Game Design Audit

Record findings for use in all subsequent phases. Continue immediately to Phase 2.

============================================================ PHASE 2: ECONOMY ANALYSIS (/game-economy)

Follow the instructions defined in the /game-economy skill exactly. Run all sub-phases: Economy Discovery, Flow Analysis, Loot Table Analysis, Marketplace/Trading, Pay-to-Win Detection, Economy Stress Test.

Analyze using Phase 1 context:

• Currency inventory: hard currency, soft currency, premium currency, energy systems — identify every resource
• Source/sink mapping: where does each currency enter and leave the economy? Are sinks strong enough to prevent inflation?
• Economy pacing vs. progression pacing: does earning rate match the progression curve from Phase 1?
• Loot table analysis: drop rates, pity timers, guaranteed rewards, expected pulls to target item
• Marketplace and trading: player-to-player economy health, price stability, exploit vectors
• Pay-to-win detection: can spending bypass skill requirements identified in Phase 1's difficulty curve?

Record findings. Continue immediately to Phase 3.

============================================================ PHASE 3: BALANCE TESTING (/balance-test)

Follow the instructions defined in the /balance-test skill exactly. Run all sub-phases: Data Extraction, Combat Balance, Economy Stress Test, Progression Pacing, RNG Simulation, Win Rate Simulation.

Use mathematical simulation, not opinion:

• Combat balance: extract stats from code, compute DPS/TTK/EHP for all units/weapons/characters, identify outliers
• Economy stress test: simulate economy flow rates from Phase 2 over 30/60/90 day player lifetimes — does inflation occur?
• Progression pacing simulation: model time-to-milestone for casual, average, and hardcore player profiles against Phase 1 curve
• RNG simulation: Monte Carlo simulation of loot drops from Phase 2 tables — verify advertised rates match implementation
• Win rate simulation: model matchups across the roster/loadout space — identify dominant strategies and dead picks

Record quantitative results. Continue immediately to Phase 4.

============================================================ PHASE 4: ANALYTICS AUDIT (/player-analytics)

Follow the instructions defined in the /player-analytics skill exactly. Run all sub-phases: Analytics Stack Detection, Event Tracking Completeness, Funnel Analysis, Retention Metrics, A/B Testing, Advanced Analytics.

Verify analytics coverage against findings from Phases 1-3:

• Core loop metrics tracked (from Phase 1): session length, loop completions, progression milestones
• Economy metrics tracked (from Phase 2): currency earned/spent rates, store conversion, inflation indicators
• Balance metrics tracked (from Phase 3): win rates by character/weapon, difficulty wall hit rates
• FTUE funnel: is every onboarding step instrumented to identify where new players drop off?
• Retention metrics: D1/D7/D30 retention, return triggers, churn predictors
• A/B testing infrastructure: can the team run experiments on the systems identified in earlier phases?

Record findings. Continue immediately to Phase 5.

============================================================ PHASE 5: MONETIZATION REVIEW (/game-monetization)

Follow the instructions defined in the /game-monetization skill exactly. Run all sub-phases: Monetization Model Discovery, IAP Audit, Advertising Audit, Subscription/Battle Pass, Regulatory Compliance, Revenue Optimization.

Evaluate ethics and effectiveness using all prior phase context:

• Does monetization distort the core loop from Phase 1? (pay to skip vs. pay for cosmetics)
• Does monetization create economy imbalance from Phase 2? (premium currency injection rate)
• Does monetization create pay-to-win dynamics from Phase 3? (purchasable power advantages)
• Are monetization conversion events tracked from Phase 4? (purchase funnel instrumentation)
• Regulatory compliance: loot box disclosure laws, age-gating, refund policies, regional regulations
• Revenue model sustainability: whale dependency, conversion breadth, LTV/CAC by acquisition channel

============================================================ SELF-HEALING VALIDATION (max 3 iterations)

After completing all phases, validate the combined output:

1. Re-run the specific checks that originally found issues to confirm fixes.
2. Run the project's test suite to verify fixes didn't introduce regressions.
3. Run build/compile to confirm no breakage.
4. If new issues surfaced from fixes, add them to the fix queue.
5. Repeat the fix-validate cycle up to 3 iterations total.

