The shell's gifts get written down: portrait, haptics, and a thumb the OS stops stealing

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

PROJECT.md

@@ -3508,7 +3508,33 @@ never an interstitial. An interstitial after death would land exactly in the "on
    audio behaviour in WKWebView, safe-area (already solved for the browser, may differ in the shell),
    and 60 fps canvas under WKWebView at `RES` 4 — see OPEN 1, this is the second place that risk
    lands. Costs: a build step in a deliberately build-step-free project, Apple $99/yr, Google $25
-   once. Landscape (OPEN 6) probably has to stop being under-maintained before a store review.
+   once. Landscape (OPEN 6): retired for the store build by the portrait lock below (Oliver,
+   2026-08-18) — locked portrait makes landscape officially not-a-surface, which is cheaper than
+   fixing it for review; the web build keeps whatever landscape does today.
+   **What the shell buys GAMEPLAY-wise (2026-08-18)** — the countable list of plugins/config the
+   zero-dep rule bends for; only haptics touches game code:
+   - **Portrait lock** — one config line; see above.
+   - **HAPTICS — the real win**, flatly impossible in iOS Safari. Palette v1 is the stock iOS
+     primitives (three impact weights, three notification patterns, the selection tick) mapped
+     onto the EXISTING sound-effect call sites — the SFX taxonomy already decided what deserves
+     punctuation, so the audio map IS the haptic map. One `haptic(kind)` helper, no-op on the web.
+     Restraint rule: contact ticks are the metronome, kills punctuate, heavy is rare — a game
+     that buzzes constantly numbs the hand in minutes. Core Haptics custom curves only if the
+     stock palette feels flat. Device-only (the simulator has no Taptic Engine); needs its own
+     phone playtest round before any of it is assumed good.
+   - **Edge-gesture deferral** — the shell can require two swipes for the home indicator /
+     app switcher, so a bottom-edge flick (exactly where the one-handed thumb lives) stops
+     yanking the player out of the game. The web has no say in this.
+   - **Autoplay allowed in WKWebView** — the umpire speaks on first load, no gesture unlock
+     (kills LATER item 6's mute-on-first-load risk *inside the app*; the in-app-browser web case
+     remains). The iPhone mute switch becomes a choice — games usually play through it.
+   - **Real app storage** — stats, run history and the €2.99 unlock state survive; Safari/PWA
+     storage can be evicted under pressure. A tester's career may vanish; a customer's must not.
+   - **Assets in the binary** — instant cold start, no `?v=N` dance in the app. Flip side: app
+     updates take store review (days), so iteration stays on the web; the app ships snapshots.
+   - **Skipped on purpose**: Game Center / Play Games (a second leaderboard dilutes the diegetic
+     world board) and push-notification retention nags (same instinct that rejected
+     interstitials). Both addable later without regret.
 3. **The CHALLENGE — ship it FREE.** Tennis already owns the paid-continue mechanic: Hawk-Eye. On
    death (`G.mode='eaten'`), the umpire announces a challenge, the replay shows the shambler's foot
    over the line, and the call is **overturned** — you resume. The sport supplies the cap for free