Game Data Management - theseus.works
Theseus gives your designers a proper interface for game data. Define objects, set fields, manage records, and push changes directly into your Git repo via PR. Your data lives where your code does. Your programmers stop being the middleman.
The problem
Mid-size studios get stuck in an awkward middle ground. Too big for spreadsheets to hold up, not big enough to have someone whose job is building internal tools. So the work falls to whoever has a spare afternoon, which is nobody.
A designer needs a new field. That means finding a programmer, explaining what they need, waiting for it to be built, and hoping the spec didn't change in the meantime. This happens constantly.
One wrong paste and three weeks of balancing work is gone. There's no history, no validation, nothing stopping anyone from saving over something important. It's a shared document masquerading as a database.
When something changes in a spreadsheet, someone still has to export it, convert it, and get it into the build. Usually that someone is a programmer, and usually it's not the first time they've done it this week.
A weapon does no damage. Was it always like that? Did someone change it yesterday? You can't tell. Spreadsheets don't know and don't care. Debugging a data problem with no history is a bad afternoon.
"We spent six weeks building an item editor. By the time we shipped it, half the schema had changed. That's the last internal tool we'll ever write."
How it works
Designers own their data. Engineers own the merge. The PR workflow your team already uses handles the rest.
A designer builds a Weapon object: Damage, Range, Rarity, whatever the game needs. Field types, constraints, and relationships are set up in the UI. No code, no asking for help.
Add a sword. Set the damage to 45. Mark it uncommon. If something's wrong - a number out of range, a required field missing - it gets flagged before the designer even submits.
The designer raises a pull request. Theseus puts the data on a branch in your GitHub repo, formatted as JSON. A reviewer looks it over and approves or kicks it back, same as any other change.
The PR merges. The Unity package picks up the change and regenerates the C# class. sword.Damage returns 45. Nobody had to write a parser or update a struct.
When a designer defines a Weapon in Theseus, the Unity package generates a C# class from the schema. Programmers don't need to write a dictionary lookup function, or parse strings. Just typed properties. Simple.
Add a field and the class updates on next sync. Remove one and it gets marked [Obsolete]. A compiler warning, not a build failure. A cleanup task is automatically raised in the task tracker.
No silent breaking changes. Existing records keep the data they had at the time the field was removed. New records use the defined default. Nothing disappears without somebody knowing about it.
// Generated by Theseus - do not edit manually // Last synced: schema v4 - 2 fields updated public class Weapon { public string Name { get; set; } public float Damage { get; set; } public string Rarity { get; set; } public float Range { get; set; } // Deprecated in schema v3 - cleanup task #47 [Obsolete("Removed in schema v3. See task #47.")] public int Price { get; set; } } // Usage - anywhere in your game code: var sword = TheseusData.Get<Weapon>("iron-sword"); Debug.Log(sword.Damage); // 45
What's included
Weapons, quests, NPCs, levels, dialogue nodes, define whatever your game uses. Presets for the common ones, blank slate for everything else. Fields, types, relationships, all in one place.
Set value ranges, mark fields as required, restrict to a list of allowed values. Validation runs in the UI as designers type, and again at PR submission. Bad data doesn't get far.
A Quest can reference its reward Items. A Level can list its Characters. These links are enforced. Related records surface in the UI without any extra setup.
Theseus creates the branch and raises the PR. Designers submit changes, reviewers approve them, and the data merges exactly like code, because it is. Your existing review process doesn't change.
Every change is logged; who made it, what they changed, which PR it came in on. Field-level diffs, full record history. When something breaks you can actually find out why, which is more than a spreadsheet will ever tell you.
The Unity package generates typed C# classes from your schema on every sync. Removed fields are marked [Obsolete] rather than silently dissapearing. No struct to maintain. No parser to write.
Works with your stack
Your studio already has tools. Theseus works alongside them, not instead of them. Bring your Twine dialogue, your Google Sheets, your CSV exports. Import them, structure them, put them under version control. You don't have to start over.
Most studios live in spreadsheets or Notion until something breaks badly enough to force a change. The importer walks you through mapping your existing columns to Theseus field types. Your data comes with you, you're not rebuilding from scratch.
Data goes into your existing GitHub repo as JSON. The Unity package reads from there and generates typed C# classes on sync. Your repo stays authoritative. Theseus is the interface on top of it.
Writers use Twine or Yarn Spinner, and that's not changing. The Theseus importer maps exported dialogue trees into structured object types, with nodes tied to the translation lookup table. Same tools, proper version control.
GitHub at launch. GitLab, Bitbucket, and Perforce to follow.
Import your existing data, map your columns to your fields, and move on. If your data is in a spreadsheet, a Notion database, or a CSV sitting on someone's desktop, it'll work.
The alternative
| Capability | Spreadsheets | Theseus |
|---|---|---|
| Field-level validation | Manual, fragile | Enforced at UI + PR |
| Version history | File-level only | Field-level, per record |
| Git integration | Manual export + commit | Automatic via PR |
| PR review workflow | None | Native, GitHub-backed |
| Typed Unity access | Custom importer required | Auto-generated C# classes |
| Object relationships | Manual cross-sheet refs | First-class, validated |
| Programmer involvement | Required for any change | Setup once, then none |
| Broken build risk | High - no warnings | Deprecation warnings, not errors |
Theseus will be in early access soon. Get in touch, and we'll let you know when it's ready for your studio.
No commitment. No spam. Early access invites sent in studio order.