STOP when:

• Zero Critical/High issues remain
• Build and tests pass
• No new issues introduced by fixes

IF STILL FAILING after 3 iterations:

• Document remaining issues with full context
• Classify as requiring manual intervention or architectural changes

============================================================ OUTPUT

Game Design Audit Report

Project: {name}

Genre: {detected genre}

Target Player: {inferred persona}

Audit Date: {date}

Executive Summary

Design Health Score: {score}/100

Scoring:

• Core Loop Quality: {0-25 points}
• Economy Health: {0-20 points}
• Balance Quality: {0-20 points}
• Analytics Coverage: {0-15 points}
• Monetization Ethics: {0-20 points}

Cross-Phase Insights

1. Core Loop + Economy Alignment: {Does the economy support or hinder the core loop?}
2. Progression + Balance + Monetization: {Does progression feel natural, or is it distorted by monetization/balance issues?}
3. Analytics + All Systems: {Can the team measure the health of all critical systems?}
4. Economy + Monetization + Balance: {Is the F2P experience viable? Does paying create unfair advantages?}

Phase Summaries

Phase 1: Core Design

• Core loop: {description} | Rating: {COMPELLING/SOLID/ADEQUATE/WEAK/BROKEN}
• Progression shape: {description}
• Difficulty curve: {description}
• SDT: Autonomy {rating}, Competence {rating}, Relatedness {rating}

Phase 2: Economy

• Currencies: {list} | Health: {HEALTHY/INFLATIONARY/DEFLATIONARY/UNSTABLE}
• Major sinks: {list} | Major sources: {list}
• Inflation risk: {LOW/MEDIUM/HIGH}

Phase 3: Balance

• DPS range: {min}-{max} (median: {median}) | TTK range: {min}-{max}
• Progression pacing: {FAST/BALANCED/SLOW/UNEVEN}
• RNG fairness: {FAIR/GRINDY/UNFAIR}
• Balance verdict: {WELL BALANCED/MINOR ISSUES/IMBALANCED/BROKEN}

Phase 4: Analytics

• Provider: {service} | Events tracked: {N}/{recommended}
• FTUE funnel: {READY/PARTIAL/NOT READY}
• Retention tracking: {READY/PARTIAL/NOT READY}
• A/B testing: {READY/PARTIAL/NOT READY}

Phase 5: Monetization

• Revenue streams: {list} | Fairness: {FAIR/SOFT P2W/PAY-TO-WIN/PREDATORY}
• Compliance: {COMPLIANT/AT RISK/NON-COMPLIANT}
• Implementation quality: {SOLID/BASIC/INCOMPLETE}

Critical Design Issues (fix before launch)

Design Improvement Roadmap

Live Operations Recommendations

Post-launch systems requiring ongoing attention:

1. {system} -- {why it needs monitoring} -- {recommended cadence}
2. {system} -- {why} -- {cadence}
3. {system} -- {why} -- {cadence}

============================================================ SELF-EVOLUTION TELEMETRY

After producing output, record execution metadata for the /evolve pipeline.

Check if a project memory directory exists:

• Look for the project path in ~/.claude/projects/
• If found, append to skill-telemetry.md in that memory directory

Entry format:

### /game-design-audit — {{YYYY-MM-DD}}
- Outcome: {{SUCCESS | PARTIAL | FAILED}}
- Self-healed: {{yes — what was healed | no}}
- Iterations used: {{N}} / {{N max}}
- Bottleneck: {{phase that struggled or "none"}}
- Suggestion: {{one-line improvement idea for /evolve, or "none"}}

Only log if the memory directory exists. Skip silently if not found. Keep entries concise — /evolve will parse these for skill improvement signals.

STRICT RULES:

• Do NOT skip any phase -- all five must complete.
• Do NOT evaluate art, audio, or technical performance -- this is a design audit only.
• Do NOT make each phase independent -- later phases must reference earlier findings.
• Phase 3 (balance) must use mathematical analysis, not opinion.
• Phase 5 (monetization) must evaluate ethics, not just revenue potential.
• Cross-phase insights are the most valuable output -- do not skip them.
• All rules from each sub-skill apply to their respective phases.

NEXT STEPS:

• Run /game-launch for a full launch readiness audit including performance, QA, and security.
• Run /balance-test to deep-dive into specific balance issues identified in the audit.