game-design-smart-goal-audit

Name: game-design-smart-goal-audit
Author: Stanestane

34stars3forks

How to install game-design-smart-goal-audit?

stanestane/game-design-skills-bundle/game-design-smart-goal-audit

$npx -y skills add Stanestane/game-design-skills-bundle --skill game-design-smart-goal-audit

Installs into the current project.

Summary

Audit game design goals, feature objectives, OKRs, initiative aims, or any stated design intent against the SMART criteria adapted for game design. Use when a user shares a design goal, player experience target, retention goal, or feature aim and wants it evaluated or rewritten.

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SKILL.md

1	# Game Design SMART Goal Audit
2
3	Audit game design goals against the SMART criteria, adapted for the realities of game design work — where goals often mix player experience intentions, behavioral outcomes, and business metrics.
4
5	## Why SMART in Game Design
6
7	Game design goals often fail in predictable ways:
8	- Too vague to evaluate: "Players should feel engaged" — what does engaged look like? How do you know when you've achieved it?
9	- Unmeasurable by intent: "The loop should feel good" — feeling is real, but untestable without a proxy metric or a defined observation method.
10	- Scoped to infinity: "Improve retention" — which segment? Which part of the funnel? By how much?
11	- Disconnected from the design itself: A goal that could apply to any feature is not a design goal, it's a business wish.
12
13	SMART forces clarity. Applied to game design, it helps distinguish design intent (what experience you're crafting) from design success criteria (how you'll know you achieved it).
14
15	---
16
17	## The SMART Framework — Game Design Interpretation
18
19	\| Letter \| Criterion \| Game design lens \|
20	\|--------\|-----------\|-----------------\|
21	\| S \| Specific \| Does the goal name a concrete mechanic, system, player segment, moment, or behavior — not just a vague direction? \|
22	\| M \| Measurable \| Is there a metric, behavioral signal, playtest observation method, or proxy indicator that confirms the goal was achieved? \|
23	\| A \| Achievable \| Is it realistic given team size, scope, platform, timeline, and existing systems? Does it avoid over-promising on player behavior? \|
24	\| R \| Relevant \| Does it connect to the game's pillars, the feature's purpose, or a known player need? Would hitting this goal actually matter? \|
25	\| T \| Time-bound \| Does it have a milestone, sprint, release, or playtest checkpoint attached? \|
26
27	---
28
29	## Audit Process
30
31	### Step 1: Identify goal type
32
33	Before auditing, classify the goal — this shapes how you apply SMART:
34
35	- Experience goal — describes a player feeling or state ("players feel powerful")
36	- Behavioral goal — describes a player action or pattern ("players return 3 sessions per week")
37	- Design output goal — describes what the team will build ("ship the crafting system in Q2")
38	- Metric goal — describes a KPI or indicator ("increase D7 retention by 5%")
39	- Mixed goal — combines intent and outcome (common, often the weakest)
40
41	Flag the type at the top of the audit. Experience goals require special handling — they need a proxy metric or observation method to become measurable.
42
43	### Step 2: Score each SMART criterion
44
45	For each criterion:
46	- ✅ Strong — clearly met
47	- ⚠️ Partial — implied or weakly present
48	- ❌ Missing — absent
49
50	Write 1–2 sentences per criterion explaining specifically what is strong or what is missing. For game design goals, pay special attention to:
51	- S: Is the player segment named? Is the game moment or system named?
52	- M: For experience goals, is there a playtest method, behavioral proxy, or survey instrument defined?
53	- A: Does the goal respect the scope and constraints of the feature or team?
54	- R: Does the goal connect to a design pillar, player need, or business objective?
55	- T: Is there a playtest gate, milestone, or release tied to evaluation?
56
57	### Step 3: Overall assessment
58
59	2–3 sentences on the goal's overall quality. Name the single biggest weakness and why it matters.
60
61	### Step 4: Rewrite the goal
62
63	Rewrite as a stronger SMART version that:
64	- Preserves the original design intent
65	- Adds a concrete scope, measurable signal, and timeframe
66	- For experience goals: adds a proxy metric or observation method (e.g., "as measured by playtest sessions showing X behavior" or "validated by a post-session survey score of Y")
67	- Flags assumptions in brackets: [assumed: D7 retention proxy] [assumed: Q3 milestone]
68	- Avoids inventing design decisions the team hasn't made
69
70	### Step 5: Coaching note (optional)
71
72	If the goal reveals a pattern — e.g., all goals are experience-focused with no measurement plan, or all goals are metric-focused with no design intent — add a brief pattern observation.
73
74	---
75
76	## Output

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6 picks

Type

game-design-smart-goal-audit

34stars3forks

View on GitHub

How to install game-design-smart-goal-audit?

stanestane/game-design-skills-bundle/game-design-smart-goal-audit

$npx -y skills add Stanestane/game-design-skills-bundle --skill game-design-smart-goal-audit

Installs into the current project.

