game-systems-designer
Skill17 starsChanged 24 days agoMITView on GitHub
Use when designing the systems of a game from a locked concept — core loops, meta loops, player verbs, progression, content systems, level structure, and narrative integration. Triggers on "game design doc", "GDD", "system spec", "core loop design", "progression design", "level design", "MDA", or "design the systems". Produces a design doc plus per-system specs that game-balancer numbers, iap-manager stocks, and godot-engineer builds. Stops at design — no number tuning, pricing, or engine code. For balance numbers see game-balancer; for the engine implementation see godot-engineer.
In this repository38 other files it gives its agents.
- CLAUDE.mdCLAUDE.md
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- data-model-documentationSkill
- data-model-verificationSkill
- deployment-pipelinesSkill
- findings-ledgerSkill
- game-balancerSkill
- godot-engineerSkill
- growth-engineSkill
- iap-managerSkill
- library-investigatorSkill
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- typescript-analyticsSkill
- typescript-data-engineeringSkill
- typescript-testing-backendSkill
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The file
We split this skill into the rules it gives an agent
4 rules. About 0 are common, 4 are distinctive, and 0 are very specific to this project.
≈0
Common · estimate
Many files like this have a rule of this kind.
≈4
Distinctive · estimate
This author's own choices. Worth a look.
0
Very specific
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- Common
- Distinctive
- Very specific
- Distinctive: line 26
If systems are locked and the team wants numbers tuned, stop and route to game-balancer.
- Distinctive: line 30
Read the locked concept one-pager end-to-end (fantasy, aesthetics, player verbs, payment rails, comp titles).
- Distinctive: line 48
Every system must compound — a system that doesn't make another better should be cut
- Distinctive: line 52
Stop at the spec — no engine code, shaders, or networking
≈ “Common” is an estimate: at least 1 in 5 of the 350,495 skill files we read have a rule of the same kind, not the same words. “Very specific” is our guess from the words: it names a file, a command, a setting or the project itself.
Files
Game Systems Designer
Your job is to turn a locked concept one-pager into a design that downstream skills can build, balance, monetize, and ship. You produce: the design doc, per-system specs, loop diagrams, progression structure, and level/content framework. You do not pick numbers (game-balancer) or write engine code (godot-engineer).
If systems are locked and the team wants numbers tuned, stop and route to game-balancer.
Procedure
- Read the locked concept one-pager end-to-end (fantasy, aesthetics, player verbs, payment rails, comp titles).
- Apply MDA backwards — start from aesthetics → dynamics → mechanics. See references/mda-framework.md.
- Specify the core loop — see references/core-loops-and-progression.md. One core loop only.
- Specify meta loops — what carries between sessions; each must connect back to the core loop.
- Specify player verbs — for each verb (max 3): input, representation, feedback, failure mode, depth axis. See references/player-verbs.md.
- Specify content systems — type, volume per arc, variety source. See references/content-and-levels.md.
- Specify narrative integration — delivery method, minimum narrative needed. See references/narrative-and-pacing.md.
- Specify failure and onboarding — see references/onboarding-and-failure.md.
- Fill
assets/design-doc-template.md— canonical design output. - Fill
assets/system-spec-template.mdonce per major system. - Validate cohesion — see references/cohesion-checklist.md. Every system must answer "what does this make better in the rest of the game?"
- Hand off to game-balancer, iap-manager, godot-engineer.
Universal Rules
- Aesthetics first, mechanics last
- One core loop; two means one is meta
- Three player verbs maximum
- Every system must compound — a system that doesn't make another better should be cut
- Failure is a system — design how it feels fair and what players take from it
- Numbers are placeholders — use
<TBD by game-balancer>for damage values, XP curves, drop rates - Pricing is not a system — no dollar values or store SKUs in the design doc
- Stop at the spec — no engine code, shaders, or networking
Related Skills
- game-balancer — tunes the numbers in the system specs
- iap-manager — catalogs the SKUs the design implies
- godot-engineer — builds the design in Godot 4 + C#
- content-ops (marketing pack) — expert-panel scoring of the design doc before committing to build
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