Gat story

Story

This skill explores and documents a game's narrative through open-ended writer interview. Spawn gat-writer for narrative reasoning. Spawn gat-designer or gat-artist only when story choices need design-system or visual-direction checks. Pick questions from the angle table below — follow the conversation, not a script.

Phase 1: Resolve Mode

• If argument is discuss → Mode: discuss (no files written, exploration only)
• If argument is a hint or empty → Mode: story (produces narrative docs under gat/narrative/)

Check whether these files exist:

• gat/overview/game.md
• gat/overview/systems-index.md
• gat/overview/art-direction.md
• gat/narrative/story.md
• gat/narrative/world.md
• gat/narrative/characters.md
• gat/narrative/quests.md
• gat/narrative/dialogue.md

If foundational overview docs exist, read them before asking questions that they already answer. If they are missing, proceed only with high-level narrative brainstorming and note that final narrative docs may need revision after /gat-brainstorm establishes the game overview and systems.

Phase 2: The Interview

Core Rules

• One question at a time. Never batch. Wait for the answer before the next question.
• Provide a recommended answer with each question. Explain the narrative reasoning.
• Prefer open-ended questions. Let the user type free-form responses. Reserve AskUserQuestion for concrete options where the user needs to choose.
• Pick angles, don't follow steps. Use the angle table as a menu. Jump to whatever dimension is most useful next.
• If a question can be answered by reading existing files, read them instead of asking.
• Spawn gat-writer when you need narrative synthesis: premise, tone, character arcs, world logic, quest structure, dialogue voice, or consistency checks.
• Spawn gat-designer when narrative choices affect mechanics, system ownership, progression, player agency, or content volume.
• Spawn gat-artist when narrative choices affect visual identity, character/world art hooks, readability, motifs, or asset groups.

Drilling into Vague Narrative Ideas

When the user has a fuzzy story idea, make it playable and specific through curious questioning.

How to drill:

• When the user says the story should feel a certain way, ask what event, character choice, or player action creates that feeling.
• When the user mentions lore, ask how the player encounters it: dialogue, quest, item text, environment, UI, systemic event, or cutscene.
• When a character is named, ask what they want, what blocks them, how they pressure the player, and whether they change.
• When the user references another work, isolate what to borrow: structure, tone, world texture, relationship dynamic, mystery shape, or dialogue style.
• When a branching idea appears, ask how many branches must be produced and whether consequences are cosmetic, systemic, or story-changing.
• When a world fact appears, ask what it causes in daily life, factions, resources, locations, or mechanics.
• If an answer opens three new questions, resolve the one that most affects player role, stakes, or content scope first.

Signals that something is still vague and needs more drilling:

• The user uses abstract story adjectives without concrete beats behind them ("dark", "emotional", "epic", "mysterious", "cozy")
• The protagonist, antagonist, or player role lacks motivation
• The world has lore but no player-facing delivery method
• The story can be summarized but not played
• Branching is proposed without content-budget boundaries
• Tone conflicts with gameplay, art direction, or target audience

Seed Extraction

If a concept hint was provided, first spawn gat-writer to extract what the hint already answers. Briefly summarize what's established so the user can confirm or correct before diving in. Skip if no hint.

Interview Angles

Pick questions from any angle below. There is no fixed order — follow the thread that matters most at each moment. The table is a palette, not a checklist.

