BMAD-METHOD/docs/modules/bmgd-bmad-game-dev/workflows-guide.md

# BMGD Workflows Guide

Complete reference for all BMGD workflows organized by development phase.

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## Workflow Overview

BMGD workflows are organized into four phases:

![BMGD Workflow Overview](../../../../docs/modules/bmgd-bmad-game-dev/workflow-overview.jpg)

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## Phase 1: Preproduction

### Brainstorm Game

**Command:** `brainstorm-game`
**Agent:** Game Designer
**Input:** None required
**Output:** Ideas and concepts (optionally saved)

**Description:**
Guided ideation session using game-specific brainstorming techniques:

- **MDA Framework** - Mechanics → Dynamics → Aesthetics analysis
- **Core Loop Workshop** - Define the fundamental gameplay loop
- **Player Fantasy Mining** - Explore what players want to feel
- **Genre Mashup** - Combine genres for unique concepts

**Steps:**

1. Initialize brainstorm session
2. Load game-specific techniques
3. Execute ideation with selected techniques
4. Summarize and (optionally) hand off to Game Brief

---

### Game Brief

**Command:** `create-game-brief`
**Agent:** Game Designer
**Input:** Ideas from brainstorming (optional)
**Output:** `{output_folder}/game-brief.md`

**Description:**
Captures your game's core vision and fundamentals. This is the foundation for all subsequent design work.

**Sections covered:**

- Game concept and vision
- Design pillars (3-5 core principles)
- Target audience and market
- Platform considerations
- Core gameplay loop
- Initial scope definition

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## Phase 2: Design

### GDD (Game Design Document)

**Command:** `create-gdd`
**Agent:** Game Designer
**Input:** Game Brief
**Output:** `{output_folder}/gdd.md` (or sharded into `{output_folder}/gdd/`)

**Description:**
Comprehensive game design document with genre-specific sections based on 24 supported game types.

**Core sections:**

1. Executive Summary
2. Gameplay Systems
3. Core Mechanics
4. Progression Systems
5. UI/UX Design
6. Audio Design
7. Art Direction
8. Technical Requirements
9. Game-Type-Specific Sections
10. Epic Generation (for sprint planning)

**Features:**

- Game type selection with specialized sections
- Hybrid game type support
- Automatic epic generation
- Scale-adaptive complexity

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### Narrative Design

**Command:** `narrative`
**Agent:** Game Designer
**Input:** GDD (required), Game Brief (optional)
**Output:** `{output_folder}/narrative-design.md`

**Description:**
For story-driven games. Creates comprehensive narrative documentation.

**Sections covered:**

1. Story Foundation (premise, themes, tone)
2. Story Structure (acts, beats, pacing)
3. Characters (protagonists, antagonists, supporting, arcs)
4. World Building (setting, history, factions, locations)
5. Dialogue Framework (style, branching)
6. Environmental Storytelling
7. Narrative Delivery Methods
8. Gameplay-Narrative Integration
9. Production Planning (scope, localization, voice acting)
10. Appendices (relationship map, timeline)

**Narrative Complexity Levels:**

- **Critical** - Story IS the game (visual novels, adventure games)
- **Heavy** - Deep narrative with gameplay (RPGs, story-driven action)
- **Moderate** - Meaningful story supporting gameplay
- **Light** - Minimal story, gameplay-focused

---

## Phase 3: Technical

### Game Architecture

**Command:** `create-architecture`
**Agent:** Game Architect
**Input:** GDD, Narrative Design (optional)
**Output:** `{output_folder}/game-architecture.md`

**Description:**
Technical architecture document covering engine selection, system design, and implementation approach.

**Sections covered:**

1. Executive Summary
2. Engine/Framework Selection
3. Core Systems Architecture
4. Data Architecture
5. Performance Requirements
6. Platform-Specific Considerations
7. Development Environment
8. Testing Strategy
9. Build and Deployment
10. Technical Risks and Mitigations

---

## Phase 4: Production

Production workflows inherit from BMM and add game-specific overrides.

### Sprint Planning

**Command:** `sprint-planning`
**Agent:** Game Scrum Master
**Input:** GDD with epics
**Output:** `{output_folder}/sprint-status.yaml`

**Description:**
Generates or updates sprint tracking from epic files. Sets up the sprint backlog and tracking.

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### Sprint Status

**Command:** `sprint-status`
**Agent:** Game Scrum Master
**Input:** `sprint-status.yaml`
**Output:** Sprint summary, risks, next action recommendation

**Description:**
Summarizes sprint progress, surfaces risks (stale file, orphaned stories, stories in review), and recommends the next workflow to run. Supports three modes:

- **interactive** (default): Displays summary with menu options
- **validate**: Checks sprint-status.yaml structure
- **data**: Returns raw data for other workflows

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### Create Story

**Command:** `create-story`
**Agent:** Game Scrum Master
**Input:** GDD, Architecture, Epic context
**Output:** `{output_folder}/epics/{epic-name}/stories/{story-name}.md`

**Description:**
Creates implementable story drafts with acceptance criteria, tasks, and technical notes. Stories are marked ready-for-dev directly when created.

**Validation:** `validate-create-story`

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### Dev Story

**Command:** `dev-story`
**Agent:** Game Developer
**Input:** Story (ready for dev)
**Output:** Implemented code

**Description:**
Implements story tasks following acceptance criteria. Uses TDD approach (red-green-refactor). Updates sprint-status.yaml automatically on completion.

