endless-runner.md

Endless Runner frontend

The Codebase Corridor, F0-F10 and the merged high-fidelity A1–A9 asset pass (coordinator release scope; current headless verification below). Backend integration follows contract 2.2. Installed Godot 4.7.0 results are diagnostic, pending acceptance on the pinned 4.7.1.

Run

Run all commands from the repository root. The project pins Godot 4.7.1; the installed 4.7.0 build is diagnostic only. Graphical commands below are host-only and coordinator-owned; none were run during this documentation pass.

/Applications/Godot.app/Contents/MacOS/Godot --path hoppys-adventure-arcade
/Applications/Godot.app/Contents/MacOS/Godot --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --scene res://scenes/runner/runner_menu.tscn
/Applications/Godot.app/Contents/MacOS/Godot --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --scene res://scenes/runner/runner_game.tscn
/Applications/Godot.app/Contents/MacOS/Godot --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --scene res://scenes/runner/environment/dev/renderer_spike.tscn
/Applications/Godot.app/Contents/MacOS/Godot --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --scene res://scenes/runner/environment/dev/corridor_preview.tscn
/Applications/Godot.app/Contents/MacOS/Godot --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --scene res://scenes/runner/player/dev/hoppy_preview.tscn
/Applications/Godot.app/Contents/MacOS/Godot --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --scene res://scenes/runner/hazards/visuals/dev/hazard_gallery.tscn
/Applications/Godot.app/Contents/MacOS/Godot --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --scene res://scenes/runner/ui/dev/hud_preview.tscn
/Applications/Godot.app/Contents/MacOS/Godot --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --script res://scenes/runner/environment/dev/capture_previews.gd

Development cameras use (0,4,8), looking at (0,1,-8), FOV 60. The menu camera uses (2.6,1.9,3.4), looking at (0,1,-2), FOV 55 with a slow drift. The capture_previews.gd runner_menu fixture writes docs/previews/endless-runner-menu.png; the coordinator recaptured it on the host with Hoppy at (0.7, 0, -0.3), and the latest host recapture is present in the working tree.

Scene	Keys	Action
HUD preview	H / P / Esc	Hit / collect Nitro / toggle pause; the 40 s demo runs automatically
Hazard gallery	Left / Right	Move the contract camera through 19 fixtures (12 hazards, six pickups, pursuer)
Hazard gallery	H / C / R	Hit / clear hazards / reset all visuals
Hazard gallery	P / K / B	Collect pickups / catch / retreat
Hazard gallery	[ / ] or slider	Decrease / increase pursuer threat; slider spans 0..1
Hazard gallery	Space	Pause or resume motion and particles
Hazard gallery	T / 1 / 2 / 3	Toggle telegraph sweep / ground / high / off
Hoppy preview	1-7 / Space	Select idle, run, jump, fall, roll, hurt, dead / cycle
Hoppy preview	[ / ] / A / D	Decrease or increase normalized speed / hold lane lean
Hoppy preview	L / N / C / S / H	Toggle LGTM / Nitro / Code Review / shield / hit flash
Corridor preview	1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7	0 / 4 / 8 / 12 / 16 / 26 / 32 m/s
Corridor preview	P	Toggle pursuit tint
Corridor preview	Space	Toggle pause
Renderer spike	G / F / R	Toggle glow / fog / 50% or 100% 3D resolution

Key 6 reaches the F1 26 m/s acceptance limit; key 7 exercises the Nitro cap. The capture script saves PNGs after RenderingServer.frame_post_draw, measures the corridor at 26 m/s with preview UI hidden, and reports failure above 14 rest draw calls (the 18-call turn budget went with the turn in contract 2.7). The capture script also saves the Hoppy fixture after 1.5 s to docs/previews/endless-runner-hoppy.png. The coordinator produced the 1280x720 environment previews: renderer spike and corridor.

Behavior and ownership

F0-F6 introduced the runner menu, routed full-loop integration, capture fixture and documentation. F7 adds legibility and pursuit presentation, F8 adds boss fights, and F9 adds cinematic turns and stage transitions. F10 sharpens announced corners and boss entrances. Contract 2.7 removed the turns again: the corridor now stays straight (see "Contract 2.7: straight corridor" below), so the turn parts of F9 and F10 are history only. The milestone sections and v2 tables retain their original verification history; the high-fidelity section below records the integrated asset pass and its evidence limits.

The hub routes to RunnerMenu, a Node3D with Backdrop and Interface children. The backdrop mounts the existing corridor at 3.5 m/s and Hoppy in run at normalized speed 0.25. Hoppy stands at (0.7, 0, -0.3), facing -Z with feet at y=0, in the gap between the buttons and controls card. The camera remains at (2.6, 1.9, 3.4), looking at (0, 1, -2), with its existing slow drift. A shaded 1280x720 composition uses the hub Style helpers, mint eyebrow, cream title, numbered buttons, controls card and footer. It centers in larger viewports and scales to fit smaller ones. Play owns initial focus; Up/Down and Tab wrap through the four buttons. Leaderboard reads runner_leaderboard.gd.load_entries() without a game instance, shows ten rank/name/score/mm:ss rows with --- placeholders, disables the other three menu buttons while keeping Leaderboard enabled and focusable, and initially focuses Close. A "Reset scores" button sits beside Close; it is disabled when the board is empty. Pressing "Reset scores" opens a confirmation modal ("RESET ALL SCORES?") with a safe "Keep scores" button (initial focus) and a destructive "Reset" button; focus wraps between the two. If the player confirms, RunnerLeaderboard.clear(leaderboard_path) is called: on success the rows rebuild as placeholders, "Reset scores" is disabled, and Close is focused; on error the confirmation stays open with an error message and focus returns to "Keep scores". Pressing "Keep scores" or pressing ui_cancel while the confirmation is open closes it without resetting, and restores focus to "Reset scores". Pressing Leaderboard again closes the panel. Closing restores Leaderboard focus. ui_cancel closes the confirmation first (if open), then the leaderboard panel, then returns to the hub.

The menu calls the AppRouter singleton directly: Play -> go("runner_game"), Return/cancel -> go("hub"), Quit -> quit_game(). Local singleton references allow standalone --check-only. In gameplay, overlays call only facade pause(), resume(), retry(), go_to_menu(), and submit_name(name). Backend owns physics, collisions, recovery, score, persistence, routes and shared audio. The frontend milestones changed no backend files or project settings. The backend contract PR added the runner [input], [layer_names] and physics_interpolation entries to project.godot.

The teaching layer uses a mint shield for power-ups, an orange wrench for CodeRabbit tools, and a striped DANGER triangle for hazards. GET READY carries the full grab/avoid legend; HOW TO PLAY repeats the three symbols before Play. First power-up collection, tool collection, and unblocked damage each queue one full-copy, kind-bordered 2.4-second hint per run. Boss intros and stage-clear cards defer these hints, including any active hint. The legend closes with GET READY, and no persistent gameplay panel is added. Coordinator capture views get-ready and toast-grab are available; no graphical capture was run.

HUD is on layer 10, PauseMenu 21 and GameOver 22. HUD listens to facade signals, uses responsive margins, counts up score, displays effects and pursuit, dims on pause and hides gameplay widgets on caught. Backend owns damage camera shake. Pause has no ui_cancel handler. Game Over appears only on run_finished, shows result stats and the local top ten, and saves qualifying names through the facade. Save success locks the name field and focuses Retry; failure stays editable. Retry creates a fresh scene. The mock scene demonstrates the same signals in 40 seconds with in-memory persistence.

Player feedback identified the boss name, HP plate and intro card as blocking the corridor vanishing point. Both now share the top-centre slot at x=300..980: the boss plate occupies y=8..64 with a 10-unit HP track, and the intro card occupies y=48..128 with a compact warning/title row and an 18-unit taunt row. Its 48-unit top inset clears the existing cinematic letterbox while remaining wholly above y=130. They are mutually exclusive through the existing three-second intro and spawned-boss handover. The score plate is narrowed to x=1000..1252, with the timer below it at y=140..196 and BACKLOG below that at y=208..272; APPROVALS stays on the left. This keeps the central x=300..980, y=130..480 viewing region clear of persistent boss widgets, preserves outlined panel-backed type, and kept the turn warning at y=536 clear of the pursuit alert (the warning was removed in contract 2.7). Stage-banner and stage-clear timing and layout are unchanged. Headless checks measure final container rects at 1280x720 and 1440x900 against proportionally scaled viewing bounds and check every panel pair, with only the mutually exclusive boss cards allowed to overlap. Existing capture view names are retained for coordinator overwrite of the A7 PNGs.

Hoppy supplies thirteen animations (the seven locomotion/reaction states idle/run/jump/fall/roll/hurt/dead plus six gait one-shots: lane_dash_left, lane_dash_right, land, shield_brace, powerup_react and victory) and every player visual hook, retains feet at y=0 and stands 1.8 m. The roll is a full-size (unscaled) baseball-style low slide that stays within 0.9 m: the builder seats it on the floor and caps the whole skinned pose at 0.885 m. Hurt returns to previous locomotion unless interrupted. Hazards implement all eight kinds and every variant; collision artwork stays within the 110% envelope, while ground projections use exact hitbox footprints. Power-ups supply six types with spin/bob/collection reactions. The pursuer uses threat-driven cards, a trip-and-trap catch and a 0.7 s retreat. On the catch, Hoppy trips on his trailing foot, faceplants and tries to crawl away (player/hifi/knockout_rig.gd, layered over the dead clip). The QUARANTINE drone leaps over him, lands past his head facing the camera, clamps its claws on him at 1.6 s and drops a red containment field (pursuer/hifi/quarantine_field.gdshader) around him until the Game Over panel at caught_sequence_seconds (3.0 s). Shared resources are duplicated before mutation. Cosmetic clocks and particles inherit pause.

The corridor scrolls shaders and recycles 24 pillars over 96 m. Its per-viewport ownership stack restores the previous 3D scale and scaling mode after overlapping menu/game corridors exit. The backend replaces its graybox environment with the mounted corridor. Standalone development fixtures and package checks under tests/assets/ are frontend-owned; other runner tests except runner_visual_smoke.gd remain backend-owned.

High-fidelity asset pass (A1–A9)

Prewarm. The first corridor _ready() calls environment/hifi/prewarm.gd before runner chunks or pickups spawn, skips editor hints, and keeps its static guard across retries and menu/game transitions. A3 hazards/projectile meshes and atlas, A4 pickup maps/templates, shared materials/theme, A8 percussives, jump, boss-intro and run-intro cues, six footsteps and the 8 directional projectile whooshes warm synchronously. runner_audio.bind() relies on that same guarded warmup. A2 plating/circuit/floor and A6 pursuer maps, plus A5 boss maps, generate local Images in four WorkerThreadPool tasks. A1 uses the imported Blender GLB and baked textures; prewarm no longer generates unused fur/cloth maps. Main-thread polling finalizes at most one image package or deferred package per frame; remaining audio recipes and boss glyph/mesh/material preparation are deferred on the main thread. No worker touches scene nodes or ImageTextures. Early boss and pursuer use the original lazy fallback; later finalizers preserve their caches. A2 initially binds neutral 1x1 textures, then installs full images into those same texture objects. Instance-owned animated materials remain private.

Blender cleanup verification (2026-09-22): PREWARM: PASS (311 checks) after removing the unused player maps, census expectation and repeated cache checks. Cold warm() was 722.690 ms, corridor ready 804.826 ms, pending repeat 0.002 ms, completed repeat 0.001 ms. A1/A2/A4/A7 pass with the counts in the table below. Complete commands, outputs and exit codes record this headless run.

