Stop calling three different things "the ladder"

Oliver: "the talk about ladder and rung is extremely confusing." It was, and it
was my vocabulary, not his reading. "Ladder" had come to mean three unrelated
things in this codebase — the sequence of opponents in zombie tennis, the
sequence of WOUND STAGES on one body, and the name of a stats screen — and
"rung" meant a position in whichever of those you happened to be reading about.

One word per thing now:

  the OPPONENTS   who you play, in order, one game each (config.OPPONENTS,
                  matchFoe(n), zb.foe). Never "rungs".
  WOUND STAGES    healthy -> arm off -> headless, on one body. Unchanged, and
                  now the only thing allowed to be called a progression.
  a FAMILY        the sprite set a body wears (config.ZFAMS).

Renames: LADDER_TRAITS -> OPPONENTS, matchRung -> matchFoe, zb.rung -> zb.foe,
and the stats screen THE LADDER -> OPPONENTS FELLED, which is what it lists.

The 'L0'..'L9' record keys are deliberately NOT renamed: they are written into
saved run records, and renaming them would orphan every match anyone has
played. A comment says so where they are built.

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

src/beats.js

@@ -7,7 +7,7 @@
 // (beats <-> gameplay and beats <-> zombies are runtime-only import cycles, same pattern as
 // input <-> gameplay: the imported bindings are only touched inside functions, never at load.)
 
-import { TUNE, UI, bossArt, matchRung, BENCH, ZFAMS, COURT, HOME } from './config.js';
+import { TUNE, UI, bossArt, matchFoe, BENCH, ZFAMS, COURT, HOME } from './config.js';
 import { G, P, O, ball, score, setupPoint, sendBoy } from './state.js';
 import { voice, zombieDuck, aww } from './audio.js';
 import { zombies, pellets, extras, shots, spawnRacketZombie, spawnChapterBoss, spawnZombie, explode, killPlayer } from './zombies.js';
@@ -344,12 +344,12 @@ function matchOpponent() {
   spawnRacketZombie();
   const zb = zombies.find(z => z.variant === 'r');
   zb.dueled = true;                                   // wakes racketAI, same as a fresh duel
-  // WHO THIS ONE IS. The rung carries a name off the chapter roster and a set of dial scalings —
-  // pure data, read where the dials are already read (see matchRung in config). It rides on the
-  // BODY so that killZombie can file the kill under it without asking G what rung we were on.
-  zb.rung = matchRung(G.match.opp);
-  zb.fam = zb.rung.fam;                              // ...and the body that rung wears (config.ZFAMS)
-  G.card = { title: zb.rung.name, sub1: zb.rung.line, color: UI.hot, t: 2.4 };
+  // WHO THIS ONE IS. The opponent carries a name off the chapter roster and a set of dial scalings —
+  // pure data, read where the dials are already read (see matchFoe in config). It rides on the BODY
+  // so killZombie can file the kill under it without asking G which opponent we were on.
+  zb.foe = matchFoe(G.match.opp);
+  zb.fam = zb.foe.fam;                               // ...and the body it wears (config.ZFAMS)
+  G.card = { title: zb.foe.name, sub1: zb.foe.line, color: UI.hot, t: 2.4 };
   zb.hp = zb.hpMax = TUNE.matchOppHp;   // a FLAT pool: with regicide gone the body is pure
                                         // scoreboard (a quarter per point), so a deeper pool would
                                         // change nothing — the ladder escalates in racketAI instead

src/config.js

@@ -667,22 +667,23 @@ export const BOSS_ART = [
 export const bossArt = ch => ch % 10 === 0 ? BOSS_ART[BOSS_ART.length - 1]
   : BOSS_ART[(ch - 1 - Math.floor(ch / 10)) % (BOSS_ART.length - 1)];
 
