IAmCosmin-YT/emotion-factory-devlog-shorts

Reference-led gaming Shorts

Make the mechanic, joke, and payoff readable on a phone. The user's current preference is conversational Vedinad-inspired storytelling, Ezra narration, downloaded green-screen or black-background video effects, Myinstants SFX, and restrained smooth motion. This is a creative direction, not a guarantee of engagement or a fixed template for every game.

Start with evidence

Read the relevant existing project and user feedback before drafting. Identify which clips, mechanics, assets, and reference observations are verified. Use the selected creator's actual video; inspect its entire frame sequence in paged contact sheets, then examine the transitions and motion at native cadence. Frame sheets alone do not establish playback smoothness, sound, or retention.

Read creator-breakdowns.md for the reference library, and hook-and-retention-loops.md for story decisions. Distinguish directly observed frames from stylistic interpretations. Do not turn the old Yapper/Listener example, its statistics, or its timestamps into requirements for a new concept.

Story, voice, and recording

• Write a concrete experiment with a visible outcome: curiosity/problem, necessary setup, escalating test, payoff, brief sign-off. Use connected spoken clauses and a developer's specific observation. Read it aloud when possible; remove phrases that could advertise any game.
• When the user requests a viewer-comment opening, use that format rather than silently replacing it with a self-addressed developer question. Use a real supplied comment for an actual viewer report. If the user explicitly authorizes a fictional draft, use a clearly labeled comment mockup throughout its screen time; its example identity and wording must not be presented as real feedback. Without either basis, use the developer's own experiment. Never invent earnings, completed tests, or actual bug reports.
• Target length follows the story and actual voice take. Roughly 115–145 words can fit a 35–45-second Short, but measure the take rather than padding or accelerating it to satisfy a quota.
• Ezra — Confident & Engaging Conversationalist at approximately 1.08 is the user's preferred ElevenLabs voice. Verify the selected voice and speed in the supported incorporated browser before generating. Keep the original take and log settings. See sound-design-and-audio.md.
• Record distinct purposeful views of setup, action, result, escalation, and reaction. Plan enough coverage; do not impose an arbitrary cut or angle count. Protect launch/landing endpoints, stat cards, and payout headroom. See pacing-and-timeline.md.
• For public Roblox projects, establish a verified no-save filming mode before Play, stage runtime-only changes, stop afterward, restore any Edit settings, and verify clean Edit mode. Do not publish filming changes. A client flag alone is not proof that server saves are disabled.

Source assets before building effects

Read sourced-assets-and-compositing.md whenever sourcing or layering an effect.

• Prefer actual downloaded creator/stock video effects over generated explosions, drawn starbursts, synthetic film frames, and homemade imitations. Search YouTube and download selected clips with yt-dlp; this is the user's preferred workflow. Prefer native 9:16 black-background recording overlays for portrait Shorts and composite with Screen. Use creator download links or stock alternatives if the YouTube asset is unsuitable or unavailable. Download usable media, not search thumbnails or watermarked previews.
• For this user's cartoon bursts, explosions, smoke, and energetic transition requests, actively source green-screen video effects through YouTube/yt-dlp, key and despill them, and place them in the edit. Merely deleting the generated substitute does not fulfill a requested green-screen replacement. Preview a burst behind the comment and a motivated transition/reveal accent when suitable; avoid covering the comment or the mechanic's decisive proof. Do not impose an effect quota on every Short.
• Myinstants is the first search source for the user's meme/impact/reaction SFX. Download individual MP3s; there is no need to install its app. Use Pixabay or another library where its sound fits better. Popularity or a download button does not establish reuse permission; record what the source actually says.
• Maintain a project asset manifest with source page, creator, local original, usage/credit status, source trim, blend/key settings, and timeline use. Do not ship third-party source media inside the reusable skill unless its redistribution terms allow it.
• No forced sound or effect on every cut. Source an explosion only when its timing and joke justify one; keep narration intelligible.

Motion and compositing

Read pacing-and-timeline.md and kinetic-subtitles.md before rendering.

• Static shots are valid. Use a single deliberate push, pan, or punch when it directs attention. Do not add continuous zoom to every shot, compound a push over an already moving camera, or shake the whole edit.
• Use fractional-pixel affine sampling with a stable floating-point camera path; do not animate by rounding crop rectangles to integers. Keep source timing deterministic. Check adjacent native frames and normal-speed playback for jitter.
• Remove synthetic top banners and the SLOW-MOTION REPLAY pill/label. For a replay, use a downloaded camcorder/VHS recording-frame video with REC/corners/timecode. For black-background footage use Screen; for green footage key and despill, then alpha-composite or convert to black for Screen. Keep the action and captions clear. A REC frame is a stylistic cue, not proof that viewers understand slow motion: use the spoken setup/visual continuity to establish it.
• Preserve graphic proportions. Reposition separate corner/HUD panels for portrait if necessary, rather than stretching a landscape recording frame or cropping away all four corners. Keep noise/tracking restrained enough to see the cube path.
• Keep truthful gameplay/stat/code proof readable. Captions follow the actual take, not a generic template. No fake money or source code presented as a screenshot.

Review and delivery

Use production-tools.md for reusable helpers and export checks. Existing hardcoded render scripts are legacy examples; do not run them unchanged over the user's output.

1. Inspect the hook every 0.25 seconds, the full export every 1.5 seconds, and every native frame around edits, overlays, and camera problems using scripts/inspect_video.py. Inspect keyed edges on light and dark backgrounds.
2. Play the actual export at normal speed when the environment supports playback/listening. Report what was actually reviewed. Silence/static sheets/ASR cannot prove sound quality or motion smoothness.
3. Verify caption timing, no collisions, complete action paths, overlay cadence, no green/black rectangles or watermarks, SFX transient timing, and no narration masking. Decode the whole file and check audio peaks/loudness.
4. If the user authorized an outside reviewer such as Antigravity, send the actual cut and review frames with specific questions. Require timestamped evidence and a statement of what was opened/heard. Use editorial judgment; do not obey suggestions that contradict user preferences. Distinguish the version reviewed from later revisions.
5. Deliver the playable video, editable project/timeline, asset provenance, and material review limitations. Confirm Studio cleanup when recording was involved. Do not call a contact-sheet pass a full listening or frame-by-frame playback review.