Before the Blender cleanup, the coordinator reported the host marker PREWARM: PASS (326 checks), cold warm() approximately 0.67 s, and repeat 0.001 ms. The earlier local headless prewarm check measured 712.276 ms cold, 737.983 ms including corridor ready, 0.002 ms repeat while pending, and 0.001 ms repeat after completion, versus that review's 3,318.868 ms synchronous baseline. It passed 326 checks, including worker/main-thread ownership, critical audio before gameplay, early-boss fallback, complete worker images, populated package census, unchanged texture identities, all ten pickups and corridor retries. These are Godot 4.7.stable.official.5b4e0cb0f CPU/resource measurements, not GPU upload or shader compilation measurements. The dummy renderer retains the initial pixel snapshot after texture replacement; A2 exercises the full lazy image path for pixel/mipmap checks, while prewarm verifies the worker Images and replacement metadata. Graphical appearance, placeholder-to-detail transition and GPU replacement remain unverified. Graphical capture fixtures should wait for Prewarm.is_complete() before reading finished surfaces. Earlier integration findings, per-package timings and verbatim verification retain the pre-cleanup evidence and supersede the older documentation-pass measurements below.

The merged asset pass replaces the earlier primitive presentation with a Blender-authored Hoppy, procedural environment and prop meshes, baked and cached generated textures, shaders and synthesized audio. Each package was developed on its own branch and iterated with an Opus 5 art reviewer until accepted, as reported by the coordinator. Package checks enforce draw, triangle, texture, particle and audio budgets alongside collision envelopes, pause behavior and existing hooks. The coordinator reports that the main docs/previews/endless-runner-*.png previews were recaptured on the host with the new assets; this documentation pass performs no graphical runs.

Evidence boundary: the available package budget sections explicitly report headless resource/geometry censuses, not host GPU measurements. The table transcribes those source numbers without relabeling them as host draws. Host fixtures include backdrop/lighting costs, and A9's 3D viewport counter does not measure its CanvasLayer pass. No corresponding host GPU census transcript is present in these package docs. A3's document, check, capture fixture and saved PNGs are now present. This review ran A3 successfully with 158393 checks; its saved captures and package-reported host results do not constitute a new graphical run.

Paths beginning with tests/ or scenes/ are relative to hoppys-adventure-arcade/; docs/ paths are repository-relative. In the check column, the argument follows "$GODOT" --headless --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --log-file /tmp/asset-aN.log. The table success markers follow the latest package reports and the linked local integration checks; historical verification sections retain their original results.

Asset	Key techniques	Documented census: draws / triangles / textures	Check argument and success marker	Host capture fixture	Preview pattern	Package doc
A1: Hoppy	Blender build/rebuild + atlas pipeline, imported skeleton/actions, baked body/accessory maps, retained hex shield/aura	9 / 45,392 / 8 (2048² body, 1024² accessory atlases)	--script res://tests/assets/a1_check.gd; ASSET A1: FAIL (772 checks): the only failures are the 8 "Compatibility lossless texture import" checks, because the Hoppy atlases import with compress/mode=2 (9773d77)	scenes/runner/player/dev/capture_a1.gd	docs/previews/assets/a1-*.png	A1
A2: Corridor	Layered wall glyph atlas, brushed plating, merged rack batches, calibrated wall/frame/end-wall guards	13 rest, 16 turn / 54,846 / 8 (7 maps + shared wall/particle atlas)	--script res://tests/assets/a2_check.gd; ASSET A2: PASS (425 checks)	scenes/runner/environment/dev/capture_a2.gd	docs/previews/assets/a2-*.png	A2
A3: Hazards + projectiles	Shared relief atlas, forged meshes, pit-depth and exposure guards	Maximum 11 / 5,968 per asset; 3 shared 512² maps + 256² border	--script res://tests/assets/a3_check.gd; ASSET A3: PASS (158393 checks)	scenes/runner/hazards/dev/capture_a3.gd	docs/previews/assets/a3-*.png	A3
A4: Power-ups + tools	Upward beacons, soft rings, distance-aware glyphs, bounded body emission and grab-vs-avoid affordances	7 idle, 8 peak each / up to 2,196 peak triangles / shared relief maps and per-kind glyph textures	--script res://tests/assets/a4_check.gd; ASSET A4: PASS (6035 checks)	scenes/runner/powerups/dev/capture_a4.gd	docs/previews/assets/a4-*.png	A4
A5: Bosses + fight FX	Forged reactor, articulated Hydra, cached metal maps, pooled telegraphs/tracers/numbers	Swarm 11 / 22,080; Hydra 18 / 21,396; Monolith 14 / 6,970; FX pool 22 / 7,716; whole fight 40 draws / 4 shared 256² textures	--script res://tests/assets/a5_check.gd; ASSET A5: PASS (60339 checks)	scenes/runner/boss/dev/capture_a5.gd	docs/previews/assets/a5-*.png	A5
A6: Pursuer	Robotic QUARANTINE hunter: two claws, receivers, lift rotors and a red light; the catch leaps past Hoppy, clamps at 1.6 s and drops a containment field	12 / 3,840 / none	--script res://tests/assets/a6_check.gd; ASSET A6: PASS (209 checks)	scenes/runner/pursuer/dev/capture_a6.gd	docs/previews/assets/a6-*.png	A6
A7: UI	GET READY and menu grab-vs-avoid legend, first-event toasts, SPEED handoff, vector panels/icons and portrait viewport	0 3D draws / 0 mesh tris / 0 procedural maps; 217 CanvasItems and existing 256² portrait viewport (not zero UI GPU cost)	--script res://tests/assets/a7_check.gd; ASSET A7: PASS (1245 checks); HUD LEGIBILITY: PASS (60 labels checked) in visual smoke	scenes/runner/ui/dev/capture_a7.gd	docs/previews/assets/a7-*.png	A7
A8: Audio	Deterministic layered PCM, FM transients, filtered noise, family envelopes, leased reverb/compressor/delay buses	0 / 0 / 0; 32 recipes, 3,901,938 checked PCM bytes, peak 0.789972	--script res://tests/assets/a8_check.gd; ASSET A8: PASS (2333 checks)	scenes/runner/audio/dev/capture_a8.gd	docs/previews/assets/a8-*.png	A8
A9: Post-processing	Single screen-reading shader: grading, grain, vignette, hit aberration, letterbox, speed streaks, Nitro lift	1 fullscreen pass / 2 / 0 generated textures; implicit screen backbuffer copy is additional storage/bandwidth	--script res://tests/assets/a9_check.gd; ASSET A9: PASS (147 checks)	scenes/runner/ui/dev/capture_a9.gd	docs/previews/assets/a9-*.png	A9

A4 peak census includes the collection burst; code_review has the highest triangle count. A5 whole-fight draws are a concurrent budget, not the sum of every boss. A9's current 147-check verification supersedes both the earlier 126- and 134-check transcripts.

Hoppy hero look (recipe 11, joint 17). The runner Hoppy is the Heroes vs. Villains armored hero as a cyberpunk action figure, following the beat 'em up sprites (Assets/heroes-vs-villains-assets-only/frames/hoppy/) and the hero intro art (Assets/beatemup-story/heroes/send_in_the_rabbit.png): a small rabbit head with a cream muzzle and almond eyes, long upright ears (tips at the 1.8 m standing height), a tall V-shaped torso and long limbs (ankle 0.10, knee 0.44, hip 0.80, shoulder 1.15, skull centre 1.335 m). The graphite muscle suit has squared, plated sections with sculpted pecs, abs and shoulder blades plus baked panel lines; graphite armour pauldrons and a chest plate carry the orange rabbit emblem; orange finned gauntlets, fisted gloves and orange boots with a pointed cuff; a brown utility belt with a gold buckle and pouches; and a graphite cape lined in orange with a stand-up collar, deep folds and a five-point jagged hem. Emblems, the chest plate and the LED pads are chamfered meshes from marching-squares contours, wrapped onto the torso, plate or cape by ray casts along smooth normals. The cape hangs on two extra bones (cape, cape_tip, 33 bones in all) that flare with the run, billow in the fall and tuck flat in the slide (Godot-skinned top 0.549 m). The four-segment power-up LED strip sits on the back of the cape, under its rabbit badge. Recipe 11 makes him read badass rather than cute: fierce up-swept almond eyes with glowing amber slit-pupil irises and a heavy black lid, low stern brows, a smirk, an angular cyan HUD visor over the right eye with a temple arm and LED, metal rings on the left ear, and emissive cyan circuit trim on the chest plate, pauldrons, gauntlets, boots and the cape hem. The run is an athletic sprint: forward lean that breathes with each footfall, hip and shoulder counter-twist with a stabilised head, a bigger stride and a hard arm pump carried slightly forward, ears streaming back, and a livelier cape. Gait one-shots layer their torso overlays on top of the run values, so each still ends on its run exit pose. The runtime face idles and runs focused with a confident half-smile. There are no transparent surfaces. The face rig's brow and mouth travel is scaled by FACE_SCALE (0.55) for the smaller face; the jump-tuck guard's hip-to-heel limit is 1.3 thigh lengths. The cape covers the cream tail from behind, so the A1 capture's rear chase views gate only the orange class; cream fur stays gated in the front views and the corridor face check.

Blender pipeline. Authoring and turntable rendering are host-only because Blender crashes in the sandbox. From hoppys-adventure-arcade/, run the rebuild wrapper (which applies the shared atlas layout), render turntables, then import the GLB and baked textures into Godot. Runtime animation is driven by scenes/runner/player/hoppy_runner_visual.gd; Blender is not a runtime dependency. See A1 for provenance and bake details. These commands are documentation only in this cleanup; Blender and graphical scenes were not run.

/Applications/Blender.app/Contents/MacOS/Blender --background --python-exit-code 1 --python tools/blender/rebuild_hoppy.py -- --out Assets/runner/hoppy/hoppy.glb
/Applications/Blender.app/Contents/MacOS/Blender --background --python-exit-code 1 --python tools/blender/render_hoppy.py -- Assets/runner/hoppy/hoppy.glb /tmp/hoppy-turntables
/Applications/Godot.app/Contents/MacOS/Godot --headless --log-file /tmp/a1-import.log --path . --import

Grab-vs-avoid affordance rule. Hazards use DANGER, warning stripes and downward/ground threats. Pickups use mint/orange, upward beacons and soft rings, never DANGER or warning stripes. Power-ups use MINT; tools retain MATRIX sculpture cores with ORANGE frames, beams, rings and glyphs. The A7 legend teaches a mint shield for power-ups, an orange wrench for tools and a striped DANGER triangle for hazards. First-event toasts reinforce collection and unblocked-damage meanings. See A4 and A7.

