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Game Studio Agent Architecture -- Quick Start Guide

What Is This?

This is a complete Claude Code agent architecture for game development. It organizes 49 specialized AI agents into a studio hierarchy that mirrors real game development teams, with defined responsibilities, delegation rules, and coordination protocols. It includes engine-specialist agents for Godot, Unity, and Unreal — each with dedicated sub-specialists for major engine subsystems. All design agents and templates are grounded in established game design theory (MDA Framework, Self-Determination Theory, Flow State, Bartle Player Types). Use whichever engine set matches your project.

How to Use

1. Understand the Hierarchy

There are three tiers of agents:

  • Tier 1 (Opus): Directors who make high-level decisions

    • creative-director -- vision and creative conflict resolution
    • technical-director -- architecture and technology decisions
    • producer -- scheduling, coordination, and risk management
  • Tier 2 (Sonnet): Department leads who own their domain

    • game-designer, lead-programmer, art-director, audio-director, narrative-director, qa-lead, release-manager, localization-lead
  • Tier 3 (Sonnet/Haiku): Specialists who execute within their domain

    • Designers, programmers, artists, writers, testers, engineers

2. Pick the Right Agent for the Job

Ask yourself: "What department would handle this in a real studio?"

I need to... Use this agent
Design a new mechanic game-designer
Write combat code gameplay-programmer
Create a shader technical-artist
Write dialogue writer
Plan the next sprint producer
Review code quality lead-programmer
Write test cases qa-tester
Design a level level-designer
Fix a performance problem performance-analyst
Set up CI/CD devops-engineer
Design a loot table economy-designer
Resolve a creative conflict creative-director
Make an architecture decision technical-director
Manage a release release-manager
Prepare strings for translation localization-lead
Test a mechanic idea quickly prototyper
Review code for security issues security-engineer
Check accessibility compliance accessibility-specialist
Get Unreal Engine advice unreal-specialist
Get Unity advice unity-specialist
Get Godot advice godot-specialist
Design GAS abilities/effects ue-gas-specialist
Define BP/C++ boundaries ue-blueprint-specialist
Implement UE replication ue-replication-specialist
Build UMG/CommonUI widgets ue-umg-specialist
Design DOTS/ECS architecture unity-dots-specialist
Write Unity shaders/VFX unity-shader-specialist
Manage Addressable assets unity-addressables-specialist
Build UI Toolkit/UGUI screens unity-ui-specialist
Write idiomatic GDScript godot-gdscript-specialist
Write Godot C# code godot-csharp-specialist
Create Godot shaders godot-shader-specialist
Build GDExtension modules godot-gdextension-specialist
Plan live events and seasons live-ops-designer
Write patch notes for players community-manager
Brainstorm a new game idea Use /brainstorm skill

