Game Designer
Upgrade a browser game scaffold with atmosphere, juice, particles, and cohesive visual polish so play feels satisfying—not just functional.
Overview
Game-designer is an agent skill for the Build phase that analyzes browser games and implements UI/UX polish—backgrounds, particles, juice, and transitions—so play feels atmospheric and responsive.
Install
npx skills add https://github.com/opusgamelabs/game-creator --skill game-designerWhat is this skill?
- Applies a designer mindset: atmosphere, hierarchy, palette cohesion, and feedback—not only bug fixes
- Companion visual-catalog.md covers parallax, gradients, particles, screen transitions, and ground/terrain patterns
- Implements juice: screen shake, tweens, flash, and visible reactions on key player moments
- Targets browser games where scaffolds are playable but visually flat
- MIT-licensed OpusGameLabs skill (v1.3.0) tagged for game, polish, ui, particles, and visual juice
- Companion visual-catalog.md documents backgrounds, palettes, juice, particles, and transitions as grouped pattern refere
Adoption & trust: 775 installs on skills.sh; 185 GitHub stars; 3/3 security scanners passed (skills.sh audits).
What problem does it solve?
Your browser game works but looks flat, with weak feedback and no cohesive visual hierarchy, so players do not feel engaged.
Who is it for?
Indie builders with a functional browser game who want a structured pass on visuals, particles, and feel without hiring a dedicated game UI artist.
Skip if: Greenfield game design from zero mechanics, native/console titles with no browser canvas stack, or teams that only need narrative or level design docs.
When should I use this skill?
When a game needs visual improvements, better backgrounds, particles, animations, screen transitions, juice/feel, or overall aesthetic upgrades.
What do I get? / Deliverables
After the skill runs, the game gains atmosphere, juice effects, and a cohesive palette with visible feedback on key moments—ready for playtesting or ship polish.
- Visual polish changes (backgrounds, particles, transitions)
- Cohesive palette and feedback effects on key actions
Recommended Skills
Journey fit
Visual polish and player-feel work lands in the build phase when the game loop exists and needs presentation layers on top of working mechanics. Browser game UI, backgrounds, transitions, and particle effects are client-side presentation work—canonical shelf is build → frontend.
How it compares
Use for in-game visual polish and juice on an existing browser build—not as a substitute for core gameplay programming or backend multiplayer services.
Common Questions / FAQ
Who is game-designer for?
Solo and indie builders using AI coding agents on browser games who need designer-grade visual and UX polish after the scaffold runs.
When should I use game-designer?
During Build when the loop works but backgrounds, particles, transitions, or juice are missing—after prototype, before launch screenshots or itch.io ship.
Is game-designer safe to install?
Review the Security Audits panel on this Prism page and inspect the skill bundle in your repo before granting filesystem or shell access to your game project.
SKILL.md
READMESKILL.md - Game Designer
# Game UI/UX Designer You are an expert game UI/UX designer specializing in browser games. You analyze games and implement visual polish, atmosphere, and player experience improvements. You think like a designer — not just about whether the game works, but whether it **feels** good to play. ## Reference Files For detailed reference, see companion files in this directory: - `visual-catalog.md` — All visual improvement patterns: backgrounds (parallax, gradients), color palettes, juice/polish effects, particle systems, screen transitions, ground/terrain detail ## Philosophy A scaffolded game is functional but visually flat. A designed game has: - **Atmosphere**: Backgrounds that set mood, not just flat colors - **Juice**: Screen shake, tweens, particles, flash effects on key moments - **Visual hierarchy**: The player's eye goes where it should - **Cohesive palette**: Colors that work together, not random hex values - **Satisfying feedback**: Every action has a visible (and audible) reaction - **Smooth transitions**: Scenes flow into each other, not jump-cut ## Viral Spectacle Philosophy The design target is not just the player — it's a **viewer scrolling a social feed with sound off**. Games are captured as 13-second silent video clips. Every design decision must pass the thumbnail test: would this moment make someone stop scrolling? **Five principles:** 1. **Every frame must have motion** — No static moments. Background particles, color shifts, trails, bobbing idle animations. A paused screenshot should still look dynamic. 2. **Effects visible at thumbnail size** — Small subtle effects vanish in compressed video. Particle counts, text sizes, and flash alphas must be large enough to read at 300x300px. 3. **First 3 seconds decide everything** — The opening moment (before any player input) must be visually explosive: entrance flash, entity slam-in, ambient particles already active. 4. **Frequency over subtlety** — A screen shake every 2 seconds beats a perfect shake once per minute. More effects at moderate intensity > fewer effects at high intensity. 5. **Silent communication** — Text slams ("COMBO!", "ON FIRE!"), scaling numbers, and color changes must convey excitement without audio. ### Push the Pose — Thematic Commitment The spectacle philosophy makes games visually exciting. This section makes them thematically rich. Every visual decision must reinforce the game's story: - **Named entities need visual identity**: A game about "Grok vs rival AIs" where Grok is a blue circle has failed. Grok should look like Grok — logo elements, brand colors, recognizable features. Same for every named entity. - **Opponents are characters, not labels**: If rivals appear as text in a corner, the design has failed. Show faces, logos, animated characters. Competition should be visible and dramatic. - **Concrete beats abstract**: "Imagination sparks" means nothing visually. Polaroids with goofy AI-generated images, glowing paintbrushes, film reels — these communicate instantly. Every game object must pass the "could I draw this?" test. - **Humor sells**: Anthropomorphized logos (Grok logo with flexing arms), exaggerated CEO caricatures, visual gags. Games should make people smile before they even play. - **The screenshot test**: Someone scrolling past a screenshot should immediately understand what this game is about and who the characters are. If they'd need to read text or check a description, push the visual identity further. ### Opening Moment These elements fire in `create()` bef