Splatter: the pull IS the shot — direction aims, length is power

The ball economy made it harder in the wrong way: waiting for a ballboy is
friction, not difficulty, and walking with the finger was one gesture too many
for anyone to discover. Both are out — a spent ball hands you a fresh one
again, and the thumb only ever does the slingshot.

The brake moves into the gesture instead. The pull's LENGTH is now the shot's
power and nothing else: under TUNE.zSplatQ it merely staggers, at full draw
it's quality 1.0 with the PERFECT flash and hitstop. A lazy rhythm of short
pulls can't kill anything, so tempo stops being a strategy.

The pull's DIRECTION is a ray, not a landing point, which is the ergonomic fix
for having to drag off the bottom of the phone: distance to the target no
longer costs drag length. The first shambler standing in the lane eats the
ball, whether it's 5 or 21 metres away, and the cone widens with range so
distant lanes stay pickable. Full power now sits at 95px of travel.

Also gone: the free predictive auto-lock on a directionless aim (zombieTarget
returns null with no direction, and a bare hold no longer fires at all). Melee
goes back to cleaving the cluster — it's the panic button — with the 1s
cooldown left in as the brake. The reticle reads power throughout: cool blue
only staggers, hot red kills, the drawn band grows behind you, and the pull
clicks the moment it crosses the kill threshold.

Verified by simulated touch gestures: 10px cancels, 35px = 0.31 (stagger),
60px = 0.60, 95px = 1.00; the same 60px pull reaches shamblers at 5m, 21m and
diagonally; 22 serves in 30s, so the pace is back.

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

input.js

@@ -3,9 +3,10 @@
 // functions at runtime, never during module evaluation.
 
 import { cv } from './dom.js';
-import { audio } from './audio.js';
+import { audio, pock } from './audio.js';
+import { TUNE } from './config.js';
 import { G, score } from './state.js';
-import { keyPressed, dragServe, selectWeapon, serveToss } from './gameplay.js';
+import { keyPressed, dragServe, selectWeapon, serveToss, pullQuality } from './gameplay.js';
 import { rackHit } from './render.js';
 import { togglePanel } from './panel.js';
 
@@ -41,10 +42,8 @@ export function takeFlickAim(maxAgeMs = 450) {
 
 // the two-stage serve: a drag that STARTS at a serveable pretoss aims a visible reticle
 // (G.aim, drawn by render); release fires the serve there, dragging back home cancels.
-// With no ball in hand this is false, so the same drag steers your legs instead — which is
-// exactly what you need then: walking your loose ball down.
 const canAimServe = () =>
-  G.mode === 'splatter' && G.phase === 'pretoss' && !G.loose && !(G.fetchT > 0)
+  G.mode === 'splatter' && G.phase === 'pretoss'
   && score.server === 'P' && G.weapon !== 4 // GUN pops on tap, no reticle
   && !G.interlude && !G.horde && !(G.mgT > 0) && !G.changeover; // the duel serves like tennis: no reticle
 
@@ -62,7 +61,7 @@ cv.addEventListener('touchstart', e => {
     if (!stick) {
       stick = { id: t.identifier, x0: t.clientX, y0: t.clientY, t0: performance.now(),
                 moved: false, aimable: canAimServe() }; // context locked at touch start — a movement drag never morphs into a serve
-      // the reticle appears the moment the thumb lands: mag 0 = auto-target the most advanced
+      // the reticle appears the moment the thumb lands, but mag 0 aims at nothing — you have to pull
       if (stick.aimable) G.aim = { fx: 0, fy: 0, mag: 0 };
       else steerPX = (t.clientX - r.left) / r.width * 2 - 1;
     }
@@ -77,10 +76,14 @@ cv.addEventListener('touchmove', e => {
     if (t.identifier !== stick.id) continue;
     const dx = t.clientX - stick.x0, dy = t.clientY - stick.y0, dist = Math.hypot(dx, dy);
     if (dist > DEAD) stick.moved = true;
-    if (stick.aimable) { // slingshot: PULL BACK, launch forward — aim is the inverse of the drag (home = auto-target)
+    if (stick.aimable) { // slingshot: PULL BACK, launch forward — the shot is the inverse of the drag
       if (dist > DEAD) {
         if (!stick.tossed) { serveToss(); stick.tossed = true; } // the pull kicks off the toss animation
         G.aim = { fx: -dx / dist, fy: -dy / dist, mag: dist };
+        // the moment the pull is strong enough to actually splatter, it clicks — you can feel
+        // where the threshold is without watching the reticle
+        const hot = pullQuality(dist) >= TUNE.zSplatQ;
+        if (hot !== !!stick.hot) { stick.hot = hot; if (hot) pock(0.45, 1250); }
       } else G.aim = { fx: 0, fy: 0, mag: 0 };
       continue;
     }
@@ -98,10 +101,10 @@ const endTouch = e => {
     const dt = performance.now() - stick.t0;
     const dx = t.clientX - stick.x0, dy = t.clientY - stick.y0, dist = Math.hypot(dx, dy);
     const aim = G.aim; G.aim = null; steerPX = null;
-    if (stick.aimable && (stick.moved || dt >= 250)) {                     // two-stage release
-      // a pure HOLD (never moved) fires at the auto-target; a drag fires at the reticle;
-      // a drag walked back home cancels — the tin stays in stock
-      if (aim && (!stick.moved || dist > DEAD * 1.5)) dragServe(aim);
+    if (stick.aimable && stick.moved) {                                    // slingshot release
+      // only a real pull fires — walked back under pullMin, it cancels and nothing is spent.
+      // (a bare hold used to fire at a free auto-target; that was the whole exploit)
+      if (aim && dist >= TUNE.pullMin) dragServe(aim);
     }
     else if (!stick.moved && dt < 250) keyPressed('Space');                // tap
     else if (dt < 300 && dist > 28) {                                      // flick = aimed swing