gamestack

Use when keeping AI-authored or procedurally-generated content coherent at scale — single voice across a corpus, a machine-readable lore bible with a "never violate" list, generate-then-rationalize causation, recurring thematic domains so generated figures cohere into arcs, the oatmeal/sameness problem, and the self-review pass that flags drift and duplication. The crux skill for headless / AI-authored games. Triggers on "AI-authored content", "keep it coherent", "single voice", "lore bible", "the LLM contradicts itself", "10,000 bowls of oatmeal", "generated content feels samey", "self-review pass", "narrative consistency at scale".

Use when making design-level (not asset-production) decisions about how a game looks and reads — readability vs. fidelity, silhouette design, value/contrast as eye-direction, reserved signal colors, visual-language consistency, and how an AI engine keeps a coherent house style across generated content. Triggers on "art direction", "readability", "silhouette", "signal color", "yellow paint", "visual hierarchy", "style guide", "make it readable", "stylization vs realism", "how should the game look".

Use when designing, tuning, or reviewing combat and game feel — juice/feedback budgets, hit-stop and impact, telegraphing and danger cues, enemy silhouettes and role-based rosters, multi-enemy readability, encounter pacing, and high-lethality (Souls-like) commitment/stamina/checkpoint loops. Also use to diagnose combat that feels floaty, noisy, unfair, swarmy, or like a memorization "knowledge check". Triggers on "combat design", "game feel", "juice", "hit-stop", "screen shake", "telegraph", "wind-up", "readability", "enemy design", "encounter design", "aggression", "gank", "stamina", "souls-like", "lethality", "this death felt cheap", "combat feels floaty".

The platform router for the gamestack framework. Use when a game's design is ready to implement, when the target engine is chosen or needs choosing, or when handing off a spec to engine code — "build this in Godot/Unity/Unreal/Three.js", "which engine", "now implement it", "wire the design to code". Routes design phases to gamestack's foundation skills and implementation to the matching engine pack (godot, unreal, unity). Engine-agnostic itself; it decides where work goes.

The foundational design discipline — the spine the rest of the pack cross-links to. Use when judging whether a mechanic is fun, auditing a system for balance, designing difficulty/flow, setting reward schedules, checking player motivation, or diagnosing "my choices don't matter" / "this is grindy" / "this difficulty spike feels cheap". Covers interesting decisions (Sid Meier), flow & difficulty curves, intrinsic/extrinsic motivation (Self-Determination Theory), feedback & agency, and choice architecture. Triggers on "is this fun", "interesting decision", "dominant strategy", "balance this", "difficulty curve", "flow", "reward schedule", "player motivation", "fake choice", "analysis paralysis", "one more turn".