Make every weapon hurt the boss, drop his HP bar, un-cap the director

Steps 1-3 of the late-game depth plan, after Oliver's 50+ game playtest.

"Sometimes the racket zombie doesn't seem harmable" was real, not a feeling.
Three of the five rack slots did nothing at all to him and said nothing about
it: TRIPLE side balls skipped him, GUN and horde pellets skipped him, fire
couldn't ignite him. BOMB meanwhile deleted him outright ignoring his hp. All
of it now routes through one wound() with a TUNE.dmg* table, so damage is
proportional to the body and a future 20 hp boss needs no new code. Fractional
damage banks on zb.chip so whole points only come off hp — the wound skins
switch on hp thresholds. His contact radius goes to 0.7 m, because part of
"unharmable" was just missing him. Melee still skips him and that's correct:
he's on the far side of the net and melee can't span it.

The HP bar is gone. It was the only floating UI on a body, it was on screen
for nearly the whole run, and nobody knew what it meant — while the wound
skins already say the same thing in the language every other multi-hit enemy
uses. A one-per-run modal explains what he is instead. Skins and bleed anchors
now read a fraction of hpMax, since his hp scales with the run.

And the plateau: every difficulty dial bottomed out by about game 12, so games
12-50 were arithmetically identical. Body cap, spawn gap, shamble speed,
variant mix, boss hp and horde size all keep climbing now, calibrated to track
the old curve through game 12 rather than replace it. One deliberate exception:
shamble speed was time-based and maxed during game 2, so the early game is
genuinely gentler now — zSpeedPerGame if that reads flabby.

HANDOFF carries the full spec for steps 4 and 5 (ranged attacks with player
damage, then chapter bosses) including the decisions we settled, so the next
session can pick it up cold.

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

HANDOFF.md

@@ -5,9 +5,10 @@ everything they specified is shipped, and what still matters from them is record
 long history, `~/.claude/projects/.../memory/splatter-tennis-history.md` is auto-loaded; for the
 detail of any individual change, read the git log.
 
-Last updated 2026-07-30 after Oliver playtested the fixes. All eight retest issues are closed and
-recorded at the bottom with what the fix was, because each one is a trap worth not re-digging.
-Issue 1's first fix was **vetoed on feel and replaced** — read that entry before touching movement.
+Last updated 2026-07-30, mid-way through the **late-game depth work** after Oliver's 50+ game
+playtest. Steps 1-3 of that plan are DONE; **steps 4 and 5 are the next job and are specified in
+full at the bottom of this file** — start there. Everything from the earlier retest rounds is closed
+and recorded below it.
 
