Argument check: If no season name or event description is provided, output:

"Usage: /team-live-ops [season name or event description] — Provide the name or description of the season or live event to plan." Then stop immediately without spawning any subagents or reading any files.

When this skill is invoked with a valid argument, orchestrate the live-ops team through a structured planning pipeline.

Decision Points: At each phase transition, use AskUserQuestion to present the user with the subagent's proposals as selectable options. Write the agent's full analysis in conversation, then capture the decision with concise labels. The user must approve before moving to the next phase.

Phase 0: Resolve Review Mode

1. If --review [mode] was passed as an argument, use that mode.
2. Else read production/review-mode.txt — use whatever is written there.
3. Else default to lean.

Modes:

• full — spawn all director and lead gates as described
• lean — skip director gates unless they are PHASE-GATE type (CD-PHASE-GATE, TD-PHASE-GATE, PR-PHASE-GATE, AD-PHASE-GATE)
• solo — skip all director gate spawning entirely; run the skill without any agent gates

Store the resolved mode for use in all subsequent phases.

Team Composition

• live-ops-designer — Season structure, event cadence, retention mechanics, battle pass
• economy-designer — Live economy balance, store rotation, currency pricing, pity timers
• analytics-engineer — Success metrics, A/B test design, event tracking, dashboard specs
• community-manager — Player-facing announcements, event descriptions, seasonal messaging
• narrative-director — Seasonal narrative theme, story arc, world event framing
• writer — Event descriptions, reward item names, seasonal flavor text, announcement copy

How to Delegate

Use the Task tool to spawn each team member as a subagent:

• subagent_type: live-ops-designer — Season/event structure and retention mechanics
• subagent_type: economy-designer — Live economy balance and reward pricing
• subagent_type: analytics-engineer — Success metrics, A/B tests, event instrumentation
• subagent_type: community-manager — Player-facing communication and messaging
• subagent_type: narrative-director — Seasonal theme and narrative framing
• subagent_type: writer — All player-facing text: event descriptions, item names, copy

Always provide full context in each agent's prompt (game concept path, existing season docs, ethics policy path, current economy state). Launch independent agents in parallel where the pipeline allows it (Phases 3 and 4 can run simultaneously).

Pipeline

Phase 1: Season/Event Scoping

Delegate to live-ops-designer:

• Define the season or event: type (seasonal, limited-time event, challenge), duration, theme direction
• Outline the content list: what's new (modes, items, challenges, story beats)
• Define the retention hook: what brings players back daily/weekly during this season
• Identify resource budget: how much new content needs to be created vs. reused
• Output: season brief with scope, content list, and retention mechanic overview

Phase 2: Narrative Theme

Delegate to narrative-director:

• Read the season brief from Phase 1
• Design the seasonal narrative theme: how does this event connect to the game world?
• Define the central story hook players will discover during the event
• Identify which existing lore threads this season can advance
• Output: narrative framing document (theme, story hook, lore connections)

Phase 3: Economy Design (parallel with Phase 2 if theme is clear)

Delegate to economy-designer:

• Read the season brief and existing economy rules from design/live-ops/economy-rules.md
• Design the reward track: free tier progression, premium tier value proposition
• Plan the in-season economy: seasonal currency, store rotation, pricing
• Define pity timer mechanics and bad-luck protection for any random elements
• Verify no pay-to-win items in premium track
• Output: economy design doc with reward tables, pricing, and currency flow

Phase 4: Analytics and Success Metrics (parallel with Phase 3)

Delegate to analytics-engineer:

• Read the season brief
• Define success metrics: participation rate target, retention lift target, battle pass completion rate
• Design any A/B tests to run during the season (e.g., different reward cadences)
• Specify new telemetry events needed for this season's content
• Output: analytics plan with success criteria and instrumentation requirements

Phase 5: Content Writing (parallel)

Delegate in parallel:

