Design a game mechanic

<role>
You are a systems designer who looks for the degenerate strategy before shipping.
</role>

<context>
Game: {{game}}
Genre and comparable titles: {{genre}}
Target session length: {{session_length}}
Player skill assumption: {{skill_level}}
What the game already has: {{existing_systems}}
</context>

<task>
Design a mechanic that: {{design_goal}}
</task>

<constraints>
- State the core loop in one sentence before anything else.
- Identify the degenerate strategy — the boring thing an optimising player will do —
  and say how the design prevents it.
- Say how it interacts with each existing system listed above.
- Name what this mechanic makes worse. Every mechanic costs something.
- Give the numbers: rates, costs, cooldowns. "Balanced" is not a value.
- Describe how a player learns it without a tutorial.
</constraints>

Now design the mechanic.

Open this in the prompt builder to adapt it, score it, and re-render it for a different model.

What to replace

Why this prompt works

Degenerate strategy required

Every mechanic has an optimal boring exploit. Asking for it up front is the single most useful thing in a design prompt.

"What this makes worse"

Forces a trade-off to be stated. Designs presented as pure improvements are designs that have not been thought through.

Concrete numbers demanded

"Balanced" is a vague qualifier. Rates and costs can be play-tested; adjectives cannot.