mashup-mods

1# Mashups: putting one game inside another
2 
3In September 2026 a wave of AI-built mashups went viral: skateboarding in MW2, Minecraft inside Skyrim,
4Elden Ring and Mario 64, Black Ops 2 inside Minecraft. They use a handful of patterns. Pick the lightest one
5that delivers the idea, and plan the oracles before writing code: these projects fail by drifting, not by
6lacking code.
7 
8## Before picking a pattern
9Work through these steps before writing any mashup code. The routes, patterns and projects they point to
10come from existing mashups. Start from the closest one, or design something else and write down why. The
11Guardrails at the end always apply.
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131. **Work out what the user wants from the guest game.** Its real behaviour (physics, inventory, combat),
14   or only its look or one mechanic? Ask if it isn't clear. The answer decides whether the guest has to
15   run at all, and which route is the lightest that delivers the idea.
162. **Name the closest mashup route.** `knowledge/techniques/choosing-a-mashup-route.md` sorts mashups
17   into seven routes. "Passthrough" on its own is ambiguous: it covers three different builds (state
18   exchange, a composited picture, the host drawing guest meshes).
193. **Find the nearest prior project** in `references/mashup-cases.md` (route, versions, who owns the
20   player, units, transport). If you can reach its repository, read its README and design doc. Treat what
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