3. Use Slash Commands for Common Tasks

Command What it does
/start First-time onboarding — asks where you are, guides you to the right workflow
/help Context-aware "what do I do next?" — reads your current phase and artifacts
/project-stage-detect Analyze project state, detect stage, identify gaps
/setup-engine Configure engine + version, populate reference docs
/adopt Brownfield audit and migration plan for existing projects
/brainstorm Guided game concept ideation from scratch
/map-systems Decompose concept into systems, map dependencies, guide per-system GDDs
/design-system Guided, section-by-section GDD authoring for a single game system
/quick-design Lightweight spec for small changes — tuning, tweaks, minor additions
/review-all-gdds Cross-GDD consistency and game design theory review
/propagate-design-change Find ADRs and stories affected by a GDD change
/art-bible Guided, section-by-section Art Bible authoring — creates visual identity spec before asset production
/asset-spec Generate per-asset visual specifications and AI generation prompts from GDDs or character profiles
/ux-design Author UX specs (screen/flow, HUD, interaction patterns)
/ux-review Validate UX specs for accessibility and GDD alignment
/create-architecture Master architecture document for the game
/architecture-decision Creates an ADR
/architecture-review Validate all ADRs, dependency ordering, GDD traceability
/create-control-manifest Flat programmer rules sheet from Accepted ADRs
/create-epics Translate GDDs + ADRs into epics (one per architectural module)
/create-stories Break a single epic into implementable story files
/dev-story Read a story and implement it — routes to the correct programmer agent
/sprint-plan Creates or updates sprint plans
/sprint-status Quick 30-line sprint snapshot
/story-readiness Validate a story is implementation-ready before pickup
/story-done End-of-story completion review — verifies acceptance criteria
/estimate Produces structured effort estimates
/design-review Reviews a design document
/code-review Reviews code for quality and architecture
/balance-check Analyzes game balance data
/asset-audit Audits assets for compliance
/content-audit GDD-specified content vs. implemented — find gaps
/scope-check Detect scope creep against plan
/perf-profile Performance profiling and bottleneck ID
/tech-debt Scan, track, and prioritize tech debt
/gate-check Validate phase readiness (PASS/CONCERNS/FAIL)
/consistency-check Scan all GDDs for cross-document inconsistencies (conflicting stats, names, rules)
/security-audit Audit for security vulnerabilities: save tampering, cheat vectors, network exploits, data exposure
/reverse-document Generate design/architecture docs from existing code
/milestone-review Reviews milestone progress
/retrospective Runs sprint/milestone retrospective
/bug-report Structured bug report creation
/playtest-report Creates or analyzes playtest feedback
/onboard Generates onboarding docs for a role
/release-checklist Validates pre-release checklist
/launch-checklist Complete launch readiness validation
/changelog Generates changelog from git history
/patch-notes Generate player-facing patch notes
/hotfix Emergency fix with audit trail
/day-one-patch Prepare a focused day-one patch for known issues discovered after gold master
/prototype Concept prototype — validate core idea before writing GDDs (Phase 1)
/vertical-slice Production-quality end-to-end build — validate full game loop (Phase 4)
/localize Localization scan, extract, validate
/team-combat Orchestrate full combat team pipeline
/team-narrative Orchestrate full narrative team pipeline
/team-ui Orchestrate full UI team pipeline
/team-release Orchestrate full release team pipeline
/team-polish Orchestrate full polish team pipeline
/team-audio Orchestrate full audio team pipeline
/team-level Orchestrate full level creation pipeline
/team-live-ops Orchestrate live-ops team for seasons, events, and post-launch content
/team-qa Orchestrate full QA team cycle — test plan, test cases, smoke check, sign-off
/qa-plan Generate a QA test plan for a sprint or feature
/bug-triage Re-prioritize open bugs, assign to sprints, surface systemic trends
/smoke-check Run critical path smoke test gate before QA hand-off (PASS/FAIL)
/soak-test Generate a soak test protocol for extended play sessions
/regression-suite Map coverage to GDD critical paths, flag gaps, maintain regression suite
/test-setup Scaffold test framework + CI pipeline for the project's engine (run once)
/test-helpers Generate engine-specific test helper libraries and factory functions
/test-flakiness Detect flaky tests from CI history, flag for quarantine or fix
/test-evidence-review Quality review of test files and manual evidence — ADEQUATE/INCOMPLETE/MISSING
/skill-test Validate skill files for compliance and correctness (static / spec / audit)
/skill-improve Improve a skill using a test-fix-retest loop — diagnose, propose fix, rewrite, verify

4. Use Templates for New Documents

Templates are in .claude/docs/templates/:

  • game-design-document.md -- for new mechanics and systems
  • architecture-decision-record.md -- for technical decisions
  • architecture-traceability.md -- maps GDD requirements to ADRs to story IDs
  • risk-register-entry.md -- for new risks
  • narrative-character-sheet.md -- for new characters
  • test-plan.md -- for feature test plans
  • sprint-plan.md -- for sprint planning
  • milestone-definition.md -- for new milestones
  • level-design-document.md -- for new levels
  • game-pillars.md -- for core design pillars
  • art-bible.md -- for visual style reference
  • technical-design-document.md -- for per-system technical designs
  • post-mortem.md -- for project/milestone retrospectives
  • sound-bible.md -- for audio style reference
  • release-checklist-template.md -- for platform release checklists
  • changelog-template.md -- for player-facing patch notes
  • release-notes.md -- for player-facing release notes
  • incident-response.md -- for live incident response playbooks
  • game-concept.md -- for initial game concepts (MDA, SDT, Flow, Bartle)
  • pitch-document.md -- for pitching the game to stakeholders
  • economy-model.md -- for virtual economy design (sink/faucet model)
  • faction-design.md -- for faction identity, lore, and gameplay role
  • systems-index.md -- for systems decomposition and dependency mapping
  • project-stage-report.md -- for project stage detection output
  • design-doc-from-implementation.md -- for reverse-documenting existing code into GDDs
  • architecture-doc-from-code.md -- for reverse-documenting code into architecture docs
  • concept-doc-from-prototype.md -- for reverse-documenting prototypes into concept docs
  • ux-spec.md -- for per-screen UX specifications (layout zones, states, events)
  • hud-design.md -- for whole-game HUD philosophy, zones, and element specs
  • accessibility-requirements.md -- for project-wide accessibility tier and feature matrix
  • interaction-pattern-library.md -- for standard UI controls and game-specific patterns
  • player-journey.md -- for 6-phase emotional arc and retention hooks by time scale
  • difficulty-curve.md -- for difficulty axes, onboarding ramp, and cross-system interactions
  • test-evidence.md -- template for recording manual test evidence (screenshots, walkthrough notes)

