sickn33/antigravity-awesome-skills/game-development

Game Development

Orchestrator skill — principles plus routing to specialized sub-skills.

When to Use This Skill

You are working on a game development project. This skill teaches PRINCIPLES and directs you to the right sub-skill based on context.

Sub-Skill Routing

Platform Selection

Dimension Selection

Architecture / tooling

Core Principles (All Platforms)

1. The Game Loop

INPUT  → Read player actions
UPDATE → Process game logic (fixed timestep)
RENDER → Draw the frame (interpolated)

Fixed-timestep starting point (not required for every game):

• Physics/logic: Fixed rate (e.g., 50Hz)
• Rendering: Synchronize with the display/frame scheduler and chosen power budget
• Interpolate where appropriate; cap accumulated lag/substeps after pauses to avoid a catch-up spiral

Hybrid / UI-heavy games: the outer app may be DOM/event-driven; use a classic game loop only in canvas/WebGL viewports (or wherever simulation ticks).

2. Pattern Selection Matrix

Decision Rule: Start with State Machine. Add ECS only when performance demands.

3. Input Abstraction

Abstract input into ACTIONS, not raw keys:

"jump"  → Space, Gamepad A, Touch tap
"move"  → WASD, Left stick, Virtual joystick

4. Illustrative Performance Budget (60 FPS = 16.67ms)

Profile CPU and GPU paths on target hardware before choosing an optimization; these techniques do not have a universal priority order.

5. AI Selection by Complexity

6. Collision Strategy

Anti-Patterns (Universal)

Routing Examples

“Browser 2D platformer”

→ game-development/engine-selection → game-development/web-games → game-development/2d-games → game-development/game-design

“UI-heavy web game with small arcade challenges”

→ game-development/engine-selection (shell vs guest) → game-development/web-games → game-development/2d-games for guests only

“Mobile puzzle”

→ game-development/mobile-games → game-development/game-design

“Multiplayer VR shooter”

→ game-development/vr-ar → game-development/3d-games → game-development/multiplayer

“Branching narrative with light stats”

→ game-development/engine-selection (Ink/Twine) → host UI of your choice

Remember: Great games come from iteration, not perfection. Prototype fast, then polish.

Limitations

• Use this skill only when the task clearly matches the scope described above.
• Do not treat the output as a substitute for environment-specific validation, testing, or expert review.
• Stop and ask for clarification if required inputs, permissions, safety boundaries, or success criteria are missing.