Run all nine checks from the repository root:

GODOT=/Applications/Godot.app/Contents/MacOS/Godot
"$GODOT" --headless --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --log-file /tmp/asset-a1.log --script res://tests/assets/a1_check.gd
"$GODOT" --headless --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --log-file /tmp/asset-a2.log --script res://tests/assets/a2_check.gd
"$GODOT" --headless --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --log-file /tmp/asset-a3.log --script res://tests/assets/a3_check.gd
"$GODOT" --headless --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --log-file /tmp/asset-a4.log --script res://tests/assets/a4_check.gd
"$GODOT" --headless --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --log-file /tmp/asset-a5.log --script res://tests/assets/a5_check.gd
"$GODOT" --headless --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --log-file /tmp/asset-a6.log --script res://tests/assets/a6_check.gd
"$GODOT" --headless --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --log-file /tmp/asset-a7.log --script res://tests/assets/a7_check.gd
"$GODOT" --headless --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --log-file /tmp/asset-a8.log --script res://tests/assets/a8_check.gd
"$GODOT" --headless --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --log-file /tmp/asset-a9.log --script res://tests/assets/a9_check.gd

Captures are host-only (graphical). Invoke the matching fixture with "$GODOT" --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --script res://<capture-fixture-from-table>, without --headless. Each successful fixture prints its own ASSET AN CAPTURE: PASS marker (N = 1 through 9). A PNG's presence alone does not establish a successful capture run or pinned-engine acceptance.

Contract 2.2 is mounted by the backend: scenes/runner/ui/post_fx.tscn is a PAUSABLE CanvasLayer at layer 9, below HUD layer 10, with an idempotent bind(game). Pursuit vignette and corner bars stay HUD-owned by default (pursuit = false in A9). Explicit handover must disable the HUD drawing before enabling A9 pursuit through set_settings(). The A9 integration fix removes completed tweens from tracking, records only valid running tweens on pause, and resumes only those recorded pauses. Replacement/reset clears both tracking dictionaries, so finished tweens are never replayed.

Known verification caveats: installed Godot 4.7.stable.official.5b4e0cb0f is 4.7.0 diagnostic evidence; final acceptance remains pinned to 4.7.1. The sandbox may fail only the two documented user:// persistence checks: Codex name persists and temporary board contains saved run. Report their actual output and exit code separately from asset PASS markers. macOS certificate-store lookup and editor-settings write errors are environment diagnostics. The coordinator-reported host smoke PASS results in package docs do not replace this pass's local results or establish 4.7.1 acceptance.

Documentation-pass verification (2026-09-21)

Historical import and visual-smoke outputs follow: import exited 0 and visual smoke exited 2 with only the two documented sandbox user:// persistence failures. The superseding current host A9 result is labeled separately below. No graphical scenes were run in this documentation pass. Output is verbatim except for two edits: ANSI color/style escapes were removed from the import transcript, and the local home-directory path in the two editor-settings errors was replaced with ~.

Commands and complete verification output

/Applications/Godot.app/Contents/MacOS/Godot --headless --log-file /tmp/runner-asset-integration-import.log --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --import > /tmp/runner-asset-integration-import.txt 2>&1

Exit 0.

Godot Engine v4.7.stable.official.5b4e0cb0f - https://godotengine.org

ERROR: Condition "ret != noErr" is true. Returning: ""
   at: get_system_ca_certificates (platform/macos/os_macos.mm:1035)
[   0% ] first_scan_filesystem | Started Project initialization (5 steps)
[   0% ] first_scan_filesystem | Scanning file structure...
WARNING: Detected another project.godot at res://Assets/SynthCitiesGodot. The folder will be ignored.
     at: _should_skip_directory (editor/file_system/editor_file_system.cpp:3485)
[  16% ] first_scan_filesystem | Loading global class names...
[  33% ] first_scan_filesystem | Verifying GDExtensions...
[  50% ] first_scan_filesystem | Creating autoload scripts...
[  66% ] first_scan_filesystem | Initializing plugins...
[  83% ] first_scan_filesystem | Starting file scan...
[ DONE ] first_scan_filesystem

[   0% ] loading_editor_layout | Started Loading editor (5 steps)
[   0% ] loading_editor_layout | Loading editor layout...
[  16% ] loading_editor_layout | Loading docks...
[  33% ] loading_editor_layout | Reopening scenes...
[  50% ] loading_editor_layout | Loading central editor layout...
[  66% ] loading_editor_layout | Loading plugin window layout...
[  83% ] loading_editor_layout | Editor layout ready.
[ DONE ] loading_editor_layout

ERROR: Cannot save file '~/Library/Application Support/Godot/editor_settings-4.7.tres'.
   at: save (scene/resources/resource_format_text.cpp:1768)
ERROR: Error saving editor settings to ~/Library/Application Support/Godot/editor_settings-4.7.tres
   at: save (editor/settings/editor_settings.cpp:1525)

/Applications/Godot.app/Contents/MacOS/Godot --headless --log-file /tmp/runner-asset-integration-smoke.log --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --script res://tests/runner_visual_smoke.gd > /tmp/runner-asset-integration-smoke.txt 2>&1

Exit 2.

Godot Engine v4.7.stable.official.5b4e0cb0f - https://godotengine.org

ERROR: Condition "ret != noErr" is true. Returning: ""
   at: get_system_ca_certificates (platform/macos/os_macos.mm:1035)
INTERPOLATION OPT-OUT: PASS (71 nodes)
SPIKE: renderer=gl_compatibility scale=0.5 glow_threshold=0.75 fog=22..88 particles=320
RUNNER DEV SCENES: PASS (12 scenes)
TURN CAMERA ALIGNMENT: direction=-1 p=0.3 angle=10.620 degrees
TURN CAMERA ALIGNMENT: direction=-1 p=0.5 angle=10.620 degrees
TURN CAMERA ALIGNMENT: direction=-1 p=0.7 angle=10.620 degrees
TURN CAMERA ALIGNMENT: direction=+1 p=0.3 angle=10.620 degrees
TURN CAMERA ALIGNMENT: direction=+1 p=0.5 angle=10.620 degrees
TURN CAMERA ALIGNMENT: direction=+1 p=0.7 angle=10.620 degrees
CORRIDOR DRAW CENSUS: rest=11; mid-turn=14 (headless geometry census; host GPU measurement pending)
TURN: PASS
TURN WARNING: PASS
BOSS INTRO: PASS
STAGE SEAM: PASS
BOSS DRAW CENSUS: flaky_test_swarm=11
BOSS DRAW CENSUS: merge_conflict_hydra=18
BOSS DRAW CENSUS: legacy_monolith=14
BOSS VISUALS: PASS (3 checked; peak draw census=18)
TOOLS AND PROJECTILES: PASS
HAZARD DRAW CENSUS: pr_backlog_low/ peak=6
HAZARD DRAW CENSUS: pr_backlog_high/ peak=8
HAZARD DRAW CENSUS: bug_swarm/ peak=6
HAZARD DRAW CENSUS: merge_conflict/ peak=9
HAZARD DRAW CENSUS: deprecated_pit/full peak=8
HAZARD DRAW CENSUS: deprecated_pit/two_lane peak=8
HAZARD DRAW CENSUS: laser_grid/ground peak=8
HAZARD DRAW CENSUS: laser_grid/mid peak=8
HAZARD DRAW CENSUS: laser_grid/high peak=8
HAZARD DRAW CENSUS: laser_grid/timed peak=8
HAZARD DRAW CENSUS: comment_flood/ peak=7
HAZARD DRAW CENSUS: build_shockwave/ peak=6
HAZARD CASES CHECKED: 12; summed peak draw census=90
POWER-UP VISUALS: 6 checked; reuse, collection and pause PASS
PURSUER WALL THREAT 1 MERGED VISIBLE AABB: [P: (-2.778117, 0.058948, -0.300199), S: (5.556236, 1.948992, 1.832372)]
PURSUER VISUAL: threat, catch, retreat, reuse and pause checked
HUD LEGIBILITY: PASS (55 labels checked)
PURSUIT ALERT: PASS
RUNNER UI MOCK: HUD, pursuit, pause, results, focus and save PASS
RUNNER UI REAL FACADE: autostart=false, start_run, autopilot 3s PASS
RUNNER AUDIO: 32 recipes/triggers; demo heartbeat starts=1; peak voices=10; AudioService players=2
WARNING: Runner leaderboard: this run was not written to user://test_runner_menu_leaderboard_97875.cfg (error 12); it keeps rank 0
     at: push_warning (core/variant/variant_utility.cpp:1033)
     GDScript backtrace (most recent call first):
         [0] _finish_run (res://scenes/runner/runner_game.gd:680)
         [1] _physics_process (res://scenes/runner/runner_game.gd:444)
WARNING: Runner leaderboard: cannot rename this run in user://test_runner_menu_leaderboard_97875.cfg (error 33)
     at: push_warning (core/variant/variant_utility.cpp:1033)
     GDScript backtrace (most recent call first):
         [0] submit_name (res://scenes/runner/runner_game.gd:323)
         [1] check_runner_full_loop (res://tests/runner_visual_smoke.gd:1141)
         [2] _wait_for (res://tests/runner_visual_smoke.gd:1077)
VISUAL CHECK FAILED: Codex name persists
VISUAL CHECK FAILED: temporary board contains saved run
RUNNER FULL LOOP: FAIL (menu, play, hit, pursuit, 18.0s timer recovery, hit, hit, caught, finished, game over, Codex, retry, menu, hub, default music; isolated board removed)
RUNNER VISUAL SMOKE: FAIL (2 failures)

Current coordinator-reported host A9 result, superseding this documentation pass's earlier A9 transcript:

ASSET A9: PASS (147 checks)

git diff --check

Exit 0, no output.

Art direction and replacement points

The following v1 inventory records the original replacement contracts. The A1–A9 package documentation above describes the current high-fidelity artwork.

The navy environment and dim MATRIX grid/rain reuse the hub preview palette and perspective motif. Lanes are centered at x -2/0/+2, bounded by lines at x +/-1 and +/-3. F3 hazards use hot DANGER/ORANGE accents; power-ups use MINT icons, rings, sparkles and billboard tags. The pursuer uses NAVY cards turning DANGER with threat. Material cache results must be duplicated before mutation.