Also in .claude/docs/templates/collaborative-protocols/ (used by agents, not typically edited directly):

  • design-agent-protocol.md -- question-options-draft-approval cycle for design agents
  • implementation-agent-protocol.md -- story pickup through /story-done cycle for programming agents
  • leadership-agent-protocol.md -- cross-department delegation and escalation for director-tier agents

5. Follow the Coordination Rules

  1. Work flows down the hierarchy: Directors -> Leads -> Specialists
  2. Conflicts escalate up the hierarchy
  3. Cross-department work is coordinated by the producer
  4. Agents do not modify files outside their domain without delegation
  5. All decisions are documented

First Steps for a New Project

Don't know where to begin? Run /start. It asks where you are and routes you to the right workflow. No assumptions about your game, engine, or experience level.

If you already know what you need, jump directly to the relevant path:

Path A: "I have no idea what to build"

  1. Run /start (or /brainstorm open) — guided creative exploration: what excites you, what you've played, your constraints
    • Generates 3 concepts, helps you pick one, defines core loop and pillars
    • Produces a game concept document and recommends an engine
  2. Set up the engine — Run /setup-engine (uses the brainstorm recommendation)
    • Configures CLAUDE.md, detects knowledge gaps, populates reference docs
    • Creates .claude/docs/technical-preferences.md with naming conventions, performance budgets, and engine-specific defaults
    • If the engine version is newer than the LLM's training data, it fetches current docs from the web so agents suggest correct APIs
  3. Validate the concept — Run /design-review design/gdd/game-concept.md
  4. Decompose into systems — Run /map-systems to map all systems and dependencies
  5. Design each system — Run /design-system [system-name] (or /map-systems next) to write GDDs in dependency order
  6. Prototype the mechanic — Run /prototype [core-mechanic] (13 days — before writing GDDs)
  7. Design each system — Run /design-system [system-name] to write GDDs, informed by prototype findings
  8. Plan the first sprint — After architecture and /vertical-slice, run /sprint-plan new
  9. Start building

Path B: "I know what I want to build"

If you already have a game concept and engine choice:

  1. Set up the engine — Run /setup-engine [engine] [version] (e.g., /setup-engine godot 4.6) — also creates technical preferences
  2. Write the Game Pillars — delegate to creative-director
  3. Decompose into systems — Run /map-systems to enumerate systems and dependencies
  4. Design each system — Run /design-system [system-name] for GDDs in dependency order
  5. Create the initial ADR — Run /architecture-decision
  6. Create the first milestone in production/milestones/
  7. Plan the first sprint — Run /sprint-plan new
  8. Start building

Path C: "I know the game but not the engine"

If you have a concept but don't know which engine fits:

  1. Run /setup-engine with no arguments — it will ask about your game's needs (2D/3D, platforms, team size, language preferences) and recommend an engine based on your answers
  2. Follow Path B from step 2 onward

Path D: "I have an existing project"

If you have design docs, prototypes, or code already:

  1. Run /start (or /project-stage-detect) — analyzes what exists, identifies gaps, and recommends next steps
  2. Run /adopt if you have existing GDDs, ADRs, or stories — audits internal format compliance and builds a numbered migration plan to fill gaps without overwriting your existing work
  3. Configure engine if needed — Run /setup-engine if not yet configured
  4. Validate phase readiness — Run /gate-check to see where you stand
  5. Plan the next sprint — Run /sprint-plan new

File Structure Reference

CLAUDE.md                          -- Master config (read this first, ~60 lines)
.claude/
  settings.json                    -- Claude Code hooks and project settings
  agents/                          -- 49 agent definitions (YAML frontmatter)
  skills/                          -- 73 slash command definitions (YAML frontmatter)
  hooks/                           -- 12 hook scripts (.sh) wired by settings.json
  rules/                           -- 11 path-specific rule files
  docs/
    quick-start.md                 -- This file
    technical-preferences.md       -- Project-specific standards (populated by /setup-engine)
    coding-standards.md            -- Coding and design doc standards
    coordination-rules.md          -- Agent coordination rules
    context-management.md          -- Context budgets and compaction instructions
    directory-structure.md         -- Project directory layout
    workflow-catalog.yaml          -- 7-phase pipeline definition (read by /help)
    setup-requirements.md          -- System prerequisites (Git Bash, jq, Python)
    settings-local-template.md     -- Personal settings.local.json guide
    templates/                     -- 41 document templates