 ## What this is
 SNES-style pseudo-3D tennis (Super Tennis reference) that transitions into a zombie splatter game
@@ -61,6 +62,33 @@ zombie. Getting caught = `G.mode='eaten'` = permadeath, and the run summary is t
   While `m.in < 1`, `dismissModal` **returns true without dismissing** — it swallows the gesture but
   won't let a panic tap that was already mid-air skip a popup nobody has read. Returning false there
   would drop that tap through into a serve instead.
+- **The difficulty director lives in `updateZombies`'s spawn block + `spawnZombie` + `pickVariant`,
+  and every dial is keyed on `G.runGames`.** It is the thing that broke first: as shipped, ALL of it
+  bottomed out by about game 12 (body cap pinned at 14, spawn gap floored at 1.0 s, variant mix frozen
+  at exactly 0.42 advanced, shamble speed maxed after 105 *seconds* of splatter, boss stuck at 3 hp,
+  every horde identical). Oliver played 50+ games and reported the plateau; games 12-50 were
+  arithmetically the same game. All six now keep climbing — see the TUNE block marked
+  THE DIFFICULTY DIRECTOR. Calibration rule: the curve must **track the old values through ~game 12**
+  and only then extend, or you have silently nerfed the part of the game that was already fine.
+  The raw dials do run out around game 25 by design; bosses and ranged attacks (steps 4-5) are what
+  carry escalation past that, not more bodies.
+- **`wound(zb, amount, fx)` in zombies.js is the ONE place damage is applied to a multi-hit body.**
+  Fractional amounts are legal (a pellet chips `TUNE.dmgPellet` = 0.34 of a point); they bank on
+  `zb.chip` and only WHOLE points come off `zb.hp`, because the wound skins and `bleed()` anchors
+  switch on hp thresholds and a fractional hp would never match one. It returns true when the body
+  should die and the CALLER kills it — `splatter()` when the kill should get the multi-kill fanfare,
+  `killZombie()` for a quiet one — after which the caller must stop touching `zb`, because
+  `killZombie` splices the array. A boss with 20 hp therefore needs no new damage code at all.
+- **Boss damage state is read as a FRACTION of `zb.hpMax`, never against literal hp numbers.**
+  `spawnRacketZombie` scales hp with `TUNE.racketHpPerGame` and stores `hpMax`. Two places switch on
+  it and they MUST stay in step: `drawZombie`'s skins (`<= 0.34` headless `z_cw2`, `<= 0.67` torn-arm
+  `z_cw1`) and `bleed()`'s wound anchors. The old hardcoded `hp === 2` left a scaled boss looking
+  pristine until the killing blow.
+- **The racket boss has NO health bar, deliberately.** It was the only floating UI on a body anywhere,
+  it was on screen for nearly the whole run (a boss respawns every game you win), and players did not
+  know what it meant. The wound skins already encode the same information in the language every other
+  multi-hit enemy uses. A one-per-run modal (`G.seen.racket`, fired from `spawnRacketZombie`) explains
+  what he *is* instead. Do not re-add a bar; give a new boss more wound stages.
 - **`UI` in config.js is the accent palette** (hot/warm/pick/cream/dim/bad/ball). Every HUD colour
   goes through it. Gore reds are deliberately NOT in it — the splatter stays loud.
 - **`F(size, bold)` in render.js builds every canvas font string.** Bare `monospace` resolves to
@@ -203,6 +231,152 @@ Known generator quirks, all still true:
 