Visual	Source	Licence	Replace-by
Hoppy model, animations, and effects	Assets/runner/hoppy/hoppy.glb, authored by tools/blender/build_hoppy.py (rebuild with tools/blender/rebuild_hoppy.py) and instanced under Root/Model by scenes/runner/player/hoppy_runner_visual.tscn; effects live in hoppy_runner_visual.gd. To swap the model, replace the GLB under Root/Model, retain the feet origin, -Z facing and 1.8 m height, keep the thirteen action names, and preserve the scene root, six hooks and effects. Re-bake hifi/hoppy_roll.tres (or set use_baked_roll = false), since the baked roll overrides the GLB's. Re-run the smoke bounds checks and host preview, including the 0.9 m roll (slide).	Original project source	Rigged glTF via the model-swap procedure below.
pr_backlog_low	scenes/runner/hazards/visuals/pr_backlog_low_visual.gd + shared hazard_art.gd: Three rows of navy PR cards, orange/red strips, wobble, hit scatter/fade and mint shrink; AUTO-FIXED.	Original project source	Replace artwork within the existing visual root; retain contract hooks, bounds and pause behavior.
pr_backlog_high	scenes/runner/hazards/visuals/pr_backlog_high_visual.gd + shared hazard_art.gd: Rail and hanging stale/CI cards, sway, hit drop/bounce, mint shrink; exact red footprint plus inset green safe-gap quad.	Original project source	Replace artwork within the existing visual root; retain contract hooks, bounds and pause behavior.
bug_swarm	scenes/runner/hazards/visuals/bug_swarm_visual.gd + shared hazard_art.gd: Red core, six legs, 36 atlas glyph particles, leg jitter and core pop; throw new Error().	Original project source	Replace artwork within the existing visual root; retain contract hooks, bounds and pause behavior.
merge_conflict	scenes/runner/hazards/visuals/merge_conflict_visual.gd + shared hazard_art.gd: HEAD and feature slabs, matrix/lilac strips, pulsing zigzag seam, shake and merged mint box; MERGED.	Original project source	Replace artwork within the existing visual root; retain contract hooks, bounds and pause behavior.
deprecated_pit	scenes/runner/hazards/visuals/deprecated_pit_visual.gd + shared hazard_art.gd: Full and two_lane widths, dark floor, striped rim, falling glyphs, flat deprecated/since labels, rim flash and REMOVED.	Original project source	Replace artwork within the existing visual root; retain contract hooks, bounds and pause behavior.
laser_grid	scenes/runner/hazards/visuals/laser_grid_visual.gd + shared hazard_art.gd: Ground, mid, high and timed; short posts/caps, three additive beams, bounded mint scanner, hit sparks and beam retraction; SCAN PASSED.	Original project source	Replace artwork within the existing visual root; retain contract hooks, bounds and pause behavior.
comment_flood	scenes/runner/hazards/visuals/comment_flood_visual.gd + shared hazard_art.gd: Scrolling speech cards, red translucent volume, burst/fade and fold; one BLOCKING // TODO hero label, RESOLVED.	Original project source	Replace artwork within the existing visual root; retain contract hooks, bounds and pause behavior.
build_shockwave	scenes/runner/hazards/visuals/build_shockwave_visual.gd + shared hazard_art.gd: Elliptical flat torus, red core and shards, ring pulse, white impact and mint fixed reaction; BUILD FIXED.	Original project source	Replace artwork within the existing visual root; retain contract hooks, bounds and pause behavior.
approve_shield	scenes/runner/powerups/visuals/approve_shield_visual.gd + shared power_up_art.gd: Hexagonal mint shield and cream check; APPROVED.	Original project source	Replace artwork within the existing visual root; retain contract hooks, bounds and pause behavior.
auto_fix	scenes/runner/powerups/visuals/auto_fix_visual.gd + shared power_up_art.gd: Mint wrench and cream bolt; AUTO-FIX.	Original project source	Replace artwork within the existing visual root; retain contract hooks, bounds and pause behavior.
lgtm	scenes/runner/powerups/visuals/lgtm_visual.gd + shared power_up_art.gd: Emissive LGTM TextMesh; 5s.	Original project source	Replace artwork within the existing visual root; retain contract hooks, bounds and pause behavior.
nitro	scenes/runner/powerups/visuals/nitro_visual.gd + shared power_up_art.gd: Capsule commit, cream plus, mint flame stream; NITRO COMMIT.	Original project source	Replace artwork within the existing visual root; retain contract hooks, bounds and pause behavior.
super_jump	scenes/runner/powerups/visuals/super_jump_visual.gd + shared power_up_art.gd: Mint coin and cream ^^; SUPER JUMP.	Original project source	Replace artwork within the existing visual root; retain contract hooks, bounds and pause behavior.
code_review	scenes/runner/powerups/visuals/code_review_visual.gd + shared power_up_art.gd: Mint magnifier and cream handle; CODE REVIEW ×1.5.	Original project source	Replace artwork within the existing visual root; retain contract hooks, bounds and pause behavior.
Power-up tags (all six)	Shared power_up_art.gd: tags are approximately 0.2 m tall and up to 1.3 m wide, extend beyond the r 0.35 pickup sphere by design, and stay inside the 2 m lane pitch.	Original project source	Replace artwork within the existing visual root; retain contract hooks, bounds and pause behavior.
Unreviewed PR Backlog pursuer	scenes/runner/pursuer/pursuer_visual.gd: 5×4 MultiMesh cards, six cream headlines, two angry eye slits, one red light, glyph glitch particles and radial haze; threat, catch and retreat hooks. Headlines retain label.scale.x = 0.65 (compressed to 65% width); the pixel-size increase applies to height only. The coordinator's host capture confirms legibility.	Original project source	Replace artwork within the existing visual root; retain contract hooks, bounds and pause behavior.
Corridor primitives and particles	scenes/runner/environment/corridor.gd	Original project source	Replace artwork within the existing visual root; retain contract hooks, bounds and pause behavior.
Glyph atlas	scenes/runner/shaders/glyph_atlas.gd	Original project source	Replace artwork within the existing visual root; retain contract hooks, bounds and pause behavior.
Grid, wall, hologram, radial glow, vignette	scenes/runner/shaders/*.gdshader	Original project source	Replace artwork within the existing visual root; retain contract hooks, bounds and pause behavior.
Labels	SystemFont fallback matching menu_style.gd	Installed font licences; no font redistribution	Licensed bundled font through Style.theme() and runner_materials.gd.
Runner menu, leaderboard and controls card	scenes/runner/runner_menu.gd, shared menu_style.gd	Original project source; installed font licences	Replace composition and Style resources; preserve RunnerMenu root, routes, focus loop and modal cancel behavior.
HUD, approval pips, pursuit ring, power-up bars and toasts	scenes/runner/ui/runner_hud.gd, hud_glyph.gd	Original project source	Replace cosmetic widgets; retain facade signals and responsive anchors.
Pause and game-over panels, local score rows and name entry	scenes/runner/ui/pause_menu.gd, game_over.gd	Original project source	Replace layout; preserve facade methods, focus, qualifying saves and run_finished timing.
F5 procedural SFX	scenes/runner/audio/sfx_synth.gd	Original project source	Replace cached PCM recipes; keep trigger mapping, SFX bus and ten-voice cap.
F5/F6 Cyberpunk Street BGM	Assets/cyberpunk-street-files/Assets/music/cyberpunk-street.ogg, bundled public-license.pdf, Luis Zuno / ansimuz package	CC0; PDF does not identify composer	Replace the shared menu/audio track together; retain AudioService music ownership and loop import.

See hoppys-adventure-arcade/Assets/runner/LICENSES.md for the asset inventory.

Model swap procedure: import the licensed glTF under Assets/runner/ and add its creator, source, licence and modifications to Assets/runner/LICENSES.md. Replace the GLB instanced under Root/Model, retaining the scene root, feet at y=0, facing -Z and standing height 1.8 m. Keep the same idle/run/jump/fall/roll/hurt/dead action names (plus the gait one-shots). Keep the six visual hooks, independent shield/aura and material duplication rules. hoppy_runner_visual.gd replaces the imported roll with the baked scenes/runner/player/hifi/hoppy_roll.tres while use_baked_roll is true, so a GLB swap alone keeps the old rig's roll: re-bake it for the new rig (Godot --headless --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --script res://scenes/runner/player/dev/bake_hoppy_roll.gd) or set use_baked_roll = false. Sample the complete roll clip the runtime actually plays (the baked clip, or the imported one when use_baked_roll is false) at y<=0.9 m, then rerun visual smoke and the coordinator's Hoppy/gameplay captures before accepting the swap.

Audio

F5 audio is implemented and verified through visual smoke coverage of procedural synth cues and the hard polyphony cap of 10. runner_audio.tscn / runner_audio.gd provide RunnerAudio, a Node with process_mode ALWAYS and an idempotent bind(game) that disconnects its previous facade. The backend already mounts this scene. Pause signals suspend SFX playback, footstep timing and drone fades. Scene teardown disconnects signals, stops voices and restores music pitch to 1.0. The runner menu uses the same cached track through guarded AudioService.play_music(..., -12.0); menu to game preserves the stream, and AppRouter restores the default hub track. Focus and hover use play_ui(0); confirm and close use play_ui(1).

All SFX use cached, deterministic 16-bit 22050 Hz PCM built in sfx_synth.gd, following the shared service's tone synthesis pattern. Attack/decay envelopes bound every sample to at most 0.8 full scale. Lane sounds use stereo panning; other sounds are mono. These are original project recipes, with no downloads.

SFX	Trigger	Recipe
footstep	Running, grounded and not rolling	70 ms noise/sine thud, 140 to 65 Hz
jump	jump or super_jump action	220 ms square/sine rise, 240 to 880 Hz
land	land action	130 ms noise/sine thump, 180 to 45 Hz
roll	roll action	280 ms noise sweep, 320 to 80 Hz
lane_left / lane_right	Corresponding lane action	120 ms saw/sine sweep; left/right channel gain 1.0 versus 0.2
powerup	Every power_up_collected	240 ms sine rise, 660 to 1320 Hz
nitro	Nitro pickup, after powerup	650 ms saw rise, 110 to 880 Hz
lgtm	LGTM pickup, after powerup	650 ms ascending major chord
auto_fix	Auto-Fix pickup, after powerup	380 ms square descent, 1320 to 330 Hz
shield_block	damage_blocked, all contract reasons	300 ms metallic major chord
hit	damage_taken	300 ms noise/sine impact; also duck_music(-6, 0.4)
pursuit_start	pursuit_started	750 ms descending square alarm
pursuit_drone	pursuit_started	Seamless 2 s loop, 55/57 Hz beating sine; fade in 0.4 s
heartbeat	First pursuit_progress with remaining/total below 0.35	1 s loop with two decaying 65 Hz pulses
retreat	pursuit_recovered	500 ms descending saw
recovered_chime	pursuit_recovered, with retreat	700 ms ascending major chord
caught	caught	850 ms low noise/sine boom
game_over	run_finished	1.2 s falling major chord

All four players route to SFX: OneShots uses AudioStreamPolyphonic with exactly seven slots, plus one voice each for Footsteps, Drone and Heartbeat. Total runner SFX capacity is ten, excluding shared music/UI audio. When a start fails at capacity, the new cue enters a deduplicated pending queue. Important cues retry first and may evict the oldest ambient voice; ambient cues never evict voices. Slots released for important retries are reserved until those retries play or expire. Slots become reusable on a later audio mix; retries run at the top of processing. Ambient pending cues expire after 120 ms of unpaused game time and important cues after 300 ms. Identical sounds have a 40 ms game-time retrigger gate, advanced by unpaused process delta. Only successful starts update the gate and emit the playback signal. sound_played(kind, stream) fires only after a successful playback start; active_voice_count() supports verification.

Footstep cadence is lerp(0.42, 0.20, clamp(normalized, 0, 1)) seconds. Jump/super_jump and land track grounded state; roll/roll_end suppress steps without falsely grounding an airborne player. Heartbeat has an explicit latch reset on pursuit_started, starts once below the threshold, and stops on recovery, catch or finish. Recovery/catch fade the drone out over 0.3 s; finish stops it immediately.

BGM is the existing res://Assets/cyberpunk-street-files/Assets/music/cyberpunk-street.ogg, loop enabled in its .ogg.import settings without runtime stream mutation, passed to AudioService.play_music(stream, -12.0) during bind. The shared player routes it to Music. Attribution: Luis Zuno / ansimuz, CC0 per Assets/cyberpunk-street-files/public-license.pdf, no modifications. The PDF does not name the music's composer. The exact asset row and caveat are in Assets/runner/LICENSES.md.

Pitch approaches 1.0 + 0.10 * normalized + (0.05 while Nitro) with exponential smoothing 1 - exp(-5 * delta) via AudioService.set_music_pitch. Normalized speed can exceed 1 during Nitro; only footstep cadence clamps it. Nitro expiry removes the extra 0.05. Calls to the shared service are guarded with has_method; it retains its existing two players.

Renderer notes: gl_compatibility

Cosmetic MultiMeshes and visual transforms update in _process, so their frontend nodes opt out with PHYSICS_INTERPOLATION_MODE_OFF (including explicit modes on each MultiMesh instance); physics interpolation stays enabled for backend-owned gameplay nodes.

