Claude-Code-Game-Studios/.claude/skills/gate-check/references/gate-release.md

Gate definition, loaded by /gate-check for the TARGET PHASE ONLY. Never load the other five — one gate applies per invocation.

Gate: Polish → Release

Required Artifacts:

• All features from milestone plan are implemented
• Content is complete (all levels, assets, dialogue referenced in design docs exist)
• Localization strings are externalized (no hardcoded player-facing text in the code root)
• QA test plan exists (/qa-plan output in production/qa/)
• QA sign-off report exists (/team-qa output — APPROVED or APPROVED WITH CONDITIONS)
• All Must Have story test evidence is present (Logic/Integration: test files pass; UI: retained screenshots of each screen touched; Visual/Feel: retained screenshots plus lead sign-off — both in production/qa/evidence/, and no qa.level waives either)
• Smoke check passes cleanly (PASS verdict) on the release candidate build
• No test regressions from previous sprint (test suite passes fully)
• Balance data has been reviewed (/balance-check run)
• Release checklist completed (/release-checklist run)
• Store metadata prepared (if applicable)
• Changelog / patch notes drafted

Quality Checks:

• Full QA pass signed off by qa-lead
• All tests passing
• Performance targets met across all target platforms
• No known open S1 Critical, S2 High or S3 Medium bugs
• No open CRITICAL or HIGH findings in the newest production/security/security-audit-*.md whose Scope is full, as updated by any later quick report (the re-run /security-audit prescribes after remediation). A later network, save or input report adds its open findings but never clears a category it did not scan — any open CRITICAL or HIGH finding means not ready (a blocker). No full-scope audit report means the check could not run: this item is NOT ASSESSED, never passed. A report whose release recommendation is itself NOT ASSESSED makes this item NOT ASSESSED too
• Accessibility basics covered (remapping, text scaling if applicable)
• Localization verified for all target languages — every translated locale being shipped has a /localize qa verdict of PASS or PASS WITH CONDITIONS (production/localization/loc-qa-[locale]-[date].md). A FAIL blocks that locale; the others may still ship. A locale with no QA report, or whose QA reported NOT ASSESSED (nobody has played it), has not been verified: this item is NOT ASSESSED, never passed. The source locale (en, per /localize) is not a target language and needs no /localize qa report; a game that ships only its source locale marks this item N/A and says so
• Legal requirements met (EULA, privacy policy, age ratings if applicable)
• Build compiles and packages cleanly

Workflow tier reductions

The checklist above is the full baseline. At lower tiers apply the reduction for the resolved tier; items not named keep their status above. Reductions only ever relax a requirement — workflow_overrides is the only thing that adds one.

• full — all features + content complete + localization + QA sign-off + smoke (PASS) + no open S1–S3 bugs all required
• standard — content-complete audit + QA sign-off + localization → recommended; all features + smoke + no open S1 Critical bugs required; open S2 High and S3 Medium bugs → recommended
• minimal — only smoke + no open S1 Critical bugs required; everything else drops