/higgsfield-character-design

name: higgsfield-character-design
description: "Pre-production story-and-character development for Higgsfield projects — the upstream layer that decides WHAT to prompt before any model runs. Use when the user wants to build a character, design a world, develop a story or premise, create a character sheet / character bible / story bible, lock a visual style or 'visual DNA', plan a multi-shot narrative with consistent characters, or says things like 'help me design a character', 'build the world', 'I need a backstory', 'make this character consistent across shots', 'develop my film/series concept', or 'I keep getting generic AI characters'. Routes the locked outputs into higgsfield-prompt + the right model. Adapted from Higgsfield's official character-design framework by @vavavinca."
user-invocable: true
metadata:
  tags: [higgsfield, character-design, story, worldbuilding, character-sheet, story-bible, visual-dna, pre-production, consistency, narrative]
  version: 1.3.0
  updated: 2026-09-26
  parent: higgsfield

Higgsfield Character Design — Story Bible

The rest of this skill library answers *"how do I prompt this?"* This skill answers the question upstream of it: *"what am I prompting, and why this and not generic AI slop?"* It is the pre-production layer — premise, world, character, story, and a locked visual style — that you build **before** writing a single generation prompt, then hand off to `higgsfield-prompt` and the model guides.

> **Attribution.** The framework, worksheet structure, and the "world first" method are adapted from Higgsfield's official *Character Design* materials by **@vavavinca**. We reuse the *schemas and method*; all examples here are original. Credit Vinca when sharing.

QUICK FACTS

*Routing aids — read the linked sections for the actual method.*

• **World first, always.** Lock the world before you cast a character; the world is the gravity that shapes who they have to become [→](#the-method-world-first)
• Six steps, each locks an output you do not revisit: Premise → World → Character → Story Spine → Style Sheet → hand-off [→](#the-method-world-first)
• The flagship artifact is the **9-Question Character Sheet** — thematic role, external/internal goal, psychological/moral need, wound, spark, silhouette, contradiction [→](#step-3--character-9-questions--the-web)
• The strongest anti-slop tool is the **Forbidden List** in the Style Sheet — naming what the world is NOT is often more useful than the palette [→](#step-5--style-sheet-visual-dna--forbidden-list)
• Specificity beats adjectives: if *any* character could say it, it's a stereotype; keep asking **"why?"** until the answer surprises you [→](#anti-generic-drills)
• Fillable worksheets live in `../../templates/character-design/` — hand them to the user or fill them together [→](#templates)
• Construction laws for the sheet as an artifact: **plain grey background** · creature sheets get **two close-ups (mouth open + closed)** · the **face-lock crop** · a **size-ref frame** for scale at extreme ratios no true landmark can express [FIELD] — grey and the one-face law are canonical in `../../templates/ad-asset-prep.md` [→](#sheet-construction-laws)
• Once the character **looks** right, don't jump to scenes — run a **screen test**: casting read → role options → playable lines → voice triggers → one audition prompt [EMPIRICAL] [→](#screen-test--audition)
• This skill produces inputs; it does **not** generate. Hand the locked Visual DNA + character sheet to `higgsfield-prompt` [→](#step-6--hand-off-to-generation)

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The method: world first

A world is **a system of constraints**. Decide what the world will not let a character do, and you have decided who they have to become. So the order is not negotiable — each step locks an output the later steps depend on, and you don't loop back to relitigate it:

1. PREMISE      one arguable sentence, no characters yet
2. WORLD        six dimensions, filled before anyone is cast
3. CHARACTER    9 questions + a relationship web
4. STORY SPINE  10–20 beats, "therefore / but", never "and then"
5. STYLE SHEET  palette + lighting + materials + a FORBIDDEN list (the Visual DNA)
6. HAND OFF     feed the locked sheets into higgsfield-prompt + a model

The failure mode this prevents is the common one: open Higgsfield → generate a cool image → realize there's no story or consistency → quit. Build the bible first; the image is the *receipt*, not the recipe.

If the user arrives mid-stream ("I already have a character"), don't force them back to step 1 — locate where they are, check the upstream outputs exist (a character with no world is the usual gap), and fill the missing layer.

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Step 1 — Premise

One sentence, **no character names**. It states an arguable claim about people or the world, not a plot. Four fields, then a pressure test (worksheet: `../../templates/character-design/premise.md`).

1. **Theme statement** — a claim, not a logline. *"Belonging is something you build, not something you're owed."* 2. **What it argues** — the testable belief. *"People who wait to be chosen stay invisible."* 3. **The counter-argument** — the opposing truth the story must honor, *or the theme is propaganda.* *"Some people are kept out no matter what they build."* 4. **Emotional promise** — one word + one line. *"Defiance — the thrill of a door forced open."*

**Pressure test (all five):** compresses to ONE sentence (no "and", no semicolon) · contains NO character names · is arguable · has a real counter-argument · names a feeling, not just an event.

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Step 2 — World Sheet (six dimensions)

Fill **all six** before casting anyone (worksheet: `../../templates/character-design/world-sheet.md`). Each answer must be specific and must not change when characters arrive.

| Dimension | The question it answers | Original example | |-----------|-------------------------|------------------| | **Physical** | Look, sound, smell, climate, geography, architecture | "A ti