The court keeps no score: the landing ring is gone

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

gameplay.js

@@ -163,17 +163,9 @@ function doHit(ch, quality, aim) {
   ball.bomb = false; ball.flame = false; ball.wid = 'ball'; // only a consuming serve arms these; any other hit clears them
   ball.chain = 0;     // ...and the slice dies with the shot that earned it
   ball.praise = null; // a re-hit is a new shot: a stale armed word must not pop on ITS impact
-  if (ch.side === 'P') { // shot marker: where this will land — red means it's going out
-    // TENNIS ONLY. It answers "did that land in?", and splatter does not ask: `out` could never be
-    // true there, so it was a permanent yellow ring on the grass carrying no information — and
-    // sitting under the shambler for 1.3 s, which is longer than the gap before you aim again.
-    // That ring, not the new mark, is the circle that seemed to live under their feet.
-    if (G.mode === 'tennis') {
-      const ok = Math.abs(tx) <= COURT.W / 2 + 0.02 && tz >= -0.02 && tz <= COURT.netZ;
-      G.outMarker = { x: tx, z: tz, out: !ok, t: 1.3 };
-    }
-    G.aiReactT = 0; // CPU hasn't read the shot yet
-  }
+  // (the landing ring that used to be stamped here confused testers — the umpire calls the ball,
+  //  the court stays clean)
+  if (ch.side === 'P') G.aiReactT = 0; // CPU hasn't read the shot yet
   sfx(ch.side === 'P' ? 'tennis-player' : 'tennis-opponent', 0.9, { reverb: true }); // recorded racket strike, per side
   if (quality > 0.999 && ch.side === 'P') { // the rally hit: a real 45 ms window (perfectMs)
     G.hitstop = 0.05; pock(0.5, 1600);
@@ -367,9 +359,6 @@ function hitServe(sv, quality, aim = null, perfect = quality > 0.999) {
     }
   }
   // (spendSlot already hands you back plain balls when the last one goes)
-  // tennis only, same reason as doHit's: a splatter serve lands at a shambler's feet, and the ring
-  // sat there in yellow for 1.3 s saying nothing — right where the aim mark is trying to be read.
-  if (sv.side === 'P' && G.mode === 'tennis') G.outMarker = { x: boxX, z: tzs, out: !inServeBox(boxX, tzs), t: 1.3 };
   G.phase = 'rally'; sfx(sv.side === 'P' ? 'tennis-player' : 'tennis-opponent', 0.9, { reverb: true }); // recorded serve strike, per side
   sv.pose = 'serve'; sv.poseT = 0;
   if (sv.side === 'P') G.tossDrops = 0; // a served toss ends the apex lesson
@@ -1657,7 +1646,6 @@ export function update(dt) {
   // ball boy: sprint across, scoop the ball in passing, despawn off the far side
   const boy = G.boy;
   if (boy) boy.mop ? mopRound(boy, dt) : fetchRound(boy, dt);
-  if (G.outMarker && (G.outMarker.t -= dt) <= 0) G.outMarker = null;
 
   if (G.phase === 'over') {
     G.overT -= dt;

index.html

@@ -398,6 +398,6 @@
     </div>
   </div>
 </div>
-<script type="module" src="main.js?v=143"></script>
+<script type="module" src="main.js?v=144"></script>
 </body>
 </html>

render.js

@@ -1620,14 +1620,14 @@ export function render() {
   }
   drawPiles(false); // far-side piles (occluded by the net); near-side piles drawn after the net
 
-  // landing rings: white = incoming ball, yellow/red = your shot (red lands out)
+  // landing ring: white = incoming ball (a PREDICTION, gone the moment the ball touches down —
+  // the ring that lingered where the ball had already landed confused testers and is removed)
   if (G.phase === 'rally' && ball.active && ball.bounces === 0 && ball.lastHit === 'O') {
     const l = predictLanding();
     // the ring CONTRACTS toward touchdown (predictLanding's closed-form t), so the static marker
     // becomes a timing cue: wide while the ball is high, snapping to its true size as it arrives
     if (l) drawRing(l.x, l.z, 'rgba(255,255,255,0.85)', Math.min(2.2, 0.55 + l.t * 1.5));
   }
-  if (G.outMarker) drawRing(G.outMarker.x, G.outMarker.z, G.outMarker.out ? UI.hot : UI.warm);
   // SLINGSHOT AIM: the shot's actual flight, drawn as a band through the air.
   // It replaces a chevron trail on the ground plus a draw meter across the bottom. The trail was
   // a RAY — it pointed at the target but said nothing about the ball going over the net — and the

state.js

@@ -51,7 +51,6 @@ export const G = {
   boomFlash: 0,       // s of white flash frame left (bomb impact)
   lastOrderT: -9,     // idleT of the last 'Order' call — bomb chains mustn't spam the umpire
   idleT: 0,
-  outMarker: null,    // {x, z, out, t} — where your last shot lands
   boy: null,          // ball boy sprinting across: {x, z, dir, runT}
   aiServeT: 0,
   aiSwingCool: 0,