Cube Game Designer

WowCube Game Designer

This skill is Stage 1 of the cube_orchestrator pipeline. The orchestrator invokes it (via the Skill tool) when stage detection finds no GDD. It is not a user-facing entry point — for any WowCube game request, the user enters through cube_orchestrator, which routes here.

Create a non-technical Game Design Document (GDD) from a user's game idea, accounting for WowCube hardware and interaction specifics. The GDD is the Stage 1 artifact; cube_orchestrator checkpoints it with the user and then drives Stage 2 (technical_prompter).

Core principle: To produce a high-quality GDD, the agent MUST first ask as many clarifying questions as needed to fully understand the user's vision. Never guess — always ask. The discovery conversation is not optional; it is the most important part of the process.

When to Use

• cube_orchestrator routed here because stage detection found no plans/<game>_gdd.md
• The orchestrator needs a GDD before it can drive Stage 2 (prompts)

Do not trigger this skill directly for "make a game" / "design a game" requests — those are owned by cube_orchestrator, which routes here as Stage 1.

When NOT to Use

• A GDD already exists — the orchestrator will route to Stage 2 (technical_prompter) instead
• The request is to modify existing code — this skill produces design documents, not code

WowCube Device Essentials

The GDD must account for these device characteristics (expressed in player-friendly terms, never as code):

• The cube has 6 faces, each with 4 small screens (24 screens total)
• Screens are 240x240 pixels with a physical gap (border) between them
• Sprites are authored at HALF the on-screen size — the engine applies a software ×2 upscale at draw time. So authored size = intended on-screen size ÷ 2, with a hard maximum of 120×120 (a full-screen sprite). A quarter-screen object is 30×30, etc. Whenever the GDD states a sprite size, it MUST be the authored (pre-upscale) size, never the on-screen size. The one exception: art explicitly marked fullsize draws 1:1 (no upscale) and may be authored at native resolution up to 240×240 — as palette fullsize (keeps transparency) or full-color fullsize (real color depth, fully opaque). See the Assets section below.
• Player interactions: twist a face row (full or half twist), tap a face, tilt the cube
• Twists rotate a row of 4 screens — this is the primary input for most games
• Half-twists shift screens partially — useful for fine movement
• Taps are detected per face (not per screen)
• Tilt/gravity detects which face is on top or bottom
• The cube can display on all 24 screens simultaneously — not all are visible to the player at once
• ~20 frames per second tick rate — animations should be simple and clear
• Maximum ~400 sprites on screen at once across all faces — this is a hard budget

Workflow

Step 1: Discovery Interview (MANDATORY)

Do NOT write the GDD until you have asked the user enough questions to fully understand their game idea.

How to Generate Questions

There is no fixed list of questions. Instead, the agent must:

1. Read the user's initial prompt carefully and identify what is clear vs. what is ambiguous or missing.
2. Read OCT_wowcube-agent-skills/templates/app_ai_template/src/app_ai_template.h to understand the platform's game engine patterns, capabilities, and constraints (game states, object behaviors, screen layout, input handling, animation patterns). Use this technical knowledge to identify design questions the user hasn't addressed — but phrase all questions in plain, non-technical language.
3. Cross-reference the user's idea against the WowCube Device Essentials listed above. For each cube mechanic (twists, half-twists, taps, tilt, multi-face display), determine whether the user's idea has a clear mapping. If not, ask about it.
4. Think about the game holistically — consider gameplay flow, win/lose conditions, progression, visual style, audio, and player motivation. Ask about anything that is unclear or unspecified.

