Game Development

ACOS Game Development Skill v1.0

Purpose

Intelligence layer for FrankX's Games Lab (frankx.ai/games). Encodes world-class browser game design principles — animation choreography, feedback systems, quality gates, and per-genre templates. Any agent loading this skill produces games at AAA studio quality, not "indie jam" quality.

Activation

Auto-activates when session involves: game development, Canvas2D rendering, game feel tuning, particle effects, game loop optimization, or any /games/ route work.

Triggers: game, canvas, particle, collision, sprite, dungeon, puzzle game, roguelike, game loop, game feel

Game Registry (7 Games)

1. Crystal Match

• Slug: crystal-match
• Engine: React DOM (CSS animations)
• Genre: Puzzle (match-3)
• Quality Baseline: Bejeweled 3, Candy Crush Saga
• Key Feel: Satisfying cascades, escalating combos, gems feel alive
• File: app/games/crystal-match/page.tsx

2. Neon Depths

• Slug: neon-depths
• Engine: Canvas2D
• Genre: Roguelike (turn-based dungeon crawler)
• Quality Baseline: Brogue, Hoplite, Into the Breach
• Key Feel: Tense exploration, impactful combat, atmospheric dungeon
• File: app/games/neon-depths/page.tsx

3. Neon Runner

• Slug: neon-runner
• Engine: Canvas2D
• Genre: Action (endless runner)
• Quality Baseline: Subway Surfers, Alto's Odyssey
• Key Feel: Speed sensation, near-miss drama, fluid lane changes
• File: app/games/neon-runner/page.tsx

4. Snake Neon

• Slug: snake-neon
• Engine: Canvas2D
• Genre: Arcade (snake)
• Quality Baseline: Snake.io, Slither.io
• Key Feel: Fluid movement, satisfying growth, dramatic death
• File: app/games/snake-neon/page.tsx

5. 2048 Neon

• Slug: neon-2048
• Engine: React DOM (CSS animations)
• Genre: Puzzle (sliding tiles)
• Quality Baseline: Original 2048, Threes!
• Key Feel: Satisfying merges, tile weight, big-merge celebration
• File: app/games/neon-2048/page.tsx

6. Word Forge

• Slug: word-forge
• Engine: React DOM (CSS animations)
• Genre: Word (Wordle-style)
• Quality Baseline: Wordle, Spelling Bee
• Key Feel: Letter reveal drama, keyboard feedback, win celebration
• File: app/games/word-forge/page.tsx

7. Memory Match

• Slug: memory-match
• Engine: React DOM (Framer Motion)
• Genre: Puzzle (card matching)
• Quality Baseline: Concentration, Memrise
• Key Feel: Card flip satisfaction, match celebration, mismatch clarity
• File: app/games/memory-match/page.tsx

10 Quality Gates (MANDATORY)

Every game MUST pass ALL gates before deploy. No exceptions.

Gate 1: No Instant State Changes

Every visual change must be animated. Position changes use eased interpolation. Color changes use transitions. Size changes use scale animations. If a value snaps from A to B without interpolation, the game fails this gate.

Gate 2: Three-Stage Feedback

Every primary player action has: anticipation (50-100ms buildup) → action (the actual change) → follow-through (100-300ms settle/overshoot). A swap in Crystal Match: gems lean toward target → cross positions → bounce into place. A move in Neon Depths: player leans → slides → settles.

Gate 3: Idle Animations

Nothing is ever static. Every visible entity has subtle movement when idle:

• Player characters: breathing glow, gentle scale oscillation (0.97-1.03, 2-3s)
• Items: floating hover (±2px, 2s sine), glow pulse
• Enemies: slow sway, faint glow flicker
• UI elements: subtle shimmer, particle drift
• Board/background: ambient dust motes, gradient shift

Gate 4: Environmental Depth

The world feels alive beyond the player's actions:

• Ambient particles (dust, energy motes, sparkles) — 1-3 per frame, capped at 30
• Background has subtle movement (gradient shift, star drift, grid pulse)
• Lighting responds to events (flash on impact, dim on death, warm on reward)

Gate 5: Impact Feedback (Hitstop + Layered Effects)

Every collision or significant event uses layered feedback:

• Hitstop: 2-5 frame freeze to emphasize the moment
• Particles: burst from impact point in relevant colors
• Screen shake: intensity proportional to significance
• Flash: brief color overlay (red=damage, gold=reward, white=hit)
• Sound hook: even if muted, the code path exists for future audio

Gate 6: Eased Movement (NEVER Linear)

All movement uses easing functions from effects.ts:

• Position changes: outCubic (smooth deceleration)
• Bouncy effects: outElastic or outBounce
• UI transitions: inOutCubic
• Decay effects: outQuad
• NEVER transition: all — always specify exact properties
• NEVER animation: linear — always use cubic-bezier or named easings

Gate 7: Death/Failure Sequence

Failure is NEVER just a text overlay. Every game has a multi-stage death sequence:

1. Freeze frame / hitstop (50-100ms)
2. Dramatic visual (explosion, shatter, dim, collapse)
3. Screen response (shake, flash, zoom)
4. Particle aftermath (debris, fade, dissolve)
5. Score/stats reveal with dramatic timing
6. Retry prompt with clear call-to-action

Gate 8: Victory/Win Celebration

Winning is NEVER just a score display. Every game has:

1. Moment of recognition (brief pause, glow)
2. Celebration burst (confetti, particles, flash)
3. Score dramatic count-up (not instant display)
4. Achievement/stats with satisfying reveal timing
5. Play-again prompt that feels inviting

Gate 9: Color Storytelling

Colors communicate game state consistently:

• Cyan/Blue (#43BFE3): Player, safe, neutral, UI
• Gold/Amber (#F59E0B): Reward, score, items, positive
• Red/Rose (#F43F5E): Danger, damage, error, negative
• Green/Emerald (#10B981): Health, success, growth
• Purple/Violet (#8B5CF6): Special, rare, magic, combo
• White/Silver (#E2E8F0): Impact, flash, emphasis Color intensity scales with significance (bigger combo = brighter).

