator/cache.ts - IDB blob cache
  • src/machines/creatureGeneratorMachine.ts - Pipeline state machine