Turn the bodies around, calm the racket zombie, break up the pack

Three from the playtest, all code:

Every side-on sprite is DRAWN facing left, and nothing ever mirrored them, so a
zombie walking right moonwalked — obvious the moment they close on you across
your own half. They face where they last walked now. The front-facing ones (the
turned CPU, the machine, a chapter boss) have no left or right and are left alone.

The racket zombie holds a position and only moves when the ball makes him, so a
time-driven walk cycle flicked him between two frames on the spot. His stride
steps off ground covered, like the brute's — standing still is standing still.

And the pack no longer stands on the body twitching for as long as the summary is
up: once it appears they break up and shamble away up-court. Measured — feeding
at 3s, dispersed to 3m by 6.5s.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

zombies.js

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 // your baseline — one crossing it is a point for THEM.
 // (zombies <-> gameplay is a runtime-only import cycle, same pattern as input.)
 
-import { TUNE, UI, COURT, VOLLEY, CONTACT, BOSS_ART, EATEN_BURST, EATEN_FEED_R } from './config.js';
+import { TUNE, UI, COURT, VOLLEY, CONTACT, BOSS_ART, EATEN_BURST, EATEN_SUMMARY, EATEN_FEED_R } from './config.js';
 import { G, P, ball, sendBoy, setupPoint } from './state.js';
 import { splat, moan, pock, voice, boom, swish, shriek, aww, sfx } from './audio.js';
 import { splatPoint, cheer, spentBall, resolveInterlude, showModal, endBossFight, aside } from './gameplay.js';
@@ -542,6 +542,7 @@ export function updateZombies(dt) {
     const zb = zombies[i];
     if (!zb) continue; // a bomb detonation splices several out mid-loop and can gut the array under us
     zb.walkT += dt;
+    const faceX0 = zb.x; // which way he is walking, for the sprite mirror in drawZombie
     if (zb.burnT > 0 && burnTick(zb, i, dt)) continue; // the fire finished it — the array moved under us
     if (!held) zb.z += zb.v * (zb.burnT > 0 ? TUNE.burnPanic : 1) * dt;
     bleed(zb); // open wounds bleed every frame they're standing
@@ -570,7 +571,7 @@ export function updateZombies(dt) {
         pock(0.3, 1500); // the tell: a mechanical click as it loads
       }
     }
-    if (G.mode === 'eaten' && G.eatenAt && zb.variant !== 'm') {
+    if (G.mode === 'eaten' && G.eatenAt && zb.variant !== 'm' && G.eatenT < EATEN_SUMMARY) {
       // You are down. Nothing else matters to them: every body on court converges on the spot and
       // packs into a ring around it, and the ones already there feed (the bob is in drawZombie).
       // This is the whole point of the death — you go under a CROWD, not under a puff of gore.
@@ -591,6 +592,16 @@ export function updateZombies(dt) {
       }
       continue; // no shambling, no eating you twice, no crossing the baseline for a point
     }
+    if (G.mode === 'eaten' && G.eatenAt) {
+      // The summary is up. They have finished with you: the pack breaks up and shambles away up-court
+      // instead of standing on the body twitching in a heap for as long as the screen is on.
+      zb.feeding = false;
+      const away = Math.sign(zb.x - G.eatenAt.x) || (zb.walkT % 2 < 1 ? 1 : -1);
+      zb.x += away * zb.v * 0.5 * dt;
+      zb.z -= zb.v * 0.7 * dt;                       // back the way they came
+      zb.face = away;
+      continue;
+    }
     if (zb.variant === 'm') { // the machine wheels itself around instead of being bolted down
       if (!held && G.mode === 'splatter' && !G.interlude) {
         if (zb.rollTo !== undefined) {
@@ -679,6 +690,7 @@ export function updateZombies(dt) {
         ball.vx *= 0.6; ball.vz *= 0.6; ball.lastHit = 'X'; // spent — one stagger per ball
       }
     }
+    if (Math.abs(zb.x - faceX0) > 0.004) zb.face = Math.sign(zb.x - faceX0); // sticky: a body standing still keeps facing where it last walked
     if (zb.z >= COURT.L + 0.7) { aside('ump_unsportsmanlike', 0.5); zombies.splice(i, 1); if (G.mode !== 'eaten' && !G.horde && !G.clearing) splatPoint('O'); } // it reached your baseline (during a mop-up, a straggler that reaches the line just despawns — no point for them)
   }