Interview Rules

• Ask every question you have. Group related questions together for efficiency (2-4 rounds of questions is typical), but do not hold back questions to be polite. More questions upfront = better GDD.
• Acknowledge the idea first — briefly restate what you understood from the user's prompt to confirm alignment before asking questions.
• After receiving answers, check for gaps — if answers raise new questions or leave things ambiguous, ask follow-up questions. Continue until you are confident you understand the full game design.
• Confirm understanding — before proceeding to write the GDD, summarize the complete game concept back to the user and get their approval.
• If the user says "you decide" for a specific aspect, make a design decision and note it as an assumption in the GDD.
• If the user wants to skip the interview entirely, explain briefly why the questions matter for quality, then ask at minimum about: the core mechanic, how twists should work in the game, and win/lose conditions.

Step 2: Study the Platform

Read the API reference for internal understanding only:

• OCT_wowcube-agent-skills/templates/app_ai_template/src/app_ai_template.h — OctaviOS API reference and engine patterns (SOURCE OF TRUTH, do NOT copy demo code)

Use this knowledge solely to validate that the user's design is feasible on the hardware. If any aspect of the design conflicts with platform limitations, go back to the user and explain the constraint in plain language, then ask how they'd like to adjust.

None of this technical knowledge should appear in the GDD.

Step 3: Write the GDD

Create a markdown file at plans/<game_name>_gdd.md. The GDD is a non-technical creative document — it describes the game from the player's perspective. No code, no API names, no implementation details.

The GDD structure is designed so that technical_prompter can easily extract:

• Game objects → sprite definitions and struct fields
• Controls → input handler logic
• Game flow states → game state machine and transitions
• Assets → sprite/sound IDs and resource loading
• MVP scope items → individual implementation prompts

# <Game Name> — Game Design Document

## 1. Concept

### Overview
2-3 sentences: what the game is, what makes it fun, why it works on the cube.

### Style & References
- Art style (e.g., pixel-art, minimal, cartoon)
- Genre
- Inspiration games/references
- Color palette and mood

### Scope

**MVP (minimum viable version):**
Group features by implementation area. Each item should be a discrete,
testable behavior — these map roughly to implementation prompts later.

Foundation:
- [ ] Feature (e.g., "game board displays on all 6 faces")
- [ ] ...

Core mechanics:
- [ ] Feature (e.g., "twisting moves tiles between screens")
- [ ] ...

Secondary mechanics:
- [ ] Feature (e.g., "bonus tiles appear every 30 seconds")
- [ ] ...

UI & feedback:
- [ ] Feature (e.g., "score displays on top face")
- [ ] ...

Audio:
- [ ] Feature (e.g., "chime plays on successful match")
- [ ] ...

**Future features (beyond MVP):**
- Feature A
- Feature B
- ...

### Design Assumptions
List any decisions made by the agent that were not explicitly stated by the user:
- Assumption — rationale
- ...
(If none, state "All design decisions were confirmed with the user.")

## 2. How It Plays

Describe the core gameplay experience in plain language. What does the player do moment-to-moment? What makes it engaging?

For each distinct mechanic, describe:
- What the player sees and does
- How it maps to cube interactions (twist/tap/tilt)
- Rules and edge cases
- What feedback the player gets (visual and audio)

## 3. Game Objects

Describe every type of object in the game with sprite count estimates:

| Object | Appearance | Behavior | Max on screen |
|--------|------------|----------|---------------|
| ... | What it looks like | What it does | e.g., 24 (one per screen) |

**Sprite budget:** estimate total worst-case sprites across all faces.
Hard limit is 400. If the design approaches this, note it and suggest
which objects could be reduced.

## 4. Progression & Difficulty

- How the game progresses (levels, waves, endless, etc.)
- What changes as difficulty increases
- Win condition
- Lose condition
- Scoring system (if any)

## 5. Controls

| Input | What It Does |
|-------|-------------|
| Twist left/right | ... |
| Half-twist left/right | ... |
| Twist up/down | ... |
| Half-twist up/down | ... |
| Tap | ... |
| Tilt/gravity | ... |

Mark any input as "not used" if the game does not use it.