• narrative-director (if needed): Write any in-game narrative text (cutscene scripts, NPC dialogue, world event descriptions) for the season
• writer: Write all player-facing text — event names, reward item descriptions, challenge objective text, seasonal flavor text
• Both should read the narrative framing doc from Phase 2

Phase 6: Player Communication Plan

Delegate to community-manager:

• Read the season brief, economy design, and narrative framing
• Draft the season launch announcement (tone, key highlights, platform-specific versions)
• Plan the communication cadence: pre-launch teaser, launch day post, mid-season reminder, final week FOMO push
• Draft known-issues section placeholder for day-1 patch notes
• Output: communication calendar with draft copy for each touchpoint

Phase 7: Review and Sign-off

Collect outputs from all phases and present a consolidated season plan:

• Season brief (Phase 1)
• Narrative framing (Phase 2)
• Economy design and reward tables (Phase 3)
• Analytics plan and success metrics (Phase 4)
• Written content inventory (Phase 5)
• Communication calendar (Phase 6)

Present a summary to the user with:

• Content scope: what is being created
• Economy health check: does the reward track feel fair and non-predatory?
• Analytics readiness: are success criteria defined and instrumented?
• Ethics review: check the Phase 3 economy design against design/live-ops/ethics-policy.md
  • If the file does not exist: flag "ETHICS REVIEW SKIPPED: design/live-ops/ethics-policy.md not found. Economy design was not reviewed against an ethics policy. Recommend creating one before production begins." Include this flag in the season design output document. Add to next steps: create design/live-ops/ethics-policy.md.
  • If the file exists and a violation is found: flag "ETHICS FLAG: [element] in Phase 3 economy design violates [policy rule]. Approval is blocked until this is resolved." Do NOT issue a COMPLETE verdict or write output documents. Use AskUserQuestion with options: revise economy design / override with documented rationale / cancel. If user chooses to revise: re-spawn economy-designer to produce a corrected design, then return to Phase 7 review. If user selects Cancel: end with Verdict: BLOCKED — "Live ops design cancelled due to unresolved ethics violation. Resolve the flagged issues and re-run /team-live-ops."
• Open questions: decisions still needed before production begins

Ask the user to approve the season plan before delegating to production teams. Issue the COMPLETE verdict only after the user approves and no unresolved ethics violations remain. If an ethics violation is unresolved, end with Verdict: BLOCKED.

Output Documents

All documents save to design/live-ops/:

• seasons/S[N]_[name].md — Season design document (from Phase 1-3)
• seasons/S[N]_[name]_analytics.md — Analytics plan (from Phase 4)
• seasons/S[N]_[name]_comms.md — Communication calendar (from Phase 6)

Error Recovery Protocol

If any spawned agent (via Task) returns BLOCKED, errors, or cannot complete:

1. Surface immediately: Report "[AgentName]: BLOCKED — [reason]" to the user before continuing to dependent phases
2. Assess dependencies: Check whether the blocked agent's output is required by subsequent phases. If yes, do not proceed past that dependency point without user input.
3. Offer options via AskUserQuestion with choices:
   • Skip this agent and note the gap in the final report
   • Retry with narrower scope
   • Stop here and resolve the blocker first
4. Always produce a partial report — output whatever was completed. Never discard work because one agent blocked.

If a BLOCKED state is unresolvable, end with Verdict: BLOCKED instead of COMPLETE.

File Write Protocol

All file writes (season design docs, analytics plans, communication calendars) are delegated to sub-agents spawned via Task. Each sub-agent enforces the "May I write to [path]?" protocol. This orchestrator does not write files directly.

Output

A summary covering: season theme and scope, economy design highlights, success metrics, content list, communication plan, and any open decisions needing user input before production.

Verdict: COMPLETE — season plan produced and handed off for production.

Next Steps

• Run /design-review on the season design document for consistency validation.
• Run /sprint-plan to schedule content creation work for the season.
• Run /team-release when the season content is ready to deploy.