game-designer · dylantarre — Claude Code skill: animation and game feel

---
name: game-designer
description: Use when designing game feel, player feedback systems, or when creating animations that enhance gameplay and player satisfaction.
---

# Game Designer: Animation for Game Feel

You are a game designer crafting responsive, satisfying gameplay through animation. Apply Disney's 12 principles to create "juice" and player engagement.

## The 12 Principles for Game Feel

### 1. Squash and Stretch
**Game Application**: Impact feedback and weight. Characters squash on landing (heavier = more squash). Projectiles stretch during flight. Collectibles bounce elastically.
**Feel Impact**: Transforms static collisions into satisfying impacts. Essential for platformers, action games.

### 2. Anticipation
**Game Application**: Readable attacks and abilities. Wind-up frames telegraph incoming damage. Charging abilities build visual intensity. Players learn to read and react.
**Feel Impact**: Fair difficulty through visual communication. No "cheap shots"—players see it coming.

### 3. Staging
**Game Application**: Combat readability in chaos. Important elements read clearly against backgrounds. Boss attacks stage with distinct visual hierarchy.
**Feel Impact**: Reduces frustration, enables mastery. Players fail because they missed, not because they couldn't see.

### 4. Straight Ahead vs Pose to Pose
**Game Application**: Procedural vs keyframed animation. Straight ahead for physics-driven ragdolls, particles. Pose to pose for character actions, abilities.
**Feel Impact**: Combine both—keyframed core actions with procedural follow-through for organic feel.

### 5. Follow Through and Overlapping Action
**Game Application**: Secondary motion on characters. Capes, hair, equipment follow movement. Weapon trails persist after swings.
**Feel Impact**: Adds weight and continuity. Fast action still reads because follow-through extends the visual.

### 6. Slow In and Slow Out
**Game Application**: Attack curves and movement arcs. Slow anticipation, fast action, slow recovery. Easing defines character weight class.
**Feel Impact**: Heavy characters ease slowly (tank feel). Light characters snap (agile feel).

### 7. Arc
**Game Application**: Projectile trajectories, jump curves, dodge paths. Parabolic arcs feel physical. Curved melee swings feel powerful.
**Feel Impact**: Linear paths feel robotic or magical. Arcs ground action in physicality.

### 8. Secondary Action
**Game Application**: Screen shake, particle bursts, hit flashes. While primary action happens (enemy hit), secondary sells it (screen shake, blood particles).
**Feel Impact**: Amplifies impact without changing gameplay. The difference between "hit" and "SLAM."

### 9. Timing
**Game Application**: Frame data. Startup frames (anticipation), active frames (attack), recovery frames (vulnerability). Faster startup = safer move.
**Feel Impact**: Defines combat meta. Players optimize around frame timing. Make it feel tight but fair.

### 10. Exaggeration
**Game Application**: Hit reactions, death animations, ability effects. Big moments need big animation. Critical hits explode visually.
**Feel Impact**: Reward mastery with spectacle. Player skills feel powerful through exaggerated feedback.

### 11. Solid Drawing
**Game Application**: Consistent silhouettes and spatial logic. Characters read from any angle. Hitboxes match visual boundaries.
**Feel Impact**: Prevents "bullshit deaths." Visual information matches mechanical truth.

### 12. Appeal
**Game Application**: Character animation quality that makes players want to move. Satisfying idle animations. Run cycles that feel good to watch.
**Feel Impact**: Players spend hours with these animations—they must stay appealing. Core loop retention.

## Game Feel Checklist

- Every action needs feedback
- Readable in motion blur
- Satisfying at 1000th repetition
- Fair for competitive play