## 6. Screens & Feedback

- What the player sees on each face during gameplay
- Where score/status info is displayed
- Menu screens (start, pause, game over, win)
- Visual feedback (animations, color changes, effects)
- Audio feedback (when sounds play, what mood they convey)

## 7. Assets

### Sprites
- `<snake_case_name>` — description and approximate **authored** size.

**Sprite sizes are authored (pre-upscale) sizes — always ≤ 120×120, unless the
sprite is marked fullsize — see the tier table below.** The engine
upscales every regular sprite ×2 at draw time, so the size written here is *half* how big
the sprite appears on the 240×240 screen: **authored size = intended on-screen size ÷ 2.**
- Full screen → `120x120` (the maximum; never write a size larger than 120 in either dimension, unless the sprite is marked fullsize — see the tier table below)
- Half the screen (each side) → `60x60`
- A quarter of the screen (each side) → `30x30`
- A small icon/item → size it down proportionally the same way

Example: `hero — small character, occupies about a quarter of a screen → 30x30px`.
Do NOT write the on-screen size (e.g. `60x60` for a quarter-screen sprite) — halve it.

**Art tiers.** The engine offers three sprite complexity tiers. The default (regular)
tier is right for almost everything; mark a sprite **fullsize** (and optionally
**full-color**) only when the design truly needs native-resolution art:

| Tier | Listed size | Colors & transparency | Drawn at | Use for |
|------|-------------|-----------------------|----------|---------|
| Regular (default) | ≤ 120×120 (= on-screen ÷ 2) | shared palette, transparent background supported | ×2 upscale | characters, items, icons, effects — anything |
| Palette fullsize | native, up to 240×240 | shared palette, transparency KEPT | 1:1, no upscale | crisp native-resolution art that still needs a see-through background (detailed overlays, fine UI) |
| Full-color fullsize | native, up to 240×240 | full color depth, NO transparency | 1:1, no upscale | fully opaque backdrops, photographic full-screen scenes |

E.g. `background — full-screen night sky, full-color fullsize → 240x240px`. Full-color
art has NO transparency, so anything that needs a see-through background must be a
regular sprite at the halved size or a palette fullsize sprite at native size.
There is no hard limit on total art size (a game is bounded only by the cube's free
flash space), but prefer the cheapest tier that achieves the look — don't make
everything fullsize just because the option exists.

Total sprite assets: N

### Sounds
- `<snake_case_name>.mp3` — description
- ...

(Sounds are listed by their final packed `.mp3` name. The source audio is a WAV
synthesized by the pipeline — or supplied by the user — and encoded to mp3 at pack time.)

Total sound assets: N

### Fonts
- `<font_name>` — usage description
- ...

## 8. Game Flow

Describe the full flow of the game using a **Mermaid state diagram**.
Each state becomes a game state in implementation. Transitions between
states map to game logic that the technical prompter will decompose.

