Split Decision — deck icon brief (six new decks)
3 Oct 2026. Six icons for the decks added on 3 Oct. They join the seven in Image-Assets/Phone-Games/Split-Decision/split_decision_handoff_supplement_v2/deck_icons/ and must read as the same set.
1. Deliverables
| Deck (as titled in the game) | File name |
|---|---|
| COMMA / SEMICOLON | split_decision_deck_icon_comma_semicolon_256.png |
| COLON / NO COLON | split_decision_deck_icon_colon_256.png |
| HAS / HAVE | split_decision_deck_icon_has_have_256.png |
| NEITHER / NOR | split_decision_deck_icon_neither_nor_256.png |
| ITS · THEIR · THERE | split_decision_deck_icon_possessives_256.png |
| TRANSITIONS | split_decision_deck_icon_transitions_256.png |
Delivered 3 Oct and installed in split_decision_handoff_supplement/deck_icons/, the folder the import reads (the _v2 copy is not tracked).
2. File format
- PNG, RGBA, 256 × 256 px, one icon per file.
- Same construction as the existing seven: - a near-black rounded-square tile filling the canvas, with about 8–14 px of transparent margin and a slightly lighter rim - one flat gold glyph centered on the tile.
- Keep the whole glyph at least 14 px inside the tile's edge. The import drops everything in the outer 14 px band, so anything there is lost.
3. How the import treats the art
tools/phone-games/split_decision_art.py turns each icon into the shipped glyph. Knowing what it does explains the rules below.
- Grades gold to silver. Every gold, amber and brass tone becomes a cool silver, so draw in gold as the existing set does. Avoid colors other than gold; the game shows only the glyph's shape and lightness.
- Drops the tile. Pixels darker than about 22 % brightness become transparent, and those up to about 42 % fade out. The tile has to be near-black, and the glyph has to stay well above 42 % brightness everywhere.
- Cuts out dark detail inside the glyph. Shadows, outlines and engraved lines inside the glyph turn into holes. The column's flutes in the existing set are holes for this reason. Use that deliberately or not at all.
- Crops to the glyph with a small margin, so the tile's size and position don't matter.
4. How it appears in the game
- Each icon sits at the left of a deck row: 26 pt square on most phones, 22 pt on small ones. That is 66–78 px on screen.
- The game tints it: silver when the row isn't selected and white when it is. Any color the glyph carries is lost, so the shape alone has to identify the deck.
- At 26 pt, one point is about 10 px of the 256 px source. Details thinner than about 8 px at 256 px disappear.
5. Style rules (from the existing seven)
- One object, a heraldic or medieval thing to match the Reigns-style pack: quill, scales, crown, column, crossed swords. The figure (who/whom) and the bar chart (linear/exponential) are the two exceptions, and both stay flat and simple.
- Silhouette first. It reads as a solid shape with at most two or three cutouts.
- No letters, words or punctuation marks. None of the seven uses type, and a drawn "; " or ":" would read as text on a 22 pt icon.
- Flat fill, little or no gradient, no drop shadow. The set's subtle bevel is optional.
- Distinct from the seven and from each other at 22 pt. Until these land, the new decks borrow existing icons (the quill twice, the figure twice, the swords, the column), so each new glyph must not repeat those shapes.
- Fills the inner area about as fully as the existing glyphs do (roughly 60–75 % of the tile's width or height), so the rows look even.
6. Suggested subjects (yours to change)
| Deck | Suggestion | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Comma / Semicolon | An inkwell with a quill standing in it | Writing, but not the comma deck's lone feather |
| Colon / No colon | A scroll partly unrolled | A colon opens onto what follows |
| Has / Have | A shield | One body made of many: the collective noun |
| Neither / Nor | A signpost with two arms | Two subjects, one verb chooses between them |
| Its · Their · There | A key | Ownership |
| Transitions | An arched stone bridge | Carries one sentence to the next |
7. What happens when they land
Claude adds the six to the import script's deck map, runs the grade (it must report guard PASS: nothing within 40 of amber #E8A33D after grading), checks each glyph at 22 pt and 26 pt in silver and white, and swaps the borrowed icons out in the game.