 ---
 
+# NEXT UP — late-game depth (agreed with Oliver 2026-07-30)
+
+He has played 50+ games. Verdict: **nothing new happens after about game 30.** The measured cause is
+in the invariants above — every difficulty dial bottomed out by game 12. Steps 1-3 removed the flat
+line; **steps 4 and 5 are the actual content and are NOT built yet.** Step 6 is parked by his
+decision. Read this whole section before starting: the decisions in it were argued out and settled,
+and re-litigating them wastes his time.
+
+## Settled design decisions (do not reopen)
+
+- **Contact still kills outright. This was explicitly decided.** Player HP is a SEPARATE channel that
+  only ranged attacks touch. A shambler reaching you is still `G.mode = 'eaten'`, still permadeath,
+  still the whole run over. Oliver: *"keep the instant death separate"*. The reason: two threats that
+  demand two different responses is the depth; making contact chip instead of kill would make the game
+  easier and lose the dread that carries it.
+- **Player health is his SHIRT, not a bar.** Tennis whites going progressively bloodier, plus
+  `bleed()` on the player once wounded. No HUD box, no meter, no number — same reasoning that removed
+  the boss's HP bar (see invariants). This is the aesthetic rule for this game: state is expressed in
+  the art or in tennis furniture, never in floating UI.
+- **Healing happens by winning a sudden-death duel.** That finally gives the duel a reason to be
+  WANTED rather than just being a weapon vending machine.
+- **Step 6 is parked.** The crowd turning into zombies and the ball-boy-zombie-who-catches-your-balls
+  were both discussed; Oliver: *"for 6 that's my least favourite one and we should park it"*. Do not
+  build them. They are recorded at the bottom only so the idea isn't lost.
+
+## Step 4 — ranged attacks and player damage (NOT BUILT)
+
+The point of this step: it is the only idea on the list that adds a **new verb**. Every other option
+adds more of what the player already does. The player's whole vocabulary today is pull-aim-fire,
+panic-swish, pick a tin, walk during a rally.
+
+**The cheap insight to build on: a thrown projectile IS just a ball hit by the other side.**
+`trySwing` already implements "an incoming ball, a generous volley window, time it or eat it", and
+`VOLLEY` already widens reach ×1.4 / window ×1.8 for a pre-bounce contact. A thrower is therefore
+much closer to "a racket zombie that serves at you" than to a new system. Reuse that path rather than
+writing a projectile-dodging mechanic from scratch.
+
+Deliver it as the **rogue ball machine** — Oliver's own idea and the most on-brand thing in the list,
+because a ball machine is *real tennis furniture*. Suggested shape:
+- A new variant (`'m'`?) that does NOT shamble: it parks on the far court and fires at you on a cycle.
+- It must **telegraph**: a wind-up pose plus a sound, far enough ahead that a phone player with one
+  thumb can react. Reuse the `shriek()` fairness-contract pattern the runner already uses.
+- Returning the shot is a normal swing/volley. Missing it costs one point of player HP and starts the
+  bleed. It must never be an instant kill — that is what contact is for.
+- Because it doesn't walk, it never reaches your baseline, so it can't score for THEM by crossing —
+  it has to be a standing threat you choose when to deal with. That makes it a target-priority
+  decision, which is new.
+
+Player-state plumbing this needs (none of it exists yet):
+- `G.hp` / `G.hpMax` on the `G` object in state.js, reset per run.
+- The bloodied-shirt skins: new `p_*` sprites per wound stage, resolved in `drawChar` exactly the way
+  `drawZombie` resolves boss skins — **as a fraction of hpMax, not against literal hp numbers**
+  (see invariants; this trap has already been hit once).
+- `bleed()` currently takes a zombie; it will need to work for the player, or get a sibling.
+- Healing in `resolveInterlude('P')`, alongside `deliverTin()`.
+- The eaten/run-summary path must still work when death comes from HP reaching zero rather than from
+  contact — check `G.eatenAt`, `playerGore()`, and the `localStorage` best-run write.
+
+## Step 5 — chapter bosses every 10 games (NOT BUILT — Oliver's favourite)
+
+*"my favourite - we need spectacular new sprites for the bosses and his wounds"*
+
+Why this is worth the most: it gives the run **chapters**, and it fixes a real economy problem —
+tins arrive every 3 games forever (`duelFirst` 2, `duelEvery` 3), so there is currently no reason to
+bank anything. A rare wall you must save weapons for is what turns the rack into a decision.
+
+- Every 10 games. Escalating each time: more hp, bigger, more wound stages, and — once step 4 exists
+  — it uses ranged attacks too, so escalation becomes numbers rather than new mechanics.
+- **The damage model is already ready for this.** `wound()` + `hitR()` + the `TUNE.dmg*` table mean a
+  boss is just a bigger `hp` number and every weapon stays proportional. Verified: a 9 hp body takes