-// ---- THE MATCH LADDER. Zombie tennis walks the SAME dead club staff onto the court as the gore
-// mode's chapter bosses — the roster is the joke, and it is worth telling twice: in gore they come
-// for you, here they play you at tennis. So rung N takes design N's NAME (bossArt, champion on
-// ten) and a PERSONALITY, and the body stays the racket zombie's, which is the one drawn to play.
+// ---- THE MATCH OPPONENTS. In zombie tennis you play a SEQUENCE of opponents, one game each:
+// opponent 1, opponent 2, and so on. This is that list. It walks the SAME dead club staff onto the
+// court as the gore mode's chapter bosses — the roster is the joke and it is worth telling twice:
+// in gore they come for you, here they play you at tennis. So opponent N takes design N's NAME
+// (bossArt, the champion on ten) and a PERSONALITY.
 //
 // A personality is DIALS, not new mechanics: every field below multiplies a number racketAI and the
-// return shaping already read, so a rung is a data row and never a branch. All optional.
+// return shaping already read, so an opponent is a data row and never a branch. All optional.
 //   pace   scale on its returns' speed        wide   scale on how far off centre they may land
 //   flub   scale on its whiff chance          speed  scale on how fast it covers the ground
 //   line   the personality, said once, on the name plate as it walks on
-//   fam    which SPRITE FAMILY this rung wears (config.ZFAMS). Absent = the club pro's body, 'r'.
-//          This is the payoff of _master.py --variant: generate an opponent, add its key to ZFAMS,
-//          name it on a rung, and that rung is a different body all the way down its wound ladder.
+//   fam    which SPRITE FAMILY this opponent wears (config.ZFAMS). Absent = the club pro's body.
+//          This is the payoff of _master.py --variant: generate a body, add its key to ZFAMS,
+//          name it here, and that opponent walks on as it — through all three wound stages.
 //   short  8 characters, because that is the board's name slot — the match board names
 //          the thing you are playing instead of calling it THEM
-const LADDER_TRAITS = [
+const OPPONENTS = [
   { short: 'KEEPER', line: 'HE MOWED THIS LAWN FOR THIRTY YEARS.', speed: 0.85, pace: 0.9, wide: 0.85 },
   { short: 'JUDGE', line: 'EVERY BALL OF YOURS IS OUT.',          wide: 1.25, flub: 0.8 },
   { short: 'UMPIRE', line: 'HE WILL NOT BE OVERRULED.',            speed: 1.1, flub: 0.7 },
@@ -694,11 +695,11 @@ const LADDER_TRAITS = [
   { short: 'SELLER', line: 'WITH CREAM.',                          pace: 1.1, speed: 1.1, wide: 1.15 },
   { short: 'CHAMPION', line: 'HE RETURNS EVERYTHING.',               pace: 1.25, speed: 1.3, wide: 1.25, flub: 0.5 },
 ];
-// Rung N's identity. The chapter roster's own walk is reused wholesale (bossArt), so the champion
-// lands on rung 10 exactly as he lands on chapter 10 and the two rosters can never drift apart.
-export const matchRung = n => {
+// Who opponent N is. The chapter roster's own order is reused wholesale (bossArt), so the champion
+// lands on opponent 10 exactly as he lands on chapter 10 and the two rosters can never drift apart.
+export const matchFoe = n => {
   const art = bossArt(n), i = BOSS_ART.indexOf(art);
-  return { name: art.name, key: 'L' + i, fam: 'r', ...LADDER_TRAITS[i] };
+  return { name: art.name, key: 'L' + i, fam: 'r', ...OPPONENTS[i] };
 };
 
