dm-game

Engagement loop design, pacing frameworks, the experience triangle, emotion layering, and meaningful choice evaluation. Use when designing core loops, evaluating why gameplay feels flat, structuring emotional arcs, or answering 'why isn't this fun?'

Economy tuning, progression math, transitive/intransitive systems, cost curves, and dominant strategy detection. Use when designing item stats, pricing systems, combat numbers, upgrade trees, or any system where game objects have numeric attributes that must relate fairly to each other.

This skill should be used when the user asks to "design a game mechanic", "evaluate gameplay feel", "tune game systems", "review player experience", "debug why something feels wrong", "balance combat", "design progression", or when working on any player-facing game feature. Provides a constraint system for evaluating mechanics with focus on player experience over feature completion.

Juice checklists, feedback loop tightening, screen shake/particles/sound timing, the perception-action cycle, and 'why does this feel bad?' diagnostics. Use PROACTIVELY when implementing player actions, combat hits, collectibles, UI transitions, or any moment where the player should *feel* something.

Optimize game code for per-frame performance and GC pressure. Use PROACTIVELY when editing game loops, update functions, render code, or any code that runs every frame. Identifies allocation anti-patterns and provides zero-allocation alternatives.

Bootstrap browser-based games with PixiJS 8 and a modern retro/vector aesthetic (Geometry Wars, Asteroids, Tempest, Tron). This skill should be used when the user asks to "create a new game", "start a browser game project", "build an arcade game", "prototype a game", "set up PixiJS", or mentions wanting vector graphics, neon aesthetics, or arcade-style gameplay. Provides project scaffolding, ECS-lite architecture, performance patterns (pooling, spatial hashing, fixed timestep), and visual design system.

Cognitive load management, perception/attention/memory framework, Gestalt principles for game UI, onboarding design, and accessibility checklists. Use when designing UI/HUD, writing tutorials, debugging 'confusing' feedback, evaluating accessibility, or when players can't figure out what to do.

Question generation for playtests, what to observe vs. ask, metrics to track, and how to interpret playtest data without confirmation bias. Use when planning a playtest session, designing a feedback survey, setting up analytics, or when you have playtest data and need to make decisions from it.

Difficulty curves, flow channel targeting, power curve math, unlock pacing, reward scheduling, and XP/level formulas. Use when designing level-up systems, tuning difficulty ramps, pacing content unlocks, implementing adaptive difficulty, or when players report 'too easy', 'too hard', or 'grindy'.