The following gl_compatibility findings come from the coordinator's graphical capture and visual inspection on the installed Godot 4.7.0 stable (4.7.stable.official.5b4e0cb0f). They supersede the earlier headless-only findings. The project pins 4.7.1, where final acceptance must be re-run under the contract's engine version policy.

Feature	Configuration	Observed result
Glow	enabled; intensity 0.9, bloom 0.12, HDR threshold 0.75, HDR scale 2.0	OK: bloom is visible on emissive objects in the spike.
Fog	depth mode, begin 22, end 88, NAVY_BG	OK: depth fog is visible.
scaling_3d_scale	bilinear, 0.5	OK: the retro downscale is visible; ownership and restoration are covered by the environment check.
Particles	GPUParticles3D, 8x8 glyph billboard atlas, no trails/collision/subemitters	OK: glyph rain is visible. Pause inheritance is covered headlessly.
Corridor draw budget	capture_previews.gd, corridor_preview at 26 m/s; two lights, shadows off, preview UI hidden	PASS: 10 / 15 draw calls in the CORRIDOR DRAW BUDGET frame sample.
Corridor screenshot sample	capture_previews.gd, corridor_preview at its default 12 m/s with preview UI visible, before the 26 m/s budget check	9 draw calls in the CAPTURE: corridor frame sample; this is the corridor figure in the host PREVIEW CAPTURE summary below. Neither frame sample is a measured peak.
Renderer diagnostic fixture	capture_previews.gd, separate renderer_spike scene	23 draw calls in the CAPTURE: spike frame sample; separate from the corridor budget.
Previews	1280x720 PNGs	Present: docs/previews/endless-runner-spike.png, docs/previews/endless-runner-corridor.png, docs/previews/endless-runner-hoppy.png, docs/previews/endless-runner-gallery.png, docs/previews/endless-runner-powerups.png, docs/previews/endless-runner-pursuer.png, and docs/previews/endless-runner-menu.png. All previews are captured on the host; the sandbox cannot render.

The shaders provide their own grid/wall depth fading and additive halos. Unsupported renderer effects are not configured. The implementation avoids the Compatibility-ignored glow-level/normalized/strength/blend settings specified in the brief.

Verification

The visual smoke gate exercises all five milestone dev scenes plus any additional scenes/runner/**/dev/*.tscn discovered at runtime headless, checks runtime errors and pause/viewport-scale restoration, and prints RUNNER DEV SCENES: PASS (<n> scenes) only when this section succeeds.

F0-F6 are implemented. The coordinator re-ran the unmodified tests on the host with this tree on Godot 4.7.0 (4.7.stable.official.5b4e0cb0f), 2026-09-19. These results supersede the earlier sandbox transcripts and remain diagnostic pending final acceptance on Godot 4.7.1.

Verbatim host result lines:

RUNNER FULL LOOP: PASS (menu, play, hit, pursuit, 18s timer recovery, hit, hit, caught, finished, game over, Codex, retry, menu, hub, default music; isolated board removed)
RUNNER VISUAL SMOKE: PASS (0 failures)
RUNNER SMOKE: PASS (0 failures / 64 checks)
RUNNER SCAFFOLD: PASS (0 failures / 284 checks)
MENU SMOKE: FAIL (2 failures)
PREVIEW CAPTURE: PASS (spike 23 / corridor 9 / hoppy 33 / gallery 162 / menu 33 draw calls; hud, gameover captured)

The backend's scaffold update is complete: runner_scaffold_check.gd asserts buttons.size() == 4, including Leaderboard, and all 284 checks pass on this branch. The headless menu_smoke failures on Godot 4.7.0 are tracked as a non-blocking baseline: Mouse hover overrides old gamepad focus and Pointer exit releases mode preview.

The full-loop smoke attaches a node_added guard before routing, sets autostart=false and a per-process user://test_runner_menu_leaderboard_%d.cfg path before each RunnerGame._ready(), and starts each scene with autopilot. Retry receives the override again. It forces hits through the real hit manager, waits for the unchanged 18 s recovery timer and catch sequence, checks run_finished and visible game over, saves Codex, retries, returns through RunnerMenu to MainMenu, checks default music restoration, and deletes temporary board/backup files. The UI facade smoke uses a separate user://test_runner_visual_smoke_%d.cfg path with the same cleanup. Neither test writes the real user://leaderboard.cfg.

Requests to backend

None outstanding for these findings. The scaffold now checks the F6 four-button menu, including Leaderboard, and accepts the mounted corridor (284 checks PASS).

Known gaps

F0-F10 and the high-fidelity asset pass are integrated in the coordinator release scope. The coordinator reports refreshed main previews in the working tree. A3 files and its headless check are verified; host GPU budget transcripts remain outside this pass's evidence. See the asset evidence boundary above. Historical milestone check counts below are not current integrated totals.

Required: final acceptance on the pinned Godot 4.7.1, which the briefs' acceptance scripts gate on.

Tracked non-blocking baseline: the two documented headless menu_smoke hover failures on Godot 4.7.0 listed above.

F7: HUD legibility and pursuit transmission

F7 adds runner-owned ui/hud_style.gd, applying navy outlines of max(6, round(size * 0.30)), a hard two-unit navy shadow, and navy backing panels. The four UI scripts use it without changing the shared menu style. The original 14-unit labels rendered at 10.5 physical pixels at the 960x540 minimum window; the larger type and backing reduce interference from the moving corridor.

All sizes below are base units at 1280x720. Backing colours name the border; panel fill is NAVY_BG.

Widget	Before	F7	Backing
Approvals header / pips	14 / 42x46	18 / 48x52, hex stroke 3	MINT, alpha 0.82, shared cluster
Power-up name / bar	14 / 90x6	18 / 112x9	Inside approvals panel
Time	24	30, monospace	SLATE, alpha 0.70, width 200
Score / multiplier	32 / 20	36 / 24	MINT, alpha 0.82, width 300
Speed label / bar	17 / 240x8	20 / 260x12, 2-unit tick at 26 m/s	SLATE, alpha 0.70
Pursuit label / ring	16 / 36x36, strokes 3-4	22 / 56x56, radius 24, strokes 5/6/3, centre number 20	DANGER panel; navy disc alpha 0.85
Toast	24	28, maximum 26 characters	Auto-width panel, border by message kind
Nitro	30	34	ORANGE panel
Get Ready	22 throughout	Title 34, controls 22	Centred NAVY_BG alpha 0.88 panel
Pause title / hint	40 / 16	46 / 20; buttons retain theme size	Existing panel
Game over title / stats / rows / error	30 / 18 / 16 / 14	34 / 22 / 19 / 17	Existing panel, minimum 760x620

Integral multipliers omit decimals; fractional multipliers retain their value. Timed power-up names disappear after 0.6 seconds, leaving distinct compact symbols and bars. Get Ready holds for 2.5 seconds then fades over 0.25 seconds. Toasts fade in over 0.12 seconds, preserve preempted entries, and prioritize INCOMING/STAGE CLEAR above recovery/blocked and bonus messages. Nitro and Get Ready yield to an active toast. The toast sits above the lane-reading band. The alert retains the design's explicit bottom-left placement at (28, -236), size 420x196. The catch-rule caption at 17 and static game-over error at 17 are explicit design exemptions from the 18-unit critical-label floor; both retain outlines and backing.

ui/pursuit_alert.tscn is PAUSABLE. In v2, RunnerGame._mount_frontend() alone instantiates and binds it at HUD/PursuitAlert. The HUD resolves that sibling with a guarded deferred lookup because the backend mounts it after binding the HUD; pause dimming includes the sibling, and caught hides gameplay widgets while preserving the alert portrait. Only facades without _mount_frontend (v1 and the standalone HUD preview) get a HUD-owned alert under widgets at bind time. The visual smoke counts alert scripts across each game subtree and requires exactly one in both paths. Its bind(game) returns immediately for the same game and disconnects the previous facade on a different binding. It conditionally connects the optional pursuit_alert signal, using the contract's warn kind as a hint; v1 pursuit_started/progress/recovered, damage_blocked and caught signals fully drive the presentation. The mock additionally emits warn, critical, and clear without making those events mandatory for the UI.

The panel uses a cubic ease-out slide from x=-440 to 28 over 0.28 seconds, an initial 0.08-second cream flash, a procedural 256x256 2D SubViewport portrait sharing the pursuer's HEADLINES, clock-driven scanlines/chromatic displacement/roll bar, 48 waveform bars, an 88x88 radar and a live countdown. The catch rule reads "ONE MORE HIT BEFORE RECOVERY AND IT HAS YOU". Recovery holds RECOVERED / BACKLOG REVIEWED / +2 APPROVALS for 1.2 seconds with MATRIX accents, then exits over 0.22 seconds. A blocked hit flashes MINT and BLOCKED for 0.6 seconds. Catch hides the gameplay siblings while the portrait fills the panel and grows to 1.35 over 0.45 seconds, then slides out. Both tree pause and the mock's facade pause freeze clocks and motion; no pause-sensitive shader uses TIME.

Accepted layout exception: the alert panel at (28, -236), sized 420×196, intrudes approximately 34 units into the design's no-new-widgets band. The coordinator accepts this because the bottom-left corner is outside the lane reading zone.

The pursuer gains one additive DANGER torus draw, repeating from scale 1 to 3.4 over 1.6 to 0.45 seconds by threat. Its maximum pulse radius is 2.6 m at y=1.2, retreat hides it, and catch runs three pulses in 0.35 seconds. The vignette now uses strength 0.25 + 0.6 * (1 - fraction) and top/bottom danger bars advancing by (1 - fraction) * 0.06 of viewport height; recovery/reset clears them.

Audio now has 21 deterministic cached PCM recipes. alert_sting is a high-priority 0.55-second 180 Hz square cue gated three times at 9 Hz. radar_pulse is a 0.5-second loop with a 40 ms 1200-to-900 Hz sine blip. It uses Heartbeat, with pitch 0.8 to 1.6 by threat, and switches that same player to heartbeat at fraction strictly below 0.35 with a pitch drop to 0.8. The alert samples RunnerAudio's sweep clock in either the direct mock mount or the backend Audio mount. The audio loop seeks at each visual revolution and silences the remainder after the blip so the specified sweep-rate and pitch curves do not create unsynchronized extra pulses. Without audio, the alert uses its own pause-frozen clock. Recovery retains the existing recovered_chime. Seven polyphonic one-shots plus three dedicated players still cap runner voices at ten; AudioService retains two players.

ui/dev/pursuit_alert_preview.tscn repeats a 28-second start/progress/blocked/recovered/caught sequence with audio. Space or the pause action pauses the running preview. It is included in automatic dev-scene discovery. No graphical scenes were launched or previews captured during this implementation.

F7 verification

The installed engine is 4.7.stable.official.5b4e0cb0f, so these are diagnostic results, not pinned 4.7.1 acceptance. The smoke adds a dynamic 39-label census including result rows, outline/backing checks, priority/toast/fade checks, an idempotent alert binding check, v1-only standalone fallback, radar-rate/countdown/pause checks, resolution beats, and audio stream handover/shared-phase/voice checks. The headless renderer verifies viewport size, 2D mode and texture wiring; actual portrait pixels, 960x540 legibility and draw batching require the coordinator's host capture.

