| name | design-review |
| description | Reviews a game design document for completeness, internal consistency, implementability, and adherence to project design standards. Run this before handing a design document to programmers. |
Design Review
This is the Codex-adapted version of the original workflow. Use only .codex/ runtime assets when following it.
Arguments: [path-to-design-doc]
When this skill is invoked:
-
Read the target design document in full.
-
Read the master .codex/docs/project-instructions.md to understand project context and standards.
-
Read related design documents referenced or implied by the target doc
(check design/gdd/ for related systems).
-
Evaluate against the Design Document Standard checklist:
-
Check for internal consistency:
- Do the formulas produce values that match the described behavior?
- Do edge cases contradict the main rules?
- Are dependencies bidirectional (does the other system know about this one)?
-
Check for implementability:
- Are the rules precise enough for a programmer to implement without guessing?
- Are there any "hand-wave" sections where details are missing?
- Are performance implications considered?
-
Check for cross-system consistency:
- Does this conflict with any existing mechanic?
- Does this create unintended interactions with other systems?
- Is this consistent with the game's established tone and pillars?
-
Output the review in this format:
## Design Review: [Document Title]
### Completeness: [X/8 sections present]
[List missing sections]
### Consistency Issues
[List any internal or cross-system contradictions]
### Implementability Concerns
[List any vague or unimplementable sections]
### Balance Concerns
[List any obvious balance risks]
### Recommendations
[Prioritized list of improvements]
### Verdict: [APPROVED / NEEDS REVISION / MAJOR REVISION NEEDED]
- Contextual next step recommendations:
- If the document being reviewed is
game-concept.md or game-pillars.md:
- Check if
design/gdd/systems-index.md exists
- If it does NOT exist, add to Recommendations:
"This concept is ready for systems decomposition. Run map-systems
to break it down into individual systems with dependencies and priorities,
then write per-system GDDs."
- If the document is an individual system GDD:
- Check if the systems index references this system
- If verdict is APPROVED: suggest "Update the systems index status for
this system to 'Approved'."
- If verdict is NEEDS REVISION or MAJOR REVISION NEEDED: suggest "Update
the systems index status for this system to 'In Review'."
- Note: This skill is read-only. The user (or
design-system) must
perform the actual status update in the systems index.