 // ---- THE SPRITE BENCH's stops (back room only, see beats.startBench). Each is either an ANIMATED
@@ -727,7 +728,9 @@ export const BENCH_STAGES = ['HEALTHY', 'ARM OFF', 'HEADLESS'];
 // needs the names — the preloader, drawZombie's wound lookup, the sprite bench — derives them from
 // this table rather than spelling them out. That is the whole point: 31 hand-written filenames in a
 // preload list is 31 chances to typo one and have a body silently vanish for a frame.
-export const ZFAMS = ['r'];
+// 'br' is THE BRUTE, generated with _master.py --variant off the master sheets — the same creature
+// the gore mode's 'g' shambler is, now playing tennis: twice the width, a racket lost in one fist.
+export const ZFAMS = ['r', 'br'];
 const POSES = ['bounce', 'toss', 'serve', 'fall1', 'fall2', 'fall3', 'rise'];
 export const famFrames = f => [
   `z_${f}1`, `z_${f}2`, `z_${f}3`, `z_${f}4`,          // stance, shuffle A, shuffle B, forehand
@@ -765,12 +768,12 @@ export const ENEMIES = {
 for (let i = 0; i < BOSS_ART.length; i++)      // the chapter bosses, named where they already are
   ENEMIES['B' + i] = { name: BOSS_ART[i].name, spr: BOSS_ART[i].walk[0], boss: true,
     sub: i === BOSS_ART.length - 1 ? 'THE FINAL · EVERY TENTH CHAPTER' : 'CHAPTER BOSS' };
-// ...and the same roster again as MATCH opponents ('L0'..), because that is who walks on in zombie
-// tennis. Separate keys, not shared ones: the two are different fights with different bodies, they
-// are counted on different screens now (the mode split in stats.js), and one row cannot mean both.
+// ...and the same roster again as MATCH opponents, because that is who walks on in zombie tennis.
+// Separate keys, not shared ones: the two are different fights with different bodies, they are
+// counted on different screens (the mode split in stats.js), and one row cannot mean both. The 'L'
+// prefix is kept as-is because it is written into saved run records — renaming it would orphan them.
 for (let i = 0; i < BOSS_ART.length; i++)
-  ENEMIES['L' + i] = { name: BOSS_ART[i].name, spr: 'z_r1', ladder: true,
-    sub: LADDER_TRAITS[i].line };
+  ENEMIES['L' + i] = { name: BOSS_ART[i].name, spr: 'z_r1', sub: OPPONENTS[i].line };
 
 // Which wound stage a body is in: 0 = unhurt, 1..n = the skins, spread evenly over its full health.
 // This is the rule the chapter boss already used, and it turns out to reproduce the brute's old

src/gameplay.js

@@ -154,7 +154,7 @@ function doHit(ch, quality, aim) {
     // rungs take it back.
     // ...and the RUNG's own pace trait rides on top, inside the cap: full pace is still the ceiling,
     // a rung just gets there sooner or later than the flat ladder would (see matchRung in config).
-    s *= Math.min(1, (TUNE.matchOppPace + (G.match.opp - 1) * TUNE.matchOppPacePer) * (ch.rung?.pace || 1));
+    s *= Math.min(1, (TUNE.matchOppPace + (G.match.opp - 1) * TUNE.matchOppPacePer) * (ch.foe?.pace || 1));
   }
   if (G.match) {
     // THE OPPONENT'S WIDTH IS THE LADDER'S THIRD DIAL. Its returns scatter off aimError x (1 - 0.55
@@ -162,7 +162,7 @@ function doHit(ch, quality, aim) {
     // balls". Opponent one keeps its returns inside matchWideBase of the centre line; each rung
     // earns matchWidePer more width, so the line-painting is the LATE ladder, not the opening one.
     if (ch.side !== 'P') {
-      const wide = (TUNE.matchWideBase + (G.match.opp - 1) * TUNE.matchWidePer) * (ch.rung?.wide || 1);
+      const wide = (TUNE.matchWideBase + (G.match.opp - 1) * TUNE.matchWidePer) * (ch.foe?.wide || 1);
       tx = Math.max(-wide, Math.min(wide, tx));
     }
     // THE PLACEMENT, MADE VISIBLE: your aimed rally hit stamps its landing point, and render draws a
@@ -1050,7 +1050,7 @@ function racketAI(rz, dt) {
     // 2.8 m/s lumber was tuned for one sudden-death point against a fresh player, and across a
     // whole game it read as "very weak and slow": opponent one already moves at matchSpeedBase.
     const spd = TUNE.racketSpeed * (G.match ? (TUNE.matchSpeedBase + (G.match.opp - 1) * TUNE.matchSpeedPer)
-                                                * (rz.rung?.speed || 1) : 1);
+                                                * (rz.foe?.speed || 1) : 1);
     const step = Math.min(spd * dt, d);
     rz.dist = (rz.dist || 0) + step; // ground covered — his walk cycle steps off this, not the clock
     rz.x += dx / d * step; rz.z += dz / d * step; rz.runT += dt;
@@ -1062,7 +1062,7 @@ function racketAI(rz, dt) {
       && ball.y < CONTACT.maxY && ball.y > CONTACT.minY) {
     // ...and the match has its OWN flub base: the duel's 0.2 hands a fifth of all returns away,
     // which across a game is an opponent that beats itself.
-    const flub = G.match ? TUNE.matchFlub * Math.pow(TUNE.matchFlubKeep, G.match.opp - 1) * (rz.rung?.flub || 1)
+    const flub = G.match ? TUNE.matchFlub * Math.pow(TUNE.matchFlubKeep, G.match.opp - 1) * (rz.foe?.flub || 1)
                         : TUNE.racketFlub;
     if (Math.random() < flub) rz.swingCool = 0.5; // whiff — it hesitates (rarer per rung of the ladder)
     else { rz.swingT = TUNE.swingWindup + TUNE.swingWindow / 2; trySwing(rz, true, TUNE.racketQMax); rz.swingT = -1; rz.swingCool = 0.3; }