Coordinator-supplied host results, verbatim (Godot 4.7.0, diagnostic):

RUNNER DEV SCENES: PASS (6 scenes)
HUD LEGIBILITY: 39 labels checked
PURSUIT ALERT: PASS
RUNNER UI MOCK: HUD, pursuit, pause, results, focus and save PASS
RUNNER AUDIO: 21 recipes/triggers; demo heartbeat starts=1; peak voices=10; AudioService players=2
RUNNER FULL LOOP: PASS (...)
RUNNER VISUAL SMOKE: PASS (0 failures)
RUNNER SMOKE: PASS (0 failures / 74 checks)

These host results supersede the earlier sandbox persistence failures. They are supplied verification evidence, not a new run from this worktree. The portrait now uses UPDATE_ALWAYS and a viewport-wide BackBufferCopy between the art and scanline overlay; the smoke asserts the update mode and copy wiring. Its shader clock remains GDScript-driven and frozen on pause.

F7 requests to backend and coordinator

No backend code change is required for F7. The merged v2 backend owns the standalone alert mount and may call bind(game) repeatedly. Keep emitting the existing v1 pursuit signals; the frontend guards the optional v2 signal. All changes remain within frontend-owned paths.

Coordinator: run final acceptance on Godot 4.7.1 and capture the pursuit alert plus refreshed HUD/gameplay at 960x540. The headless sandbox cannot provide that visual acceptance evidence.

F8: boss fights, tools and audio

The three bosses now mount through the v2 backend's existing visual hooks. Each scene directly extends boss_visual_base.gd, delegates procedural geometry to boss/boss_art.gd, implements all nine hooks, and resets without rebuilding on repeated on_spawned() calls. Sway uses the supplied amplitude and period; phase changes accelerate it. Animation clocks, shader uniforms, telegraphs and effects freeze on tree pause. The backend still owns damage, projectile/tool lifetimes and camera shake.

• Flaky Test Swarm: 24 CPU-animated test tiles, deterministic MATRIX/DANGER flicker, a core and hologram shell, PASS/FAIL glyph clusters, and three orbiting groups from phase two.
• Merge Conflict Hydra: three segmented necks and labelled heads, a preallocated fourth neck/head in phase two, LILAC eyes in one batch, lane-directed charge poses and a glowing conflict seam.
• Legacy Monolith: nine slab plates, six widening debt cracks, a code-wall face whose intensity follows HP, DANGER vents and a deprecated name plate. Its dimensions follow the contract envelope rather than allowing the design's taller slab to cross the floor limit.
• All three support charge, attack recoil, white hit flash, grey resistance, phase rise/strobe/ring, CPU breakup and retreat. The outro fits the backend's default one-second lifetime. Forward-facing name plates read boss_name, with a kind fallback, and use 48 px type, 0.021 pixel size, outline 10 and NEAREST filtering. Short lines fit the boss width; the monolith also displays its deprecated inscription.

ui/boss_hud.tscn provides an idempotent bind(game), a backed 26-unit name plate, fractional HP fill, 350 ms delayed chip drain, phase hexes, low-health border pulse, slide transitions and a BUG FIXED resolution. It uses hud_style.gd and the existing optional HUD mount. The backend mounts the standalone frontend boss/boss_fx.tscn under World/TurnRig/BossArena, sets PAUSABLE and calls its idempotent bind(game). The HUD only reads facade signals and get_boss_info(), rebuilding pips from phase_count each fight. FX owns the telegraph, tracer, spark and damage-number pools; late binding restores pending telegraphs. The HUD does not access World. Its border processing runs only while visible during an active fight.

boss/telegraph.tscn is pooled across three lanes. Lane-mask bits select x = -2/0/+2, with a floor decal, shrinking countdown inset, billboard hologram beam and an outlined label naming ORB, LOW, HIGH or WIDE. projectile_visual.tscn implements those four contract variants, including the high beam's 1.1-1.5 m gap; all geometry and CPU trail poses stay within 110% of the hitbox. Orb trails have 12 instances; wide blades carry eight tiles. Closing speed drives the orb's shader clock.

The four tools share boss/tool_art.gd: REVIEW COMMENT uses a speech bubble and tail, LINT a five-tooth comb, UNIT TEST a square frame and tick, and AUTO-FIX a double chevron. MATRIX cores and ORANGE rings pulse toward the boss without spinning; pickup/reset hooks are idempotent. Tools remain distinct from the six v1 power-ups. BossFX pools four 140 ms tracers and six 700 ms rising damage labels with 20 CPU spark instances each. Zero damage displays a grey RESISTED tag and no sparks. Killing tracers can finish during the boss outro.

Audio adds seven deterministic cached PCM recipes: telegraph_tick, projectile_whoosh, tool_pickup, tool_fire, boss_hit, boss_phase, boss_defeat. Telegraph ticks accelerate across the warning; projectile whooshes are stereo-panned from the lane mask. Pickup fires after 100 ms and damaging impact sounds after 140 ms. The per-kind GATE uses 90 ms for boss hits; phase, defeat and tool-fire cues gain priority. Boss music ducks by 4 dB with a +0.04 pitch offset, deepens to 8 dB for phase changes and releases on fight end. No AudioService change or additional player is needed: seven polyphonic slots plus three existing dedicated voices still cap playback at ten. At F8 the recipe census was 28; the two F9 recipes were outside this milestone.

The existing mock's 40-second timeline includes a boss spawn, warnings, shots, damaging/resisted tools, phase transitions and defeat between seconds 18 and 26. It exposes get_boss_info() and mounts the HUD/FX. boss/dev/boss_gallery.tscn cycles one boss at a time in the corridor with depth fog and glow. Space toggles fixture cycling. boss/dev/boss_swarm.tscn, boss_hydra.tscn and boss_monolith.tscn are fixed single-boss fixtures. Each uses camera (0, 4, 8), target (0, 1, -8), FOV 60, boss (0, 2.6, -14), one matching warning/projectile, two lane tools and a partially drained HUD with phase pips. The dev-scene smoke discovers all four scenes automatically. capture_previews.gd supplies endless-runner-boss-swarm.png, endless-runner-boss-hydra.png and endless-runner-boss-monolith.png, each with the design's 184-draw gallery budget. The coordinator must run these on the host; no graphical scenes or captures were run for this implementation.

F8 draw accounting

These are headless node/CPU-pose censuses, not GPU measurements. Outlined Label3D nodes count twice, MultiMesh nodes once, and the boss flashes mutate duplicated materials without overlay passes.

Boss	Peak across phases, attacks, hits and endings	Contract cap
Flaky Test Swarm	12	40
Merge Conflict Hydra	18	40
Legacy Monolith	11	40

Tool items use at most seven draws; projectiles use two or three. Each telegraph conservatively counts five draws: floor + inset + beam + two label passes. The design's three-draw estimate does not cover all requested components. The fully saturated FX pools reserve 22 draws (four tracers + six sets of one spark batch and two label passes). A conservative fight estimate is 167: boss 18 + telegraphs 15 + six projectiles 18 + three tools 21 + FX pools 22 + UI allowance 14 + corridor allowance 10 + Hoppy fixture allowance 33 + pursuer allowance 16. With one active tool effect, this falls to 149. These deliberately include simultaneous pool saturation and existing fixture allowances; host capture must measure actual culling/batching. The gallery capture ceiling remains 184.

F8 verification

Engine: 4.7.stable.official.5b4e0cb0f. Verification uses headless import, --check-only for every changed/new GDScript, visual smoke, backend smoke and git diff --check. New smoke sections exercise all boss hooks, three phases, four tools, four projectile variants, repeated spawn/reset, all lane masks, CPU bounds, pause, pool saturation/expiry, HUD rebind/HP/pips and real backend mounts/resist rules. Existing smoke sections remain intact. Sandbox persistence and writable-path rerun results are recorded below. This frontend relies on the merged backend optional BossFX mount and phase_count facade field; host visual/audio review remains outstanding.

Commands, from the repository root (GODOT=/Applications/Godot.app/Contents/MacOS/Godot):

"$GODOT" --headless --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --log-file /tmp/runner-f8.log --import
for script in $(find hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner -name '*.gd' -print) hoppys-adventure-arcade/tests/runner_visual_smoke.gd; do
  /Applications/Godot.app/Contents/MacOS/Godot --headless --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --log-file /tmp/runner-f8.log --check-only --script "res://${script#hoppys-adventure-arcade/}" || exit 1
done
"$GODOT" --headless --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --log-file /tmp/runner-f8.log --script res://tests/runner_visual_smoke.gd
"$GODOT" --headless --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --log-file /tmp/runner-f8-backend.log --script res://tests/runner_smoke.gd
git diff --check

Import completed, with sandbox-denied editor-settings writes and the platform certificate diagnostic. The check-only loop reported F8 CHECK-ONLY: 21 scripts; 0 failures. git diff --check produced no output. The unmodified backend smoke's only failures were persistence:

ERROR: RUNNER SMOKE: the board write reported error 12
ERROR: RUNNER SMOKE: leaderboard_saved was never emitted
ERROR: RUNNER SMOKE: this run is not on the leaderboard
RUNNER SMOKE: FAIL (3 failures / 123 checks)

The full loop fails only on the two sandbox user:// persistence checks:

VISUAL CHECK FAILED: Codex name persists
VISUAL CHECK FAILED: temporary board contains saved run
RUNNER VISUAL SMOKE: FAIL (2 failures)

Supplemental /tmp/f8_backend_writable.gd and /tmp/f8_visual_writable.gd harnesses extend the repository smoke scripts. Their _initialize() overrides set only leaderboard_path / loop_board_path to unique /tmp/...cfg files before calling super._initialize(). They do not alter game logic or test assertions. The backend smoke exercises the stage seam and boss fight; the visual full loop retains its existing menu/pursuit/persistence coverage, with F8 real boss mount/resistance checks in the new tools section.

"$GODOT" --headless --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --log-file /tmp/runner-f8-writable-backend.log --script /tmp/f8_backend_writable.gd
"$GODOT" --headless --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --log-file /tmp/runner-f8-writable-visual.log --script /tmp/f8_visual_writable.gd

Verbatim successful markers from the writable-path runs:

RUNNER DEV SCENES: PASS (7 scenes)
BOSS DRAW CENSUS: flaky_test_swarm=12
BOSS DRAW CENSUS: merge_conflict_hydra=18
BOSS DRAW CENSUS: legacy_monolith=9
BOSS VISUALS: 3 checked; peak draw census=18
TOOLS AND PROJECTILES: PASS
HUD LEGIBILITY: 40 labels checked
PURSUIT ALERT: PASS
RUNNER AUDIO: 28 recipes/triggers; demo heartbeat starts=1; peak voices=10; AudioService players=2
RUNNER FULL LOOP: PASS (menu, play, hit, pursuit, 18.0s timer recovery, hit, hit, caught, finished, game over, Codex, retry, menu, hub, default music; isolated board removed)
RUNNER VISUAL SMOKE: PASS (0 failures)
RUNNER SMOKE: PASS (0 failures / 126 checks)

F8 touched files

The worktree was clean before F8. All 51 task-touched files are frontend-owned, including generated UIDs. Paths below are relative to the repository root. No commit or push was made.

