diff --git a/HANDOFF.md b/HANDOFF.md
index 79fca04..364f31e 100644
--- a/HANDOFF.md
+++ b/HANDOFF.md
@@ -397,6 +397,55 @@ Known generator quirks, all still true:
- **Colour-match any regenerated frame** of an existing pair before shipping: fit a per-channel
linear map onto the original's mean and sd, then verify with a mean-difference number.
+## Session log: the art-resolution pass (2026-07-31)
+
+**What changed.** The whole character roster was redrawn at real pixel-art resolution, plus a batch
+of gameplay fixes. Everything is on `main` and deployed; the start screen shows a BUILD timestamp
+so a phone can be checked against `git log -1 --format=%cd`.
+
+Gameplay this session: the horde machine-gun buffed until a grown wave is survivable (rate scales
+with hordeGrow, fat pellets, 2 hp each) and `hordeRate` raised to leave a standing crowd behind;
+the steward ('d') added as an ordinary body between shambler and brute; a pending horde can no
+longer fire into a boss fight; bodies stopped blinking on the way in (negative-z modulo); the ball
+machine rolls, dents, and dies as machinery with smoke; the player's death is five drawn frames
+with the crowd converging and dispersing; wounded bodies walk; side-on zombies mirror when they
+walk right; the racket zombie's cycle steps off ground covered.
+
+**The lesson that cost the most.** The prompt sets the art resolution, and I set it wrong for
+eleven sheets by asking for "big chunky pixel blocks, flat colour, no shading". See pipeline note 9.
+
+**The lesson that cost the second most.** THE REFERENCE SHEET IS WHAT THE GENERATOR COPIES. Building
+it out of the sprites you are trying to change reproduces exactly what you wanted gone — a
+front-facing player stayed front-facing and a side-on runner stayed side-on through three retries
+each. `_regen_batches.json` supports `ref_only` for this: the frames it LOOKS at, separate from the
+frames it replaces. Draw the back view from the one true back-view frame; draw a front-facing
+sprint from a front-facing zombie.
+
+**Anything that must stay pixel-identical between two frames: do it in code, not in a prompt.** The
+brute's wound moved between his two feet across three separate regeneration attempts. B frames are
+mirrors of their A frame now.
+
+**Known limitations, in priority order for the next session:**
+- `z_gwb` (brute, one arm gone, dragging the pole) is a LEG-BAND mirror of `z_gw`, because a whole
+ frame mirror swaps the pole into the other hand. A leg mirror keeps both feet in the same two
+ positions, so it reads as a leg swap rather than a stride. The fix that worked for the shamblers:
+ generate the second frame as a PASSING pose (feet together under the body, one knee lifted) with
+ the prop explicitly in the same hand — a walk needs the foot GAP to open and close, which is the
+ measurement to check (`z_aw` 75px -> `z_awb` 65px is a real stride; equal gaps are not).
+- Brute damage stage 3 was drawn slimmer than the others once; watch that the four stages keep one
+ body size (they are drawn from `z_g1` in two sheets now).
+- "Player looks transparent while running" was reported and then reported gone. Never reproduced:
+ the run frames have zero semi-transparent pixels and every globalAlpha in render.js is
+ save/restore'd. If it returns, establish first whether the court shows THROUGH him (sprite) or he
+ flickers (renderer).
+- The chapter bosses, the judge, the ball machine and the weapon icons were deliberately NOT
+ redrawn — Oliver named them as already right.
+
+**A sprite's drawn size comes from its TOTAL height**, so anything held above the head eats into the
+body. The serve frames were 29% racket by height and the man came out a fifth too small; they are
+scaled so the BODY matches the standing frame (98% of sprite height) and the racket overhangs. Check
+this on any new pose with a raised prop.
+
## Gotchas learned the hard way
- **Stale ES modules are the #1 time sink.** python http.server sends no cache headers, so an edited
module often loads STALE. `preview_stop`/`preview_start` only helps if the port actually changes,
diff --git a/assets/z_gwb.png b/assets/z_gwb.png
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diff --git a/index.html b/index.html
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@@ -97,6 +97,6 @@
-
+