+  3 off per bomb, ~3 pellets per point, 1 per side ball. Do not add per-boss damage special cases.
+- **Bigger is free**: the brute already renders at 2.7 m against a shambler's 1.8 m, so sprite scale
+  is an existing, proven lever.
+- **The always-present racket zombie must stop being "the boss" first**, or a real boss will not read
+  as special. Today `splatPoint` respawns one every single game you win. Decide: does the mini-boss
+  become rarer, or get renamed/re-skinned as an ordinary "opponent" while the chapter boss is a
+  distinct thing?
+- Sprite work is the bulk of this step and it is Oliver's stated priority. Follow the asset pipeline
+  section above exactly: `generate-image` in EDIT mode with the existing sheet as `--input` is what
+  makes a new sheet match, magenta background, then `_slice.py` (frames) or `_key.py` (standalone).
+  Wound stages must be generated as a SET so they colour-match — and remember a wound stage's height
+  must always come from its A frame or it pops.
+
+## Parked (step 6) — do not build without asking
+
+- **The crowd turning.** Mechanically it is "spawn from the stands instead of the far baseline", i.e.
+  attacks arriving from behind and beside you, which breaks the one assumption the whole game rests
+  on. Highest spectacle-per-line available, and `x_crowd`/`x_crowd2` already exist. Oliver's least
+  favourite; parked.
+- **The ball-boy zombie that catches your balls.** Denies your best lane, forcing target priority.
+  Parked with the above.
+
+---
+
+# CLOSED — the 50-game plateau, steps 1-3 (2026-07-30)
+
+### Racket zombie's HP bar removed
+See invariants. Replaced by a one-per-run "IT HAS A RACKET / IT RETURNS YOUR WEAK SHOTS / ONLY A FULL
+PULL WOUNDS IT" modal from `spawnRacketZombie`, gated on `G.seen.racket`.
+
+### "Sometimes the racket zombie doesn't seem harmable" — it was real, not a feeling
+Three of the five rack slots did **nothing at all** to him, silently:
+`TRIPLE` side balls skipped him (`variant === 'r'` → continue), `GUN`/horde pellets skipped him, and
+fire spread could not ignite him. Meanwhile `BOMB` deleted him outright ignoring hp. All fixed via the
+new `TUNE.dmg*` table and `wound()`. Verified numerically: 9 pellets kill a 3 hp boss, one side ball
+takes 1 hp and is consumed, a weak side ball does nothing (correct — the `zSplatQ` gate), a bomb takes
+3 off, and he now catches fire from a burning neighbour and cooks to death in 3.6 s at
+`bossBurnMul` 0.4.
+- **`hitR(zb)` gives him a 0.7 m contact radius** (shambler 0.55, brute 0.75) — part of "unharmable"
+  was simply missing him.
+- **Melee is still skipped, and that is correct, not an oversight.** The player is bounded at
+  `P_BOUNDS.zMin` = 13.1 and the boss holds `z <= COURT.svcFar` = 5.5, so they are always on opposite
+  sides of the net and `meleeRange` 1.7 can never span it. Don't "fix" an unreachable path.
+- **A sub-threshold ball still passes through him on purpose** so `racketAI` can rally it back. That
+  rally IS the feedback that the pull wasn't hard enough, so there is deliberately no clank there.
+
+### The director un-capped
+Old vs new, verified in-browser (gap s / body cap / speed m/s / advanced share / boss hp):
+
+```
+       gap        cap       speed      nasty      bossHp
+g 1  2.59/2.78   3/4     0.79/1.75   0.03/—      3/3
+g10  1.15/1.00  12/13    1.61/1.75   0.30/0.27   4/3
+g12  1.03/1.00  13/14    1.79/1.75   0.36/0.42   4/3
+g20  0.71/1.00  21/14    2.52/1.75   0.60/0.42   5/3
+g30  0.52/1.00  24/14    2.73/1.75   0.75/0.42   6/3
+g50  0.35/1.00  24/14    2.73/1.75   0.75/0.42   9/3
+```
+- The spawn gap is **hyperbolic** now (`zSpawnEvery / (1 + games * zSpawnAccel)`) so it keeps
+  tightening instead of hitting a floor; `zSpawnMin` is only a safety stop.
+- **Known, deliberate early-game change:** shamble speed used to be TIME-based (`splatT / 70`) and
+  maxed out after 105 seconds of splatter — i.e. during game 2 — so it was never a progression lever
+  and every early shambler already walked at top speed. It is games-based now, which makes games 1-10
+  genuinely gentler than before. Oliver has not playtested that yet; if the on-ramp feels flabby the
+  knob is `zSpeedPerGame`.
+- Hordes scale with sets banked (`hordeGrow`) — length AND spawn rate. **`TUNE.zHordeCap` = 34 is
+  required**: a horde deliberately ignores the director cap, and with growth a late wave asks for
+  ~120 spawns where the old fixed 12 s x 2.5/s could only ask for 30. A 41-body court showed up in the
+  soak before the cap went in.
+
+### Regression net after all of it
+30 tapped tennis points = 50 hits / 0 whiffs (unchanged). 40-game splatter soak: no exceptions,
+`mgT` drains to 0, gore 40 / piles 30 / bodies capped at exactly 34.
+
+---
+
 # CLOSED — Oliver's 35-game retest (2026-07-27), all fixed 2026-07-30
 Kept because each one is a trap worth not re-digging. Every fix was verified in the browser via
 `window.T`; the numbers quoted are from those runs.