docs/endless-runner.md
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/audio/runner_audio.gd
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/audio/sfx_synth.gd
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/boss/boss_art.gd
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/boss/boss_art.gd.uid
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/boss/boss_fx.gd
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/boss/boss_fx.gd.uid
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/boss/damage_number.gd
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/boss/damage_number.gd.uid
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/boss/dev/boss_gallery.gd
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/boss/dev/boss_gallery.gd.uid
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/boss/dev/boss_gallery.tscn
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/boss/telegraph.gd
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/boss/telegraph.gd.uid
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/boss/telegraph.tscn
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/boss/tool_art.gd
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/boss/tool_art.gd.uid
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/boss/tool_tracer.gd
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/boss/tool_tracer.gd.uid
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/boss/visuals/flaky_test_swarm_visual.gd
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/boss/visuals/flaky_test_swarm_visual.gd.uid
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/boss/visuals/flaky_test_swarm_visual.tscn
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/boss/visuals/legacy_monolith_visual.gd
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/boss/visuals/legacy_monolith_visual.gd.uid
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/boss/visuals/legacy_monolith_visual.tscn
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/boss/visuals/merge_conflict_hydra_visual.gd
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/boss/visuals/merge_conflict_hydra_visual.gd.uid
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/boss/visuals/merge_conflict_hydra_visual.tscn
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/environment/dev/capture_previews.gd
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/hazards/visuals/projectile_visual.gd
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/hazards/visuals/projectile_visual.gd.uid
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/hazards/visuals/projectile_visual.tscn
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/powerups/visuals/auto_fix_patch_visual.gd
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/powerups/visuals/auto_fix_patch_visual.gd.uid
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/powerups/visuals/auto_fix_patch_visual.tscn
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/powerups/visuals/lint_rule_visual.gd
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/powerups/visuals/lint_rule_visual.gd.uid
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/powerups/visuals/lint_rule_visual.tscn
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/powerups/visuals/review_comment_visual.gd
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/powerups/visuals/review_comment_visual.gd.uid
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/powerups/visuals/review_comment_visual.tscn
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/powerups/visuals/unit_test_visual.gd
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/powerups/visuals/unit_test_visual.gd.uid
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/powerups/visuals/unit_test_visual.tscn
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/shaders/boss_beam.gdshader
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/shaders/boss_beam.gdshader.uid
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/ui/boss_hud.gd
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/ui/boss_hud.gd.uid
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/ui/boss_hud.tscn
hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/ui/dev/mock_runner_game.gd
hoppys-adventure-arcade/tests/runner_visual_smoke.gd

F8 validator and capture corrections (2026-09-20)

All existing uncommitted F8 work and host PNGs are preserved. No backend-owned file was edited, and no commit or push was made. The installed Godot 4.7.0 results below are diagnostic against the project's 4.7.1 pin. Host recapture and listening remain outstanding.

• Items 1, 2, 5: boss/boss_fx.tscn:1, boss/boss_fx.gd:30, ui/boss_hud.gd:58, ui/boss_hud.gd:84, ui/boss_hud.gd:150, ui/dev/mock_runner_game.gd:95. The backend owns the arena mount; the HUD has no World lookup or 3D ownership. The mock directly instantiates the FX scene. Pips follow phase_count and border updates require a visible active fight.
• Items 3, 7 and C4: boss/boss_art.gd:151, each boss/visuals/*_visual.gd:15, tests/runner_visual_smoke.gd:1290. All seven base vars are set in the smoke before spawn. Name plates preserve boss_name with line breaks, with kind used only for an empty name; max_hp initializes health and hover_z supplies initial depth without double-offsetting the backend mount. Plates use 48 px type, 0.021 pixel size, outline 10 and NEAREST, with forward-facing text to keep the depth envelope bounded. The monolith retains its deprecated inscription beside its actual name.
• Item 4: ORB / LOW / HIGH / WIDE remain unchanged; the smoke asserts WIDE.
• Item 6: audio/runner_audio.gd:352, tests/runner_visual_smoke.gd:982. The -4 dB music baseline and +0.04 pitch target are held once per fight and released on both endings. A phase applies another -4 dB transient for -8 dB total. The test checks no recurring duck tween, repeated spawn idempotence and defeat/retreat restoration. Pause skips finished drone tweens.
• C1/C2: boss/dev/boss_gallery.gd:18, boss/dev/boss_gallery.gd:39, environment/dev/capture_previews.gd:76. Fixed host fixtures are res://scenes/runner/boss/dev/boss_swarm.tscn, boss_hydra.tscn, boss_monolith.tscn. Each shows exactly one boss in the corridor at gameplay framing, one matching warning/projectile, two tools and a settled partial-health HUD. Existing PNG output names remain unchanged.
• C3: hazards/visuals/projectile_visual.gd:40. Additive alpha is 0.18 for LOW/HIGH and 0.20 for WIDE; white inner geometry is replaced with DANGER/ORANGE. The 110 percent bounds checks pass.

Exact final commands (repository root):

for script in $(find hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner -name '*.gd' -print) hoppys-adventure-arcade/tests/runner_visual_smoke.gd; do
  /Applications/Godot.app/Contents/MacOS/Godot --headless --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --log-file /tmp/runner-f8-check.log --check-only --script "res://${script#hoppys-adventure-arcade/}" || exit 1
done
/Applications/Godot.app/Contents/MacOS/Godot --headless --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --log-file /tmp/runner-f8-fix.log --script res://tests/runner_visual_smoke.gd
/Applications/Godot.app/Contents/MacOS/Godot --headless --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --log-file /tmp/runner-f8-backend.log --script res://tests/runner_smoke.gd
/Applications/Godot.app/Contents/MacOS/Godot --headless --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --log-file /tmp/runner-f8-writable-visual.log --script /tmp/f8_visual_writable.gd
/Applications/Godot.app/Contents/MacOS/Godot --headless --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --log-file /tmp/runner-f8-writable-backend.log --script /tmp/f8_backend_writable.gd
grep -c "Removing a CollisionObject" /tmp/runner-f8-backend.log
grep -c "Removing a CollisionObject" /tmp/runner-f8-writable-backend.log
git diff --check

/tmp/f8-check-only-final.txt contains every expanded check-only command, output and exit code. All 21 changed/new scripts returned exit 0. Verbatim summary:

F8 CHECK-ONLY: 21 scripts; 0 failures

The full loop fails only on the two sandbox user:// persistence checks:

RUNNER DEV SCENES: PASS (10 scenes)
BOSS VISUALS: 3 checked; peak draw census=18
TOOLS AND PROJECTILES: PASS
HUD LEGIBILITY: 40 labels checked
PURSUIT ALERT: PASS
RUNNER AUDIO: 28 recipes/triggers; demo heartbeat starts=1; peak voices=10; AudioService players=2
VISUAL CHECK FAILED: Codex name persists
VISUAL CHECK FAILED: temporary board contains saved run
RUNNER FULL LOOP: FAIL (menu, play, hit, pursuit, 18.0s timer recovery, hit, hit, caught, finished, game over, Codex, retry, menu, hub, default music; isolated board removed)
RUNNER VISUAL SMOKE: FAIL (2 failures)

Unmodified backend smoke, with sandbox error 12:

ERROR: RUNNER SMOKE: the board write reported error 12
ERROR: RUNNER SMOKE: leaderboard_saved was never emitted
ERROR: RUNNER SMOKE: this run is not on the leaderboard
RUNNER SMOKE: FAIL (3 failures / 123 checks)

Supplemental harnesses change only the leaderboard paths to writable /tmp files. Verbatim results:

RUNNER FULL LOOP: PASS (menu, play, hit, pursuit, 18.0s timer recovery, hit, hit, caught, finished, game over, Codex, retry, menu, hub, default music; isolated board removed)
RUNNER VISUAL SMOKE: PASS (0 failures)
RUNNER SMOKE: PASS (0 failures / 126 checks)

Both collision-removal grep commands printed 0 (grep exit 1 means no matching lines). git diff --check produced no output and exited 0. Both runs also emit the pre-existing macOS get_system_ca_certificates diagnostic before the test logger starts.

F9: cinematic turns and stage transitions

Contract 2.7 removed the turn: the corner presentation below (bend, corner wall, chevron, turn preview, turn audio and HUD dimming) no longer exists. The stage banner, stage-clear card and stage audio remain.

F0 through F9 are implemented. F9 follows contract §11: the backend owns phases, collision, turn progress, camera yaw/bank and boss lifetime. The frontend corridor never rotates gameplay. The corridor's turn hook derived signed curvature 0.0042 * sin(PI * progress) and an 11-degree root yaw from its arguments. Both endpoints and (0, 0) are straight. The shader converts the displacement through the corridor frame so rotated wall planes and CPU pillars bend in the same direction. Each of the four planes has subdivide_depth = 72. Post-bend grid coordinates drive derivative filtering (minimum 0.004); lane smoothing widens during the bend. No turn shader uses TIME.

FarGlow and CornerWall have complementary opacity. The corner carries a directional TURN chevron, the code glyphs sweep laterally, and rain/dust reduce their amount ratio to 0.35 through the turn. Shader-deformed meshes have expanded culling margins. set_phase resets the turn on exit, including catch; set_boss_arena reduces the distant glow during fights. All visual clocks are PAUSABLE. The camera swing remains entirely backend-owned.

The new environment/dev/turn_preview.tscn runs at 20 m/s. Left/Right play a 2.5-second turn, [ and ] scrub, Space pauses, and the readout reports progress, direction, bend, yaw and GPU draw calls. The headless geometry census is 10 at rest and 13 during the turn, including the outlined chevron's text surfaces. Budgets are 14 at rest and 18 in a turn. These are geometry counts, not a graphical renderer measurement; the host capture prints the actual GPU count.

The optional HUD/StageBanner and HUD/StageClear mounts use hud_style.gd and idempotent bind(game). The banner announces the stage and boss name, deferred announcements received during a turn until the turn ended (until contract 2.7), and closes when a boss spawns. Stage 1 and subsequent RUN entries announce immediately because the backend emits stage_started at RUN entry. The card reads get_stage_info() and get_boss_info(), tracks elapsed stage time and tool events, and distinguishes FIXED from ESCAPED. Its bonus row counts the already-awarded stage_cleared bonus without changing score. The card fades/scales in for 0.25 s, holds for 2.2 s, and exits over 0.35 s. Pausing freezes both card timing and the bonus count. During a turn, non-essential HUD widgets dim to alpha 0.55; approvals and pursuit warnings retain their normal contrast.

The deterministic audio census is now 30 recipes. turn_whoosh sweeps 300→2400→300 Hz and pans left/right from the turn signal. stage_clear plays an ascending major arpeggio. Both use the existing seven-voice OneShots pool, with three dedicated players and a total cap of ten voices. AudioService still owns exactly two players.

Music event	Held level relative to running music	Pitch / release
boss_spawned	-4 dB	Speed pitch +0.04; restore on defeat or retreat
boss_phase_changed	-8 dB transient, 0.35 s	Returns to the held fight level
stage_cleared	-10 dB through the 2.8 s card	Exactly 1.0; pause freezes the hold
Catch, next RUN or teardown	Restore baseline	Remove stage/fight offsets

F8 capture polish is included: mounted boss HUDs suppress the 3D name plate, gallery plates sit above the body, and shared boss/tool labels use LINEAR filtering and outlines. The swarm cloud and tiles are larger, hydra necks are 0.5 m thick with 1.2 m heads, and the monolith slab fills approximately 6 × 4 m with an enlarged glyph face. The oversized deprecated label was removed. Phase/retreat lifts stay inside the vertical envelope. Smoke now checks the upper bound as well as width, depth, height and bottom, retaining the 40-draw per-boss gate.

capture_previews.gd adds endless-runner-turn.png at progress 0.5 with the 18-draw gate, and endless-runner-stage-clear.png with settled bonus/time/tool rows. The existing three boss fixtures receive the polish. No graphical scenes or captures were run for this change.

