Activate at session start when using Agent Teams for complex multi-agent work. Establishes team lead role with delegation protocols, teammate spawning, model selection, and beads integration. You coordinate the team; teammates implement.
Initialize a new repository with standard scaffolding - git, gitignore, AGENTS.md, justfile, mise, beads, and timbers. Use when starting a new project or setting up an existing repo for Claude Code workflows.
Use when designing any player-facing feature, evaluating a game for accessibility, responding to accessibility feedback, designing difficulty or assist options, adding subtitle/caption systems, implementing input remapping, or when a player reports they can't play. Covers the four accessibility pillars (visual, auditory, motor, cognitive), implementation tiers, colorblind design, subtitle standards, input accessibility, and testing methodology. Accessibility is a design discipline, not a post-launch checklist.
Engagement loop design, pacing frameworks, the Experience Triangle (mechanics + dynamics + aesthetics), emotion layering across a session, and evaluating whether choices feel meaningful. Use when designing the core loop, structuring an emotional arc across 5-30 min sessions, debugging 'feels flat' or 'feels samey' play, evaluating whether decisions matter, planning peaks and valleys of intensity, or when playtesters describe sessions as 'fine but forgettable.' Sits one level above game-design (mechanic-level) and one below game-vision (north-star-level).
Numeric balance across game objects with stats — cost curves, transitive vs intransitive systems, dominant strategy detection, sandbagging signals, and anti-degenerate-strategy levers. Use when designing item or weapon stats, pricing storefronts, combat damage/HP/range numbers, upgrade trees, character classes, faction asymmetry, or anywhere two objects have numeric attributes that should relate fairly. Apply when playtesters say 'X is just better,' 'one path always wins,' or 'I never use Y.' Pairs with economy-design (currency flow) and progression-systems (curves over time).
The mechanic-level evaluation toolkit — apply the 5-Component Framework (Clarity, Motivation, Response, Satisfaction, Fit) to any individual mechanic. Use when designing or evaluating a single mechanic, reviewing whether a feature pulls its weight, debugging why a specific action feels off, comparing alternative implementations of the same mechanic, or doing a first-pass critique on a player-facing feature. For session-level pacing or emotional arcs see experience-design; for moment-to-moment juice see game-feel; for system-of-systems interactions see systems-design. This skill is the per-mechanic lens.
Juice, feedback layering, screen shake/particles/sound timing, the perception-action cycle, and 'why does this feel bad?' diagnostics. Use when implementing player actions, combat hits, collectibles, UI transitions, weapon impacts, jumps, dashes, or any moment where the player should *feel* something; when a mechanic functionally works but feels mushy, slow, or unsatisfying; or when playtesters say 'it's missing something.' Covers timing reference numbers (frames per response phase), feedback channels (visual/audio/haptic/screen), and the diagnostic ladder for feel problems.
Per-frame performance and GC-pressure optimization for JS/TS game code. Use when editing game loops, update functions, render passes, physics steps, particle systems, or any code that runs every frame; when diagnosing jank, frame drops, or stuttering; when allocations show up in flame graphs; or when the user mentions frame budget, hot paths, or 'feels janky'. Identifies common allocation anti-patterns (spread in loops, .map/.filter chains in update, closures captured per frame) and provides pooled / pre-allocated alternatives.