Gate 10: Mobile-First Input

Touch controls must feel as good as keyboard:

• Touch targets minimum 48px (WCAG)
• Swipe dead zone 30px (prevent accidental)
• Visual feedback on touch (ripple, press state) within 16ms
• D-pad buttons for games needing directional input
• Input buffering (2 frames) — never drop player input

Animation Principles (Disney's 12, Adapted)

From Disney

1. Squash & Stretch: Gems compress on impact, tiles stretch on fast moves
2. Anticipation: Brief windup before every action (lean, glow, scale down)
3. Follow-Through: Overshoot + settle after movement completes
4. Slow In, Slow Out: Ease into and out of all movement (outCubic default)
5. Arcs: Natural curved motion paths, not straight lines
6. Secondary Action: Supporting animations reinforce primary (particles on move, glow on select)
7. Staging: Draw player attention to what matters (dim background during key events)
8. Appeal: Everything should look good. Clean shapes, consistent sizes, brand colors.

Game-Specific

9. Hitstop: 2-5 frame pause on significant impacts. Makes hits feel powerful.
10. Juice Escalation: Effects intensify with combos/streaks. 1x normal → 2x particles → 3x shake + flash.
11. Telegraph: Enemies/hazards signal intent before acting. Red pulse = about to attack. Glow = about to move.
12. Weight: Heavy objects move slowly with strong follow-through. Light objects move fast with minimal overshoot.

Genre Templates

Puzzle (Crystal Match, 2048)

• Primary loop: Select → action → cascade → score
• Key animation: Match celebration must escalate with chain length
• Idle: Board should ripple subtly, individual pieces shimmer
• Signature moment: Long cascade with escalating particles + screen shake
• Anti-pattern: Instant gem removal without pop animation

Action/Runner (Neon Runner)

• Primary loop: Dodge → collect → speed up → survive
• Key animation: Speed sensation through FOV, speed lines, ground acceleration
• Idle: N/A (always moving), but player character has micro-animations
• Signature moment: Near-miss with slow-motion + dramatic zoom
• Anti-pattern: Flat perspective with no depth cues

Roguelike (Neon Depths)

• Primary loop: Explore → encounter → combat → loot → descend
• Key animation: Combat hitstop is the most important single animation
• Idle: Dungeon atmosphere — dust, flicker, enemy sway
• Signature moment: Room reveal with radial light expansion
• Anti-pattern: Instant teleport between tiles, instant damage numbers

Word (Word Forge)

• Primary loop: Type → submit → reveal → learn
• Key animation: Sequential letter reveal with staggered timing
• Idle: Gentle keyboard glow, submitted rows have subtle shimmer
• Signature moment: Winning guess with all-green cascade + celebration
• Anti-pattern: All letters revealed simultaneously

Arcade (Snake)

• Primary loop: Move → grow → avoid → survive
• Key animation: Fluid interpolated movement (never grid-snap)
• Idle: Body segments sway slightly, head has directional lean
• Signature moment: Death sequence rippling from head to tail
• Anti-pattern: Stepped movement where snake teleports between cells

Technical Standards

Canvas Games (Neon Depths, Neon Runner, Snake)

• Game loop: requestAnimationFrame with delta-time tracking
• Rendering: Clear → draw background → draw entities → draw effects → draw HUD
• Effects pipeline: ctx.save() → apply shake offset → draw scene → ctx.restore() → draw flash overlay
• Particle budget: Mobile 100 max, desktop 200 max (enforced by ParticleSystem)
• State: Game state in useRef (not useState) to avoid React re-renders in loop
• Resolution: Canvas sized to container, CSS handles responsive scaling

DOM Games (Crystal Match, 2048, Word Forge, Memory Match)

• Animations: CSS @keyframes injected via <style> tag, or Framer Motion
• Timing: CSS cubic-bezier(0.33, 1, 0.68, 1) = outCubic, cubic-bezier(0.34, 1.56, 0.64, 1) = outBack
• Stagger: CSS custom property --delay with animation-delay: var(--delay) for sequential reveals
• State management: React useState for UI state, useRef for animation state
• Performance: will-change: transform on animated elements, transform over top/left

Shared Engine (lib/games/effects.ts)

• ParticleSystem: burst, sparkle, floatingText
• ScreenShake: intensity decay via outQuad
• FlashEffect: color overlay with fade
• AnimatedValue: smooth numeric transitions
• GameTimer: frame-based callbacks and sequences
• Hitstop: freeze-frame for impact emphasis
• GameAudio: Web Audio API oscillator stubs
• Easing: outQuad, outCubic, outElastic, outBounce, inOutCubic
• Colors: NEON brand palette, hexToRGBA, lerpColor, pulseAlpha

Anti-Patterns (NEVER DO)

Shared Resources

• Effects Engine: lib/games/effects.ts — import { ParticleSystem, ScreenShake, FlashEffect, AnimatedValue, GameTimer, Hitstop, GameAudio, ease, NEON, NEON_BURST }
• Game Registry: lib/games/registry.ts — GameEntry, GameQualityMetrics, getGameBySlug, getQualityReport
• Brand Colors: NEON object (cyan, violet, purple, amber, emerald, rose, fuchsia, lime, white)
• Production Path: .worktrees/vercel-ui-ux/app/games/

Every frame is a chance to delight. Build like Supergiant, polish like Nintendo.