src/render.js

@@ -2142,9 +2142,9 @@ export function render() {
   // Silkscreen pixel font — no code-drawn slots or bevels painted on top of the art.
   ctx.textBaseline = 'middle';
   // ...and the match names the thing across the net rather than calling it THEM. Eight characters,
-  // which is the name slot — see `short` on the ladder rows.
-  const rung = G.match && zombies.find(z => z.variant === 'r' && z.rung);
-  const names = G.match ? ['YOU', (rung && rung.rung.short) || 'THEM']
+  // which is the name slot — see `short` on the opponent rows in config.
+  const foe = G.match && zombies.find(z => z.variant === 'r' && z.foe);
+  const names = G.match ? ['YOU', (foe && foe.foe.short) || 'THEM']
     : splat ? ['YOU', 'THEM'] : ['YOU', 'CPU'];
   for (let i = 0; i < 2 && !benchOn; i++) {
     const cy = 12 + i * 18, svr = (score.server === 'P') === (i === 0);           // rows aligned to the art's two bands

src/stats.js

@@ -232,7 +232,7 @@ export function drawStats(period, v, mode = MODE_GORE) {
   const d = read(period, undefined, mode);
   const $ = id => document.getElementById(id);
   $('stPeriod').textContent = period === 'last' ? 'LAST RUN' : period === '7d' ? '7 DAYS' : 'ALL TIME';
-  $('stTitle').textContent = mode === MODE_MATCH ? 'THE LADDER'
+  $('stTitle').textContent = mode === MODE_MATCH ? 'OPPONENTS FELLED'
     : mode === MODE_CLASSIC ? 'THE RECORD' : 'BODY COUNT';
   const figs = mode === MODE_MATCH
     ? [['FELLED', n(d.kills)], ['DEEPEST', n(d.longest)], ['RUNS', n(d.matches)]]

src/zombies.js

@@ -491,10 +491,10 @@ function killZombie(i, quiet) {
   // down, so it earns a row. The barrel is loot and scores nothing anywhere else in the game —
   // keep that agreement here too. A chapter boss files under its DESIGN, so the screen can name
   // the one that has been killing you.
-  // A MATCH OPPONENT FILES UNDER ITS RUNG, not under the generic body it wears: the ladder screen
-  // is a list of who you have felled, and 'r' is a body, not a name. zb.rung is set by matchOpponent.
+  // A MATCH OPPONENT FILES UNDER WHO IT IS, not under the generic body it wears: the screen is a
+  // list of who you have felled, and 'r' is a body, not a name. zb.foe is set by matchOpponent.
   if (zb.variant !== 'o')
-    tally(zb.rung ? zb.rung.key
+    tally(zb.foe ? zb.foe.key
       : zb.variant === 'B' ? 'B' + Math.max(0, BOSS_ART.indexOf(zb.art))
       : zb.variant, CAUSE);
   zombies.splice(i, 1);