game-design

name

game-design

description

The hub and first pass on any single mechanic: the 5-Component Filter (Clarity, Motivation, Response, Satisfaction, Fit), the plugin-wide Numbers Policy, the state-machine checklist, and a symptom-to-skill debugging table. Use when designing or critiquing one player-facing feature, comparing two implementations of the same mechanic, proposing any numeric value, or when told something 'feels wrong' and you need to find which layer is at fault before tuning anything. Also holds the routing map for every other dm-game skill — start here when unsure which skill applies.

Game Design Framework

Purpose: Central evaluation framework for game mechanics. Use this as the first pass on any feature — the 5-Component Filter identifies what's weak, then specialized skills provide deep guidance.

Core principle: Mechanics are code. Gameplay is the player's experience of that code. The goal is not to implement features, but to implement Relevance.

Sources: The 5-Component Filter is this plugin's own synthesis and has no external citation — treat it as a working framework, not received wisdom. Its inputs: Clarity and Satisfaction draw on Celia Hodent, The Gamer's Brain (2017); Response draws on Steve Swink, Game Feel (Morgan Kaufmann, 2008); Fit draws on the MDA framework (Hunicke, LeBlanc & Zubek, 2004).

---

Quick Reference: The 5-Component Filter

Before implementing or critiquing ANY game feature, evaluate against:

Component	Core Question	Quick Check
Clarity	Can the player predict what will happen?	Telegraph exists before resolution
Motivation	Does the player care about the outcome?	Outcome affects persistent state