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### Code Review

**Command:** `code-review`
**Agent:** Game Developer
**Input:** Story (ready for review)
**Output:** Review feedback, approved/needs changes

**Description:**
Thorough QA code review with game-specific considerations (performance, 60fps, etc.).

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### Retrospective

**Command:** `epic-retrospective`
**Agent:** Game Scrum Master
**Input:** Completed epic
**Output:** Retrospective document

**Description:**
Facilitates team retrospective after epic completion. Captures learnings and improvements.

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### Correct Course

**Command:** `correct-course`
**Agent:** Game Scrum Master or Game Architect
**Input:** Current project state
**Output:** Correction plan

**Description:**
Navigates significant changes when implementation is off-track. Analyzes impact and recommends adjustments.

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## Workflow Status

**Command:** `workflow-status`
**Agent:** All agents
**Output:** Project status summary

**Description:**
Checks current project status across all phases. Shows completed documents, current phase, and next steps.

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## Quick-Flow Workflows

Fast-track workflows that skip full planning phases. See **[Quick-Flow Guide](../../../../docs/modules/bmgd-bmad-game-dev/quick-flow-guide.md)** for detailed usage.

### Quick-Prototype

**Command:** `quick-prototype`
**Agent:** Game Designer, Game Developer
**Input:** Idea or concept to test
**Output:** Working prototype, playtest results

**Description:**
Rapid prototyping workflow for testing game mechanics and ideas quickly. Focuses on "feel" over polish.

**Use when:**

- Testing if a mechanic is fun
- Proving a concept before committing to design
- Experimenting with gameplay ideas

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### Quick-Dev

**Command:** `quick-dev`
**Agent:** Game Developer
**Input:** Tech-spec, prototype, or direct instructions
**Output:** Implemented feature

**Description:**
Flexible development workflow with game-specific considerations (performance, feel, integration).

**Use when:**

- Implementing features from tech-specs
- Building on successful prototypes
- Making changes that don't need full story workflow

---

## Quality Assurance Workflows

Game testing workflows for automated testing, playtesting, and quality assurance across Unity, Unreal, and Godot.

### Test Framework

**Command:** `test-framework`
**Agent:** Game QA
**Input:** Game project
**Output:** Configured test framework

**Description:**
Initialize a production-ready test framework for your game engine:

- **Unity**: Unity Test Framework with Edit Mode and Play Mode tests
- **Unreal**: Unreal Automation system with functional tests
- **Godot**: GUT (Godot Unit Test) framework

**Creates:**

- Test directory structure
- Framework configuration
- Sample unit and integration tests
- Test documentation

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### Test Design

**Command:** `test-design`
**Agent:** Game QA
**Input:** GDD, Architecture
**Output:** `{output_folder}/game-test-design.md`

**Description:**
Creates comprehensive test scenarios covering:

- Core gameplay mechanics
- Progression and save systems
- Multiplayer (if applicable)
- Platform certification requirements

Uses GIVEN/WHEN/THEN format with priority levels (P0-P3).

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### Automate

**Command:** `automate`
**Agent:** Game QA
**Input:** Test design, game code
**Output:** Automated test files

**Description:**
Generates engine-appropriate automated tests:

- Unit tests for pure logic
- Integration tests for system interactions
- Smoke tests for critical path validation

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### Playtest Plan

**Command:** `playtest-plan`
**Agent:** Game QA
**Input:** Build, test objectives
**Output:** `{output_folder}/playtest-plan.md`

**Description:**
Creates structured playtesting sessions:

- Session structure (pre/during/post)
- Observation guides
- Interview questions
- Analysis templates

**Playtest Types:**

- Internal (team validation)
- External (unbiased feedback)
- Focused (specific feature testing)

---

### Performance Test

**Command:** `performance-test`
**Agent:** Game QA
**Input:** Platform targets
**Output:** `{output_folder}/performance-test-plan.md`

**Description:**
Designs performance testing strategy:

- Frame rate targets per platform
- Memory budgets
- Loading time requirements
- Benchmark scenarios
- Profiling methodology

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### Test Review

**Command:** `test-review`
**Agent:** Game QA
**Input:** Existing test suite
**Output:** `{output_folder}/test-review-report.md`

**Description:**
Reviews test quality and coverage:

- Test suite metrics
- Quality assessment
- Coverage gaps
- Recommendations

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## Utility Workflows

### Party Mode

**Command:** `party-mode`
**Agent:** All agents

**Description:**
Brings multiple agents together for collaborative discussion on complex decisions.

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### Advanced Elicitation

**Command:** `advanced-elicitation`
**Agent:** All agents (web only)

**Description:**
Deep exploration techniques to challenge assumptions and surface hidden requirements.

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## Standalone BMGD Workflows

BMGD Phase 4 workflows are standalone implementations tailored for game development:

```yaml
workflow: '{project-root}/_bmad/bmgd/workflows/4-production/dev-story/workflow.yaml'
```

This means:

1. BMGD workflows are self-contained with game-specific logic
2. Game-focused templates, checklists, and instructions
3. No dependency on BMM workflow files

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## Next Steps

- **[Quick Start Guide](../../../../docs/modules/bmgd-bmad-game-dev/quick-start.md)** - Get started with BMGD
- **[Quick-Flow Guide](../../../../docs/modules/bmgd-bmad-game-dev/quick-flow-guide.md)** - Rapid prototyping and development
- **[Agents Guide](../../../../docs/modules/bmgd-bmad-game-dev/agents-guide.md)** - Agent reference
- **[Game Types Guide](../../../../docs/modules/bmgd-bmad-game-dev/game-types-guide.md)** - Game type templates