Epic: Asset Management

[tyevco]

Overview

Create a centralized asset management system for loading, caching, and lifecycle management of game resources. Handles textures, audio, models, animations, and custom asset types.

Why Asset Management?

Currently, each plugin loads resources directly:

• Graphics: graphics.CreateTexture(path)
• Audio: audio.LoadClip(path)
• Animation: Load clips manually

Problems:

• Duplicate loading (same texture loaded twice)
• No reference counting (when to unload?)
• No async loading (frame hitches)
• No hot-reload support

Architecture

KeenEyes.Assets/                    # Single project
├── Core/                           # AssetManager, handles
├── Loaders/                        # Type-specific loaders
├── Caching/                        # Reference counting, LRU
└── Pipeline/                       # Async loading, streaming

Design Principles

1. Opaque handles - Assets identified by handles, not paths
2. Reference counting - Assets stay loaded while referenced
3. Async loading - Non-blocking loads with callbacks
4. Pluggable loaders - Register loaders for custom types
5. Hot-reload ready - Watch for file changes (dev mode)

Key Types

Type	Purpose
AssetHandle<T>	Type-safe reference to loaded asset
IAssetLoader<T>	Loads specific asset type
AssetManager	Central loading and caching
AssetRef<T>	Component-friendly asset reference

Deliverables

• #TBD - Create KeenEyes.Assets project

Success Criteria

• Load assets by path, get handle back
• Reference counting (auto-unload when unused)
• Async loading with progress callbacks
• Built-in loaders: textures, audio, models
• Custom loader registration
• Asset bundles for packaging
• Hot-reload in development mode
• No duplicate loads (caching)

[tyevco]

✅ Epic Complete - Asset Management fully implemented!

All deliverables complete:

• Create KeenEyes.Assets project #429 - KeenEyes.Assets project

Features implemented:

• Centralized AssetManager with typed handles
• Reference-counted caching with LRU policy
• Built-in loaders (Texture, Audio, Mesh, Raw)
• Async streaming with priority queue
• Hot reload for development
• ECS integration via AssetResolutionSystem