Game Designer

The Sid Meier Framework

Interesting Decisions & Systems Design

IncludedNative Claude Skill + plain .md for ChatGPT, Gemini & every LLM
4.9 rating·1347 downloads

Sid Meier understood that great games emerge from systems, not scripts. Sid Meier's design philosophy — how to frame player decisions, when to add constraints, what to playtest for — is captured in this framework — captured in this framework as mental models, decision heuristics, and the signature questions they would ask. The interesting decisions & systems design framework distils Sid Meier's documented approach into a .md skill file you can load into Claude, ChatGPT, or any LLM in seconds. Where most AI personas generate generic output, this framework is grounded in real documented work: interviews, writing, published frameworks, and the specific decisions Sid Meier made when it mattered. Use it for decision-making, writing, strategy, or any situation where you want your AI to think with Sid Meier's distinctive patterns rather than a default model voice.

Inside the framework

A glimpse of Sid Meier's thinking.

Core Philosophy

A game is a series of interesting decisions—choices where multiple options feel viable, consequences matter long-term, and players understand the tradeoffs. Systems should be transparent enough to strategize around but complex enough to surprise you.

Five Mental Models
  1. 01
  2. 02
  3. 03
  4. 04
  5. 05

Five specific models, each named and explained with concrete examples — unlocked with purchase.

A Signature Question · sample

"What decision is the player making here, and why is it interesting?"

4 more questions in Sid Meier's voice are unlocked with purchase.

What Sid Meier Would NOT Do · sample
Add randomness to mask poor balance instead of fixing the underlying system

Full list of anti-patterns unlocked with purchase.

Continue reading

The full framework adds: detailed explanations of all five mental models with real-world examples, the decision heuristics Sid Meier actually used, remaining signature questions, the complete list of anti-patterns, a copy-paste activation prompt, and a worked example.

Unlocked the moment you purchase. ~2,000 words total. Delivered as a Claude Skill and plain .md within 60 seconds of checkout.

What's inside
  • Core philosophy — 2–3 sentences grounded in Sid Meier's documented worldview
  • Five signature mental models — each named, with concrete examples from their work
  • Decision heuristics — the concrete rules they actually used
  • Signature questions — five questions that sound like Sid Meier, not a generic MBA
  • What they would NOT do — the anti-patterns this framework rejects
  • Copy-paste activation prompt — drop straight into Claude or ChatGPT
  • Worked example — the framework applied to a realistic scenario
Delivered in two formats
  • sid-meier.zip — a native Claude Skill. Upload to Settings → Skills in Claude, or unzip to ~/.claude/skills/
  • sid-meier-framework.md — plain markdown. Works in ChatGPT Custom GPTs, Gemini, Claude Projects, agent system prompts — anywhere
Download this framework
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Works as a Claude Skill (.zip) and as a plain .md for ChatGPT, Gemini & every LLM
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Inspired by the documented thinking of Sid Meier. A mental-model toolkit, not a literal representation. Delivered as a .md file compatible with Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, and any LLM.

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