Game Sprint Planner

Create comprehensive sprint plans for Stapledons Voyage game development.

Quick Start

Most common usage:

# User says: "Plan a sprint to implement NPC movement"
# This skill will:
# 1. Check current AILANG module status
# 2. Review known limitations from CLAUDE.md
# 3. Estimate effort (AILANG code + Go engine)
# 4. Create day-by-day task breakdown
# 5. Include AILANG feedback checkpoints

When to Use This Skill

Invoke this skill when:

• User says "plan sprint", "estimate feature timeline"
• User wants to prioritize game development work
• Before starting a new game feature
• Assessing scope of AILANG workarounds needed

Project-Specific Context

Architecture (from CLAUDE.md)

sim/*.ail        → AILANG game logic (manually edit)
sim_gen/*.go     → Generated Go (OK - contains game types)
game_views/*.go  → Game-specific rendering helpers (NEW)
engine/*.go      → Generic Go/Ebiten rendering (reusable)
cmd/game/main.go → Game loop

⚠️ Engine Genericization Rule

Before planning engine work, ask: Could a different game use this unchanged?

sim_gen/ is fine - Generated from AILANG, game-specific types belong there.

engine/ must be generic - No deck names, planet names, crew roles, or game concepts.

game_views/ - New layer for game-specific rendering (DomeRenderer, DeckStackRenderer).

Engine Capabilities Reference

IMPORTANT: Before estimating effort, review what's already built:

Key Available Capabilities:

• DrawCmd: Sprite, Rect, Text, IsoTile, IsoEntity, GalaxyBg, Star, Ui (Panel/Button/Label/Portrait/Slider/ProgressBar), Line, Circle, TextWrapped
• Effects: Debug, Rand, Clock, AI (Claude/Gemini/stub)
• Assets: Animated sprites, Audio (OGG/WAV), Fonts (TTF with scaling)
• Shaders: SR warp, GR warp, bloom, vignette, CRT
• Physics: Lorentz factor, time dilation, gravitational redshift

Current AILANG Limitations

Before planning, check CLAUDE.md for:

• Module imports not working
• Recursion depth limits
• No RNG effect documented
• No Array type (O(1) access)
• Record update syntax issues

Sprint Planning Workflow

1. Assess Current State

# Check AILANG modules compile
for f in sim/*.ail; do ailang check "$f"; done

# Check for messages from AILANG team
ailang messages list --unread

2. Identify Work Scope

For each game feature, estimate:

• AILANG code: Types, functions needed in sim/*.ail
• game_views code: Game-specific rendering helpers (if needed)
• Engine code: Generic Go/Ebiten changes (should be rare!)
• Workarounds: AILANG limitations to navigate
• Testing: How to verify it works

Engine Genericization Check: Before adding to engine/, verify it's not game-specific:

• ❌ References decks, planets, crew roles → game_views/
• ❌ Hardcodes game data → AILANG
• ✅ Generic DrawCmd rendering → engine/
• ✅ Asset loading, camera, shaders → engine/

3. Example Sprint Plan

# Sprint: NPC Movement (3 days)

## Goal
Implement basic NPC movement on the world grid.

## Day 1: AILANG Types & Functions
- [ ] Define Direction type in sim/world.ail
- [ ] Add moveNpc function to sim/npc_ai.ail
- [ ] Test with `ailang check`
- [ ] Report any AILANG issues encountered

## Day 2: Step Integration
- [ ] Update step function to process NPC moves
- [ ] Handle movement input from FrameInput
- [ ] Test with `ailang run --entry step`

## Day 3: Engine Rendering
- [ ] Update Go rendering to show NPCs
- [ ] Test with `make run`
- [ ] Document any performance issues

## AILANG Feedback Checkpoint
After sprint, report:
- Bugs encountered
- Features that would have helped
- Documentation gaps

4. AILANG Complexity Multipliers

When estimating effort, consider these multipliers:

5. Include Feedback Checkpoints

Every sprint should include:

1. Start: Check inbox for AILANG team responses
2. Mid-sprint: Report blockers immediately
3. End: Send summary of issues encountered

Handoff to sprint-executor

After sprint plan is approved:

# Check and acknowledge any pending messages
ailang messages list --unread
ailang messages ack <msg-id>

# Send plan ready notification (optional)
ailang messages send sprint-executor '{
  "type": "plan_ready",
  "sprint_id": "npc-movement",
  "days": 3,
  "milestones": ["types", "step-integration", "rendering"]
}'

Available Scripts

scripts/analyze_velocity.sh

Analyze recent development velocity from git commits.

scripts/create_sprint_json.sh <sprint_id> <plan_md>

Create JSON progress file for multi-session execution.

Best Practices

1. Start Small

• First sprint should be simple (1-2 days)
• Build confidence with AILANG before complex features

2. Test AILANG Early

• Run ailang check after every file change
• Don't let compilation errors pile up

3. Document Workarounds

• When AILANG lacks a feature, document the workaround
• Report to AILANG team so they know the pain points

4. Plan for Feedback Loop

• Budget time for reporting issues
• Check inbox for responses during sprint

Notes

• This project tests AILANG as much as it builds a game
• Sprint velocity includes AILANG issue reporting time
• Use ailang prompt output as reference for planning
• Check CLAUDE.md for known limitations before estimating