Summary

Files · 1

View on GitHub

SKILL.md

1	# Game Design SMART Goal Audit
2
3	Audit game design goals against the SMART criteria, adapted for the realities of game design work — where goals often mix player experience intentions, behavioral outcomes, and business metrics.
4
5	## Why SMART in Game Design
6
7	Game design goals often fail in predictable ways:
8	- Too vague to evaluate: "Players should feel engaged" — what does engaged look like? How do you know when you've achieved it?
9	- Unmeasurable by intent: "The loop should feel good" — feeling is real, but untestable without a proxy metric or a defined observation method.
10	- Scoped to infinity: "Improve retention" — which segment? Which part of the funnel? By how much?
11	- Disconnected from the design itself: A goal that could apply to any feature is not a design goal, it's a business wish.
12
13	SMART forces clarity. Applied to game design, it helps distinguish design intent (what experience you're crafting) from design success criteria (how you'll know you achieved it).
14
15	---
16
17	## The SMART Framework — Game Design Interpretation
18
19	\| Letter \| Criterion \| Game design lens \|
20	\|--------\|-----------\|-----------------\|
21	\| S \| Specific \| Does the goal name a concrete mechanic, system, player segment, moment, or behavior — not just a vague direction? \|
22	\| M \| Measurable \| Is there a metric, behavioral signal, playtest observation method, or proxy indicator that confirms the goal was achieved? \|
23	\| A \| Achievable \| Is it realistic given team size, scope, platform, timeline, and existing systems? Does it avoid over-promising on player behavior? \|
24	\| R \| Relevant \| Does it connect to the game's pillars, the feature's purpose, or a known player need? Would hitting this goal actually matter? \|
25	\| T \| Time-bound \| Does it have a milestone, sprint, release, or playtest checkpoint attached? \|
26
27	---
28
29	## Audit Process
30
31	### Step 1: Identify goal type
32
33	Before auditing, classify the goal — this shapes how you apply SMART:
34
35	- Experience goal — describes a player feeling or state ("players feel powerful")
36	- Behavioral goal — describes a player action or pattern ("players return 3 sessions per week")
37	- Design output goal — describes what the team will build ("ship the crafting system in Q2")
38	- Metric goal — describes a KPI or indicator ("increase D7 retention by 5%")
39	- Mixed goal — combines intent and outcome (common, often the weakest)
40
41	Flag the type at the top of the audit. Experience goals require special handling — they need a proxy metric or observation method to become measurable.
42
43	### Step 2: Score each SMART criterion
44
45	For each criterion:
46	- ✅ Strong — clearly met
47	- ⚠️ Partial — implied or weakly present
48	- ❌ Missing — absent
49
50	Write 1–2 sentences per criterion explaining specifically what is strong or what is missing. For game design goals, pay special attention to:
51	- S: Is the player segment named? Is the game moment or system named?
52	- M: For experience goals, is there a playtest method, behavioral proxy, or survey instrument defined?
53	- A: Does the goal respect the scope and constraints of the feature or team?
54	- R: Does the goal connect to a design pillar, player need, or business objective?
55	- T: Is there a playtest gate, milestone, or release tied to evaluation?
56
57	### Step 3: Overall assessment
58
59	2–3 sentences on the goal's overall quality. Name the single biggest weakness and why it matters.
60
61	### Step 4: Rewrite the goal
62
63	Rewrite as a stronger SMART version that:
64	- Preserves the original design intent
65	- Adds a concrete scope, measurable signal, and timeframe
66	- For experience goals: adds a proxy metric or observation method (e.g., "as measured by playtest sessions showing X behavior" or "validated by a post-session survey score of Y")
67	- Flags assumptions in brackets: [assumed: D7 retention proxy] [assumed: Q3 milestone]
68	- Avoids inventing design decisions the team hasn't made
69
70	### Step 5: Coaching note (optional)
71
72	If the goal reveals a pattern — e.g., all goals are experience-focused with no measurement plan, or all goals are metric-focused with no design intent — add a brief pattern observation.
73
74	---
75
76	## Output

People who liked this also viewed

6 picks

Type