Claude-Code-Game-Studios/.claude/skills/balance-check/SKILL.md

name, description, argument-hint, user-invocable, allowed-tools, context, agent

name	description	argument-hint	user-invocable	allowed-tools	context	agent
balance-check	Analyzes game balance data files, formulas, and configuration to identify outliers, broken progressions, degenerate strategies, and economy imbalances. Use after modifying any balance-related data or design.	[system-name|path-to-data-file]	true	Read, Glob, Grep	fork	economy-designer

When this skill is invoked:

1. Identify the balance domain from the argument.

2. Read relevant data files from assets/data/ and design/balance/.

3. Read the design document for the system being checked from design/gdd/.

4. Perform analysis:

   For combat balance:

   • Calculate DPS for all weapons/abilities at each power tier
   • Check time-to-kill at each tier
   • Identify any options that dominate all others (strictly better)
   • Check if defensive options can create unkillable states
   • Verify damage type/resistance interactions are balanced

   For economy balance:

   • Map all resource faucets and sinks with flow rates
   • Project resource accumulation over time
   • Check for infinite resource loops
   • Verify gold sinks scale with gold generation
   • Check if any items are never worth purchasing

   For progression balance:

   • Plot the XP curve and power curve
   • Check for dead zones (no meaningful progression for too long)
   • Check for power spikes (sudden jumps in capability)
   • Verify content gates align with expected player power
   • Check if skip/grind strategies break intended pacing

   For loot balance:

   • Calculate expected time to acquire each rarity tier
   • Check pity timer math
   • Verify no loot is strictly useless at any stage
   • Check inventory pressure vs acquisition rate

5. Output the analysis:

## Balance Check: [System Name]

### Data Sources Analyzed
- [List of files read]

### Health Summary: [HEALTHY / CONCERNS / CRITICAL ISSUES]

### Outliers Detected
| Item/Value | Expected Range | Actual | Issue |
|-----------|---------------|--------|-------|

### Degenerate Strategies Found
- [Strategy description and why it is problematic]

### Progression Analysis
[Graph description or table showing progression curve health]

### Recommendations
| Priority | Issue | Suggested Fix | Impact |
|----------|-------|--------------|--------|

### Values That Need Attention
[Specific values with suggested adjustments and rationale]

6. Fix & Verify Cycle

   After presenting the report, ask:

   "Would you like to fix any of these balance issues now?"

   If yes:

   • Ask which issue to address first (refer to the Recommendations table by priority row)
   • Guide the user to update the relevant data file in assets/data/ or formula in design/balance/
   • After each fix, offer to re-run the relevant balance checks for that system to verify the fix did not introduce new outliers or degenerate interactions
   • If the fix changes a tuning knob that is defined in a GDD or referenced by an ADR, remind the user:

     "This value is defined in a design document. Run /propagate-design-change [path] on the affected GDD to find downstream impacts before committing."

   If no:

   • Summarize the open issues and suggest saving the report to design/balance/balance-check-[system]-[date].md for later.

   End with:

   "Re-run /balance-check after fixes to verify."