Scoring rule examples

Scoring rules game studios use, with wording to copy, the reference images to attach and what good, middling and poor look like for each.

Each rule below is a starting point. Paste the wording under What you're looking for, replace the specifics with your own, and calibrate it on assets your art director has already graded. See Set up scoring rules for a workspace or project for where to add them.

Protect IP and brand

IP clearance

Catches third-party marks and characters before an asset ships: a logo that crept into a generation, a franchise character, a real brand on a prop.

Contains nothing we have not cleared: no third-party logos, brand marks, insignia, readable trademarks or characters from other franchises. Our own crest and the marks in the reference images are fine.

Reference images: your own crest, logo and in-world brand marks, so the judge does not flag them. Scope and timing: workspace, On demand before hand-off, or Always on a project that receives vendor or outsourced art.

Good (80+): no marks, or only yours. Middling (50 to 79): an unidentified emblem or text the judge cannot place, worth a human look. Poor (below 50): a recognisable third-party logo or character.

Pair it with input guardrails, which stop a prompt or reference image before it generates: under AI Controls, Input Guardrails offers Copyright infringement, IP & trademark infringement and Artist style mimicry presets. Guardrails stop the request; this rule checks what came out. See Your prompt or image was blocked.

Licensed partner guidelines

For a collaboration or licensed character, where the licensor's style guide is the standard and approval is contractual.

Follows the partner's character guide: proportions, colours and costume as in the reference images; never shown injured, with weapons, or in our own characters' costumes; their logo only where the guide places it.

Reference images: the licensor's approved character sheets and key art. Scope and timing: the collaboration's project, Always, as the project's headline so the review queue sorts by it.

Brand safety for store and ad creative

For anything a platform or a parent will see before they install: store screenshots, ads, social posts.

Suitable for a 12+ store listing: no blood, gore or sexualised poses; no real-world weapons, alcohol or gambling imagery; no text that promises rewards the game does not give.

Reference images: approved ads from earlier campaigns. Scope and timing: the marketing project, Always. Keep a separate rule per age rating if you ship to several.

Hold the look

House style

The rule most studios make the workspace headline: does this look like our game?

Reads as our painted style: grounded realism, a muted earthy palette, soft studio light and visible brushwork. No cel shading, watercolour washes or photo textures.

Reference images: five to ten finished assets across subjects (characters, props, environments), all at shipping quality. Scope and timing: workspace, Always, starred as the headline.

Good: palette, lighting and finish match the references. Middling: the finish is right but one element drifts, such as a saturated colour or harder light. Poor: a different medium or style entirely.

Character on model

For a recurring hero, mascot or NPC that must stay recognisable across hundreds of assets.

The warden matches her turnaround: olive fur-lined parka with the hood down, dark braid, leather backpack, wooden staff in her right hand, brown boots.

Reference images: the character's turnaround and two or three approved renders. Scope and timing: the project the character belongs to, Always. One rule per character keeps the reasons specific.

Good: every listed detail present. Middling: one detail off, such as the staff in the wrong hand. Poor: a costume change or a different face, such as a purple parka on a character whose parka is olive.

A rule checks the result; a trained reference set helps produce it on model in the first place. See Reference sets.

World and biome consistency

For environment art, where each biome has its own palette and props.

Belongs to the Frostmarch biome: pale blue and grey palette, overcast light, pine and basalt, no tropical plants or warm sunlight.

Scope and timing: the season or zone's project, Always.

Check the craft

Clean render

Catches the defects a reviewer tires of spotting by eye.

Free of generation artefacts: correct hands and anatomy, no extra or fused limbs, no garbled text or symbols, no smeared faces, no seams or melted edges.

Scope and timing: workspace, Always. It needs no reference images.

Icon legibility

For UI icons, currency and items that are seen small.

Reads clearly at 64 pixels: one centred object with a strong silhouette, high contrast against a plain or transparent background, no fine detail or text.

Reference images: your shipped icon set. Scope and timing: the UI project, Always.

Ad layout

For creative that a channel crops or covers with its own interface.

Leaves the top fifth and bottom fifth clear of faces and text, keeps the character inside the centre square, and shows the logo once, bottom right.

Scope and timing: the campaign's project, On demand before export.

Video and 3D

Motion holds the model

Videos are judged over the whole clip.

The character stays on model for the whole clip, the camera stays locked, the background does not warp, and the last frame matches the first closely enough to loop.

Scope and timing: the project, Always on video work. Longer clips cost more to judge.

Game-ready silhouette

3D models are judged from their rendered preview, so the rule describes what that preview shows.

A single clean prop with a readable silhouette, no floating parts, no holes in the surface, and materials that match the stylised references.

Topology, polygon count and UVs are not visible in a preview, so check them in the mesh viewer or your engine.

Writing your own

• Describe what is visible. The judge sees the asset, not its prompt or file name.
• Say what passes and what fails. "No cel shading" gives the judge an edge to score against; "high quality" does not.
• One standard per rule. Split style, model accuracy and IP, so a low score names the problem.
• Let references carry the look. Words for what can be listed, images for what cannot be put into words.
• Calibrate. Score ten assets your art director has graded and adjust until the bands agree before setting a rule to Always.

Related

• Output scoring
• Set up scoring rules for a workspace or project
• Score an asset and read its scores
• Ship store art through an automated quality gate