Gate Check

/gate-check — Stage Gate Review

Delegate to: producer (with technical-director, qa-lead, creative-director for respective areas)

Purpose

Stage gates force a deliberate decision about whether to move to the next production phase. Without gates, projects drift — always "almost ready" to start production, or "almost ready" to ship.

Stages

Pre-production → Production

Gate criteria:

• [ ] Master GDD exists and reviewed
• [ ] Creative pillars defined (3-5, 1 phrase each)
• [ ] Core loop defined (30s / 5min / session / meta)
• [ ] Target audience identified
• [ ] Monetization strategy drafted
• [ ] Target metrics set (retention, session, revenue if applicable)
• [ ] Tech stack decided (sync tool, UI framework, packages)
• [ ] Systems-index exists with priority
• [ ] 2-3 top systems have detailed GDDs
• [ ] Prototype or proof-of-concept validates core loop
• [ ] Team capacity matches estimated scope (or scope cut accordingly)

Production → Polish

Gate criteria:

• [ ] All core systems implemented (from systems-index P0/P1)
• [ ] Game is playable end-to-end (intro → core loop → meta)
• [ ] No S0 bugs open
• [ ] All planned features either done or explicitly cut
• [ ] Basic performance targets met (30 FPS mobile, server heartbeat target (D1 > 20%, ideally > 25%)
• [ ] Server costs projected and manageable
• [ ] Team ready for launch support

Live → Live Service Optimization

Gate criteria (do we continue investing?):

• [ ] Retention trending up or stable
• [ ] Revenue meets minimum threshold
• [ ] Community engaged (growing Discord, positive reviews)
• [ ] Technical debt manageable
• [ ] Team has capacity for sustained live-ops

Steps

1. Current Stage

Run /project-stage-detect if unclear. Get the current stage.

2. Target Stage

"What stage are you trying to advance to?"

3. Run the Checklist

For the target transition, go through each criterion:

• Verify each item
• Delegate to the relevant specialist for verification (e.g., security criteria → exploit-security-specialist)
• Record pass/fail/partial

4. Assess Readiness

• If ALL criteria met → Go
• If some criteria missed → No-go with blockers listed
• If close but not complete → "Go with caveats" (user decides risk tolerance)

5. Generate Gate Report

# Gate Check: [Current Stage] → [Target Stage]

**Date**: YYYY-MM-DD
**Reviewer**: [user]

## Current Status
[Summary of current state]

## Criteria
| Criterion | Status | Notes |
|-----------|--------|-------|
| Master GDD exists | ✅ | |
| Core loop defined | ⚠️ Partial | Meta loop undefined |
| Creative pillars | ✅ | |
| ... | ... | ... |

## Met
[List of passing criteria]

## Not Met / Blockers
1. [Blocker with specific remediation]
2. [Blocker with specific remediation]

## Recommendation
[ ] **PASS** — advance to next stage
[X] **HOLD** — address blockers first
[ ] **PASS WITH CAVEATS** — advance accepting documented risks

## Next Steps (if HOLD)
1. [Action item]
2. [Action item]

## Target Re-review Date
YYYY-MM-DD

Save to production/gates/gate--.md on approval.

Source & license

This open-source skill is cataloged on AgentStack and links to its original source — we do not rehost the code.

• Author: CodePhobiia
• Source: CodePhobiia/claude-roblox-game-studio
• License: MIT

Install and usage instructions live in the source repository linked above.