game

Game Spice

Game design spice for Line Cook — MLP scoping, core loop frameworks, economy design, difficulty curves, content planning, mechanics palette, playtesting methodology, scenario walkthroughs, planning anti-patterns, and architecture auditing.

Quick Start

After installing Line Cook:

/plugin marketplace add smileynet/line-cook
/plugin install game@line-cook
/line:mise                                    # Plan a game

New here? See the tutorial for a complete walkthrough planning a roguelike dungeon crawler.

Update: /plugin update game

What It Looks Like

Here's a brainstorming session with game-spice active. The skills inject game-specific questions and frameworks automatically:

You: I want to make a roguelike dungeon crawler.

Claude: Let's explore that! First, some questions to shape the concept:

**What aesthetic are you targeting?**                     ← design-frameworks
MDA gives us 8 aesthetics. For a roguelike, the primary
candidates are Challenge, Discovery, and Sensation.
Which 1-2 resonate most?

You: Challenge and Discovery.

Claude: Good combo. Now let's nail the core loop:

**Can you describe your core loop in one sentence?**     ← scoping
Format: "Player [verbs] to [goal], earning [reward]
that enables [reinvestment]."

You: Player explores rooms to find loot, earning gear
     that enables deeper dungeon runs.

Claude: That's a clean loop. Let's browse mechanics
that could make exploration feel distinct:

**What movement style fits your vision?**                ← mechanics-palette
From the palette: grid-based, free movement,
auto-runner, teleport, grapple/swing...
Grid-based is classic roguelike. Free movement
opens real-time combat options.

You: Grid-based, turn-based.

Claude: Classic choice. For the economy:

**How complex should the resource system be?**           ← economy-design
┌─────────────────┬─────────────────────────────────┐
│ None            │ Pure action, no currency         │
│ Single resource │ Gold only — simple, clear        │
│ Dual currency   │ Gold + XP — spend vs grow        │
│ Full economy    │ Multiple interacting resources    │
└─────────────────┴─────────────────────────────────┘
For an MLP roguelike, dual currency is the sweet spot.

Each question comes from a different skill, but they flow as a natural conversation. Game-spice doesn't change what Line Cook does — it changes what Claude knows to ask about during planning.

When to Use

Use game-spice when:

• Planning a new game project with /line:mise
• Scoping an MLP and need to cut features ruthlessly
• Designing core loops, economies, or difficulty curves
• Implementing game systems (game loop, state machines, input handling)
• Reviewing game code for architecture issues
• Running /game:walkthrough to visualize player experience
• Auditing your plan for anti-patterns, completeness, or architecture issues

Skip it when:

• Building non-game software (game-spice only adds game concepts)
• Working on a game engine or tooling project (not game design)

Interactive Game Design

Game-spice includes an interactive design workflow that takes you from idea to implementation plan through structured conversation. Each phase builds on the previous one, with persistent state tracking and decision provenance throughout.

/game:start → /game:brainstorm → /game:simulate → /game:build-plan
    │              │                    │                  │
    │              │                    │                  └─ Design brief (or --full GDD)
    │              │                    └─ Wizard of Oz playtest
    │              └─ Concept definition
    └─ Session creation

Start a session, brainstorm your concept through natural conversation, prove the core loop works with an interactive simulation, then generate a design brief (or full GDD with --full). Use /game:status to check progress and /game:status --decisions to review the decision trail.

/game:walkthrough is a complementary tool — use it at any stage to stress-test your design by narrating the player experience.

Commands

Interactive Design Workflow