Use Mermaid `stateDiagram-v2` syntax for a visual, readable flowchart:

```mermaid
stateDiagram-v2
    [*] --> MENU
    MENU --> PLAYING : tap to start
    PLAYING --> WIN : score reaches target
    PLAYING --> GAME_OVER : lives reach 0
    WIN --> MENU : tap to restart
    GAME_OVER --> MENU : tap to restart

Make the diagram detailed — include all transitions with their trigger conditions on the arrows. If a state has internal sub-states (e.g., PLAYING has "spawning egg" → "egg falling" → "catch/miss"), show them as a nested state:

stateDiagram-v2
    [*] --> MENU

    state PLAYING {
        [*] --> Spawning
        Spawning --> Falling : egg appears
        Falling --> Caught : basket under egg
        Falling --> Missed : basket not under egg
        Caught --> Spawning : +1 point
        Missed --> Spawning : -1 life
    }

    MENU --> PLAYING : tap
    PLAYING --> WIN : score == target
    PLAYING --> GAME_OVER : lives == 0
    WIN --> MENU : tap
    GAME_OVER --> MENU : tap

Below the diagram, describe each state:

• Name — clear, descriptive (e.g., MENU, PLAYING, GAME_OVER, WIN)
• What the player sees — screen contents and active objects
• Active inputs — which controls respond in this state
• Transitions — what triggers moving to another state
• Entry actions — what happens when entering this state (sounds, animations, resets)

### Step 4: Validate the Design

Before finalizing, verify:

1. Every player action (twist, tap, tilt) has a defined response in every game state, or is explicitly marked "not used"
2. Win and lose conditions are complete — no dead-end states
3. The asset list covers every visual and audio element mentioned in the design
4. Asset names are unique, descriptive, and use `snake_case`
5. The game is feasible given the device constraints (sprite count, screen count, input types)
6. **Sprite budget** — worst-case total sprites <= 400
6a. **Sprite sizes are authored sizes** — every sprite size in §7 is ≤ 120×120 (full-screen = 120×120) and equals the intended on-screen size ÷ 2 (e.g. a quarter-screen object is 30×30, not 60×60). Any size > 120, or any size written in on-screen pixels, is wrong — fix it. The one exception: a sprite explicitly marked **fullsize** (palette fullsize or full-color fullsize — see the §7 tier table) draws 1:1 and may be listed at native size up to 240×240; a **full-color** sprite that needs transparency is a design error (use palette fullsize instead).
7. The controls summary matches the mechanics described in the gameplay section
8. The document is understandable by someone who has never seen WowCube code
9. All user answers from the discovery interview are reflected in the document
10. All assumptions are explicitly listed in the Design Assumptions section
11. The GDD contains zero technical implementation details — no code, no API names, no engine internals
12. **MVP scope items are grouped** by area (foundation/core/secondary/ui/audio) and each item is a discrete testable behavior
13. **Game flow states** are named clearly and all transitions are defined

## Important: Assets Are Created Downstream (Not by This Skill)

The GDD lists all required assets (sprites, sounds, fonts), but this skill only specifies them:
- **Sprite PNGs are produced at Stage 3** — either AI-generated by `cube_asset-builder` from per-sprite generation prompts derived from this GDD, or supplied by the user
- **Sounds are synthesized as WAV files by the pipeline** and automatically encoded to the device mp3 format at pack time; the user MAY supply their own `.wav`/`.mp3` files instead
- **The `_ids.h` file is generated by the asset packing tool**, not edited by code agents
- The GDD's asset list serves as a **spec for whoever (or whatever) creates the assets** — it must be detailed enough for a human artist to work independently AND for AI generation prompts to be derived from it
- Implementation can begin before all assets exist (using placeholder BMP IDs), but the game won't be visually complete until assets are provided

## Output

The final GDD is written to `plans/<game_name>_gdd.md`.

After writing, provide a brief summary:
- The core game mechanic
- How many assets are estimated (sprites + sounds)
- Estimated worst-case sprite count vs. 400 budget
- Which cube inputs are used
- Any design assumptions made
- Invite the user to review and request changes
- Then **return control to `cube_orchestrator`** — do NOT invoke `technical_prompter` yourself. The orchestrator will run the Stage 1→2 boundary checkpoint with the user and route to Stage 2 when approved.

## Writing Guidelines

- **No code, no API names, no struct names, no implementation details** — the GDD is purely a creative design document
- Use player-facing language: "face" not "plane", "screen" not "quad", "twist" not "twid"
- Describe behaviors, not implementations: "figures fall down when there's empty space below" not "gravity applies OCT_TM_walk"
- Be specific about visuals: describe what things look like, how they animate, what colors they use
- Be specific about audio: describe when sounds play and what mood they convey
- Asset names must be clear enough that an artist could create them from the name + description alone
- Use flow diagrams and state descriptions to make the game flow crystal clear
- **Group MVP scope items** so they map naturally to implementation phases — this directly helps the `technical_prompter` create better prompts