NovelToGame
Turn a novel in any language into a source-grounded, fully playable game.
NovelToGame is an open-source Agent Skills toolkit for Claude Code, Codex, and Kimi Code. It turns novel adaptation into a staged workflow: source analysis, concept selection, world and art direction, implementation, and runtime QA.
Bring a novel in any language and choose the target runtime. Generated artifacts follow the requested language; build and QA stay on the chosen platform instead of silently falling back to an easier substitute.
中文 · Play Online · Quick Start · Workflow · Skills · Artifacts · Contributing
Play Online
Project Plateau · Featured 3D adaptation
A real-time first-person 3D field-photography game adapted from Arthur Conan Doyle's The Lost World. Cross a connected plateau, observe a living Iguanodon family, expose four glass plates under aerial pressure, and return with the views that survived.
36-second trailer
https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/4d0b501e-09be-49b6-9070-c605afce3fae
Play in your browser — no install · Explore the complete case study · Share feedback
More playable adaptations
| Journey to the West · Three Borrowings of the Banana Fan | Jin Ping Mei · Ledger of Desire |
|---|---|
 |  |
| Turn-based systems RPG with elements, formations, transformations, a companion, and a multi-stage boss | 18+ six-day relationship strategy game built around character agency, resources, social debts, and three endings |
| Play in browser | Play in browser |
Each case study includes source provenance, product constraints, adaptation analysis, concept and design decisions, runnable source, and QA evidence.
Why NovelToGame
A one-line “turn this book into a game” prompt often produces a generic reskin or a clickable plot summary. NovelToGame keeps the adaptation traceable and gives each major decision a clear owner:
- Source-grounded adaptation: extract rules, spaces, character agency, conflicts, and visual anchors with citations;
- Real game design: turn source evidence into player verbs, systems, levels, feedback, failure, and outcomes;
- Target-runtime delivery: build for the approved platform or engine without implementation silently redesigning the game;
- Optional, restrained voice: synthesize only approved high-value lines at build time, keep subtitles and mute fallbacks, and never send the whole novel to a TTS provider by default;
- Evidence-based QA: verify startup, input, state changes, complete runs, outcomes, restart, and target display modes and devices.
Quick Start
1. Install the seven skills
| Agent CLI | Install | Invoke |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Code | npx skills add worldwonderer/novel-to-game -g -y -a claude-code -s '*' | /novel-to-game |
| Codex | npx skills add worldwonderer/novel-to-game -g -y -a codex -s '*' | $novel-to-game |
| Kimi Code | npx skills add worldwonderer/novel-to-game -g -y -a kimi-code-cli -s '*' | /skill:novel-to-game |
Install adapters for all three CLIs on the same machine:
npx skills add worldwonderer/novel-to-game -g -y -s '*' \
-a claude-code -a codex -a kimi-code-cli
Cloning the repository also enables project-local skill discovery in all three CLIs.
2. Start an adaptation
Give the agent a novel file, directory, or link:
Use novel-to-game quick to adapt this novel into a fully playable game.
Recommend the target platform, genre, and engine from the source, and keep the first build to about 15 minutes.
Let the player enter the world as an original character with a new playable route through its conflict.
quick is the hands-off option: after confirming your requirements, the agent compares three ways to turn the novel into a game, chooses the most promising one, and continues through design, build, and QA. Choose director if you want to review those three proposals and decide which one should be built.
Native plugin installation
Claude Code
/plugin marketplace add worldwonderer/novel-to-game
/plugin install novel-to-game@novel-to-game-skills
/novel-to-game:novel-to-game quick
Codex
codex plugin marketplace add worldwonderer/novel-to-game
codex plugin add novel-to-game@novel-to-game-skills
Kimi Code 0.27 or newer
/plugins install https://github.com/worldwonderer/novel-to-game
/reload
/skill:novel-to-game quick
Workflow
The orchestrator locks PRODUCT_BRIEF.md, then hands the adaptation through six stages with separate ownership. Failed QA returns to the build for another repair pass until the evidence clears the gate.
Novel → Source analysis → Concept → World design → Art direction → Build ⇄ QA → Playable game
Concept selection, experience and level design, and art direction remain separately reviewable. Build targets the chosen runtime; QA verifies that same runtime with real execution evidence. If art direction selects voice, build-time TTS is optional and provider-neutral: line-level rights, request fingerprints, local audio, subtitles, failure fallback, decode and loudness evidence, and human listening review are required before release.
Skills
| Skill | Responsibility |
|---|---|
novel-to-game | Confirm requirements, choose a mode, orchestrate stage handoffs, and recover progress |
novel-game-analyze | Extract cited rules, verbs, spaces, agents, systems, and signature moments |
game-concept | Generate three materially different directions, reject invalid options, and choose one |
game-world-design | Define the player promise, core loop, world response, systems, levels, failure, and outcomes |
game-art-direction | Define camera, composition, visual grammar, colour, light, materials, HUD, motion, and sound |
game-build | Compress an approved build brief and drive implementation to a fully playable build |
game-qa | Verify commands, states, screenshots, and real play paths without overstating subjective results |
Artifacts
Each run creates a compact, self-contained adaptation workspace:
game-adaptations/<project>/
PRODUCT_BRIEF.md
analysis/SOURCE_BIBLE.md
concepts/CONCEPT.md
design/GAME_DESIGN.md
design/ART_DIRECTION.md
build/BUILD_BRIEF.md
build/app/
qa/QA_REPORT.md
_progress.md
Core design documents remain independent of any single model or game engine. The approved target runtime determines the implementation and QA environment.
Contributing
Reproducible bugs, skill gaps backed by evidence, and example proposals that demonstrate a distinct adaptation lesson are welcome. Read the contribution guide and use the repository's structured issue and pull request templates.
License
NovelToGame is released under the MIT License.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to the linux.do community for early feedback and support.