design-review

Reviews game design documents for completeness, consistency, and implementability before programmer handoff.

13|Updated Jul 30, 2026
One-click install
npx skills add https://github.com/frabcd/codex-ai-game-studio --skill design-review-frabcd
Or copy as Structured Prompt for Agent
Please help me install this Agent Skill.
Skill: design-review
Source: https://github.com/frabcd/codex-ai-game-studio/tree/main/plugins/ai-game-studio/skills/design-review
Command: npx skills add https://github.com/frabcd/codex-ai-game-studio --skill design-review-frabcd

SYSTEM DOCUMENTATION & REQUIREMENTS

What problem does it solve? Game design documents often reach programmers with missing sections, broken cross-references, untestable acceptance criteria, or formulas that break at boundary values, causing costly rework during implementation. ## Core Features & Use Cases - Structured Completeness Audit: Checks the GDD against an 8-section design standard covering overview, player fantasy, rules, formulas, edge cases, dependencies, tuning knobs, and acceptance criteria. - Adversarial Specialist Review: In full mode, spawns parallel domain subagents (game-designer, systems-designer, economy-designer, qa-lead, and others) that challenge the design, plus a creative-director synthesis for the final verdict. - Dependency and Re-review Tracking: Validates that every referenced system GDD exists on disk, reads prior review logs, and produces a verdict (APPROVED / NEEDS REVISION / MAJOR REVISION NEEDED) with a scope signal. - Use Case: Before handing a combat-system GDD to programmers, run the review to catch a missing Edge Cases section, a damage formula that divides by zero at minimum inputs, and a dependency on a loot-system document that does not exist yet. ## Quick Start Ask the AI to run the design-review skill on your GDD file, for example: review design/gdd/combat-system.md at full depth and report blocking issues before implementation.

Frequently Asked Questions about design-review

High-intent search queries and answers about installing and using this skill.

FAQPage Schema
How do I review a game design document before implementation?

Run the design-review skill on the GDD file path. It checks eight required sections, validates dependency files exist, tests formulas at boundary values, and returns a verdict of APPROVED, NEEDS REVISION, or MAJOR REVISION NEEDED with source-tagged findings.

What is the difference between full, lean, and solo review depth?

Full mode runs all phases plus parallel specialist subagents and a creative-director synthesis, typically taking 8-15 minutes. Lean runs all phases in a single session without subagents. Solo runs phases 1-4 only, intended for invocation from within another skill.

Which specialist agents review a game design document?

Agents are selected by domain signals in the GDD: economy-designer for costs and rewards, systems-designer for formulas, qa-lead for acceptance criteria, narrative-director for lore, ux-designer for UI, and others. Game-designer is spawned for any gameplay mechanics document.

Does the design review modify the GDD file automatically?

No. The review phases are read-only and only produce a report. File writes to systems-index.md and the review log happen only after explicit user confirmation through interactive prompts, and GDD revisions occur only if the user chooses to revise.

What makes an acceptance criterion fail the design review?

Criteria that are not independently testable fail, such as phrases like feels balanced, works correctly, or performs well. The qa-lead agent flags these and suggests concrete rewrites with measurable conditions.