#	Angle	Purpose	Example prompts
1	Narrative Need	Decide whether the game needs light flavor, authored story, or deep narrative systems	How much story does this game need to work? Could it be mostly atmospheric, or does it need plot progression?
2	Player Role	Anchor story to the player's fantasy and verbs	Who is the player in the world? What do they do that matters narratively?
3	Premise & Conflict	Define the situation and pressure	What is wrong with the world when play begins? Who or what opposes the player?
4	Stakes	Make outcomes meaningful	What happens if the player fails? Are the stakes personal, communal, cosmic, comedic, or material?
5	Theme	Clarify what the story is about beneath plot	What question does the story keep asking? What value is being tested?
6	Tone	Set the audience contract	Should this feel sincere, tragic, funny, eerie, heroic, cozy, satirical, or something else?
7	Structure	Shape story progression	Is the story linear, episodic, hub-based, branching, cyclical, or emergent?
8	World Rules	Build coherent setting constraints	What facts about the world must always be true? What can never happen here?
9	Factions & Power	Create social pressure and conflict	Who holds power? Who wants change? What resources are scarce?
10	Locations	Turn setting into playable places	Which places must the player visit, revisit, or transform? What does each location do for the story?
11	Characters	Define cast function and arcs	Who matters to the player? What does each major character want, and how do they change?
12	Antagonism	Clarify opposition	Is the antagonist a person, system, environment, mystery, inner flaw, or rival goal?
13	Relationships	Create emotional stakes	Which relationships carry the story? Ally, rival, mentor, dependent, enemy, community?
14	Quests & Beats	Map narrative into player action	What are the key story beats, and what does the player do during each one?
15	Choice & Consequence	Bound interactivity	Which choices matter? Are consequences immediate, delayed, cosmetic, mechanical, or ending-related?
16	Dialogue & Voice	Define how characters sound	How talkative is the game? Do characters speak in full conversations, short barks, UI text, or silent implication?
17	Environmental Storytelling	Express story without exposition	What should the player infer from spaces, props, signs, ruins, UI, enemies, or routines?
18	Lore Budget	Prevent scope creep	How many factions, named NPCs, locations, lore entries, quests, and endings are reasonable for MVP?
19	Art Hooks	Connect narrative to visuals	What motifs, silhouettes, symbols, color meanings, or materials should art direction carry?
20	Sensitivity & Rating	Avoid harmful or mismatched content	Are there themes that need content warnings, cultural review, age-rating limits, or softer handling?
21	Localization & Readability	Keep text producible and readable	How text-heavy can the game be? Does dialogue need to be easy to localize, skip, replay, or summarize?

Navigating the Interview

• Start where the energy is. If the user leads with a character, start there. If they lead with setting, start with world rules. If they lead with mechanics, start with player role and story delivery.
• Drill, don't move on. When the answer is abstract, ask the follow-up that turns it into a beat, role, rule, or delivery method.
• Ask open-ended, resolve with options. Most questions should be dialogue. Use AskUserQuestion only when choosing among concrete narrative proposals.
• Spawn gat-writer mid-interview when you need a concise story proposal, character arc set, quest structure, or consistency pass. Present the result, then ask what to keep or change.
• Loop back naturally. If a later answer contradicts an earlier canon point, point it out and resolve the tension.
• Know when to stop. The interview has covered enough when:
  • The player role, premise, conflict, stakes, tone, and theme are clear
  • The story delivery method is known
  • The world has enough rules and locations for the game's scope
  • Major characters or factions have motivations and functions
  • Narrative content volume is bounded
  • The user starts repeating themselves rather than adding new information

Phase 3: Write or Summarize

If Mode is story

Before writing, summarize what's been decided across premise, world, characters, structure, delivery, scope, and open questions. Ask:

"Ready to write the narrative docs?" Options: Yes, write them / Let me keep discussing

If yes, read the relevant templates:

• .claude/docs/templates/design/narrative-story.md
• .claude/docs/templates/design/narrative-world.md
• .claude/docs/templates/design/narrative-characters.md
• .claude/docs/templates/design/narrative-quests.md
• .claude/docs/templates/design/narrative-dialogue.md

Spawn gat-writer to write the narrative docs under gat/narrative/.

Always write or update:

• gat/narrative/story.md

Write or update these only when the game needs them:

• gat/narrative/world.md for setting rules, factions, locations, culture, or environmental storytelling
• gat/narrative/characters.md for named cast, factions-as-characters, voice, arcs, or relationships
• gat/narrative/quests.md for authored missions, story objectives, progression beats, or branching consequences
• gat/narrative/dialogue.md for conversations, barks, VO, UI narrative text, or reusable voice rules

Pass all interview answers, existing overview/narrative files, and the selected templates. Instruct the writer to preserve template metadata and source-reference sections, mark uncertain material as open questions, and keep outputs concise.

If Mode is discuss

Summarize what was decided and what remains open. No files written.

Suggest:

• /gat-story (without discuss) to turn this discussion into narrative docs
• /gat-milestone to plan milestone slices after overview (and narrative, if needed) are ready

Phase 4: Hand Off

Summarize what was created or discussed.

If narrative docs were written, suggest next steps:

• /gat-milestone to plan milestone slices (milestone planning runs BEFORE per-system design; do NOT run /gat-design directly from here)
• If story revealed or changed systems, update gat/overview/systems-index.md (via /gat-brainstorm or directly) before planning milestones