Final v2 milestone coverage

Milestone	Delivered surface
F0	Renderer and primitive/material foundations
F1	Corridor, fog, glyph walls, particles and environment preview
F2	Hoppy visual and animation preview
F3	Hazards, power-ups, pursuer and gallery
F4	HUD, pause, game-over and facade fixture
F5	Procedural SFX and shared music integration
F6	Menu, routing, full-loop smoke and previews
F7	HUD legibility and pursuit alert
F8	Bosses, tools, projectiles, fight HUD/FX and audio
F9	Turn presentation, stage UI/audio, seam test and final capture fixtures

F9 verification

The installed engine is Godot 4.7.stable.official.5b4e0cb0f. The project's pinned 4.7.1 host acceptance remains pending. Run from repository root with GODOT set to /Applications/Godot.app/Contents/MacOS/Godot:

"$GODOT" --headless --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --log-file /tmp/runner-f9.log --import
"$GODOT" --headless --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --log-file /tmp/runner-f9.log --check-only --script res://<changed-script.gd>
"$GODOT" --headless --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --log-file /tmp/runner-f9.log --script res://tests/runner_visual_smoke.gd
"$GODOT" --headless --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --log-file /tmp/runner-f9-backend.log --script res://tests/runner_smoke.gd
git diff --check

The new check_stage_seam() uses the real facade and the backend smoke settings: stage_base_distance = 260, time_to_max_speed = 20, boss_hp_scale = 0.4. It preserves 1/60 s physics steps while accelerating time, drives the greedy autopilot, checks both turn signals, observes corridor progress reaching 1.0 followed by (0, 0), and observes both stage panels opening and closing. Its board is isolated from the player's leaderboard even on failure. check_turn() covers both directions, monotonic bend to/from the peak, idempotence, subdivision, complementary opacity, reset, draw budgets, ten paused frames, banner deferral/suppression, HUD dim/restore and card timing. Existing legibility and boss sections now print explicit PASS or FAIL status with their counts.

Gate	Local headless result	Coordinator host result to paste
Import and changed-script check-only	Import exits 0; editor-settings write blocked by sandbox. 17 scripts (15 changed/new plus 2 other shader consumers), 0 check-only failures	Pending
TURN / STAGE SEAM	PASS / PASS	Pending
HUD / pursuit / boss / tool gates	PASS; 51 labels, 3 bosses, peak boss census 18	Pending
Audio census / peak voices	30 recipes; peak 10; AudioService players 2	Pending
Full loop / visual smoke	Default sandbox: only two persistence checks fail. /tmp board control: both PASS, 0 failures	Pending
Backend smoke / collision-removal warnings	Default sandbox: 3 persistence failures / 123 checks. /tmp board control: PASS / 126 checks. Collision-removal warnings: 0	Pending
GPU rest / mid-turn draw counts	Not measured headless; census 10 / 13	Pending
Turn / card / polished boss PNGs	Fixtures implemented; not captured	Pending
git diff --check	PASS (no output)	Pending

F9 requests to backend and known gaps

No backend changes requested. The merged TurnRig, StageManager, UI mounts and boss_fx mount supply the required hooks. No backend files, base visual scripts, project settings or shared menu style were edited. No commits or pushes were made.

At F9 handoff, graphical inspection, new PNGs, actual draw-call measurement and the pinned-engine run were outstanding. The coordinator has since recaptured the main previews with the new assets. Recorded host GPU budget measurements and pinned-4.7.1 acceptance remain outstanding in this document. In particular, inspect bent lane readability, transparent CornerWall ordering and the enlarged boss silhouettes at gameplay distance. Historical F0-F8 host results above are retained as history, not evidence for the new F9 code.

Verbatim repository-test results in the restricted sandbox:

RUNNER DEV SCENES: PASS (11 scenes)
CORRIDOR DRAW CENSUS: rest=10; mid-turn=13 (headless geometry census; host GPU measurement pending)
TURN: PASS
STAGE SEAM: PASS
BOSS VISUALS: PASS (3 checked; peak draw census=18)
TOOLS AND PROJECTILES: PASS
HUD LEGIBILITY: PASS (51 labels checked)
PURSUIT ALERT: PASS
RUNNER AUDIO: 30 recipes/triggers; demo heartbeat starts=1; peak voices=10; AudioService players=2
VISUAL CHECK FAILED: Codex name persists
VISUAL CHECK FAILED: temporary board contains saved run
RUNNER FULL LOOP: FAIL (menu, play, hit, pursuit, 18.0s timer recovery, hit, hit, caught, finished, game over, Codex, retry, menu, hub, default music; isolated board removed)
RUNNER VISUAL SMOKE: FAIL (2 failures)
RUNNER SMOKE: FAIL (3 failures / 123 checks)
Removing a CollisionObject = 0

The full loop fails only on the two sandbox user:// persistence checks: Codex name persists and temporary board contains saved run. Backend smoke fails only on the board write reported error 12, leaderboard_saved was never emitted, and this run is not on the leaderboard. Import exits 0 but cannot save the user editor-settings file in the restricted sandbox. These are not claimed as clean default-path passes.

The supplemental storage control uses /tmp/f9-writable-visual.gd and /tmp/f9-writable-backend.gd. Each extends the corresponding repository smoke script and overrides only _initialize() to set its existing leaderboard-path variable to a per-process /tmp path, then calls super._initialize(). No repository test logic or backend source was changed for this control. Both suites exit 0, and the tests remove their temporary boards. The default-path sandbox failures above remain recorded separately.

"$GODOT" --headless --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --log-file /tmp/f9-writable-visual.log --script /tmp/f9-writable-visual.gd
"$GODOT" --headless --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --log-file /tmp/f9-writable-backend.log --script /tmp/f9-writable-backend.gd

Verbatim writable-storage control results and final script check:

RUNNER FULL LOOP: PASS (menu, play, hit, pursuit, 18.0s timer recovery, hit, hit, caught, finished, game over, Codex, retry, menu, hub, default music; isolated board removed)
RUNNER VISUAL SMOKE: PASS (0 failures)
RUNNER SMOKE: PASS (0 failures / 126 checks)
Removing a CollisionObject = 0
F9 CHECK-ONLY: 17 scripts; 0 failures

git diff --check produced no output. Ownership audit: 25 frontend-owned files, including three new script UIDs. The 17 script checks cover 15 changed/new GDScripts and the two other existing consumers of the modified shaders. Shader loading and headless state checks do not substitute for the pending host GPU render.

F9 touched files

The worktree was clean at task start. Task-touched files:

• docs/endless-runner.md
• hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/audio/runner_audio.gd
• hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/audio/sfx_synth.gd
• hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/boss/boss_art.gd
• hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/boss/dev/boss_gallery.gd
• hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/boss/visuals/flaky_test_swarm_visual.gd
• hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/boss/visuals/legacy_monolith_visual.gd
• hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/boss/visuals/merge_conflict_hydra_visual.gd
• hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/environment/corridor.gd
• hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/environment/dev/capture_previews.gd
• hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/environment/dev/turn_preview.gd
• hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/environment/dev/turn_preview.gd.uid
• hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/environment/dev/turn_preview.tscn
• hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/shaders/code_wall.gdshader
• hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/shaders/far_glow.gdshader
• hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/shaders/floor_grid.gdshader
• hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/ui/dev/mock_runner_game.gd
• hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/ui/runner_hud.gd
• hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/ui/stage_banner.gd
• hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/ui/stage_banner.gd.uid
• hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/ui/stage_banner.tscn
• hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/ui/stage_clear.gd
• hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/ui/stage_clear.gd.uid
• hoppys-adventure-arcade/scenes/runner/ui/stage_clear.tscn
• hoppys-adventure-arcade/tests/runner_visual_smoke.gd

F10: sharp announced corners and boss entrances

Frontend-only implementation of contract 2.1, sections 11.4, 11.9 and 11.10. No backend API or camera changes. (Contract 2.7 removed the corner warning, chevrons, corridor yaw, turn preview and turn audio described here; the boss entrance parts remain.)

• The turn announcement opened an outlined 42-unit orange warning in a DANGER-bordered panel above the lane reading area. The arrow and remaining-seconds countdown pulsed over the supplied duration. One reusable additive MultiMesh drew chevrons in all three lanes, mounted directly under the frontend corridor. The bend's start cleared the floor chevrons as the end wall took over; its end cleared the banner and pending warning audio.
• Corridor yaw reaches 55 degrees at progress 0.3, holds through 0.7, then returns to zero at 1.0. Curvature peaks at 0.010. TURN_SWING_IN, TURN_SWING_OUT and TURN_YAW in corridor.gd mirror RunConfig defaults and must stay in sync with the backend camera. The end wall spans the corridor and carries a 120-unit directional TURN face. Glyphs sweep laterally, rain accelerates and speed lines intensify in the hold. Endpoints and explicit (0, 0) reset restore the same pose.
• The turn preview mirrors the backend camera swing: positive direction applies positive yaw and bank, orbiting the player at (0, 0, 0), with 55° yaw, 12° bank, and 0.3 ramp-in/out fractions. Hold alignment is checked in both directions at p = 0.3/0.5/0.7.
• boss_intro(kind, name, seconds) opens a top-centre card at x=300..980, y=48..128 at 1280x720. It displays WARNING · BUG DETECTED, the supplied boss name at 24 units, and a kind-specific taunt typed over one second. Copy is centralized in boss_hud.gd:TAUNTS; unknown kinds show only the supplied name. The stage banner stays suppressed, and the health HUD slides in only after the supplied duration. Pause freezes the card and entrance.
• (Superseded in contract 2.6: boss_fx no longer forwards boss_intro, and the encounter's play_cinematic(intro_*) is the only intro cue in a run. play_intro remains for standalone and dev fixtures.) Boss FX forwards the optional frontend play_intro(seconds) method to the mounted visual. It resolves World/TurnRig/BossArena/Boss first because the facade mirrors boss only at the subsequent boss_spawned signal; mock facades use the property fallback. Swarm tiles assemble from the vanishing point, Hydra rises and unfurls three heads, and Monolith approaches from the far end before a slam. A DANGER vignette and screen flash accent the impact at 80% of the intro. No frontend code calls camera shake. Every entrance frame keeps x within [-3.5, 3.5] and y within [1.6, 6.1]. Only depth travel toward the far end is allowed, never closer than hover_z + 3. Swarm tiles converge along -Z, Hydra unfolds from a compressed above-floor pose, and Monolith slides along -Z. Transforms reset at the duration boundary.
• Audio has 32 cached recipes. turn_warning contains three rising ticks scaled to the warning window. The hard-panned turn whoosh includes its snap at the 0.3 hold boundary. boss_intro is a deep rising drone and hit, scaled to the intro window. Intro music ducks by 12 dB, releasing into the existing 4 dB boss duck. The seven polyphonic plus three dedicated voice allocation remains capped at ten.
• The mock demo emits both new signals, mounts its boss visual, and delays attacks until the three-second intro has elapsed. Smoke coverage includes TURN WARNING: PASS and BOSS INTRO: PASS, directional warnings, countdown, correct taunts, fallback copy, visual forwarding/poses, HP handover, banner suppression, pause, audio duck release and the revised turn profile.
• Graphical capture fixtures are registered as endless-runner-turn-warning.png and endless-runner-boss-intro.png. The coordinator captured both PNGs on the host. Existing capture checks retain the corridor budgets of 14 at rest and 18 during a turn.

Verification uses installed Godot 4.7.0 diagnostically, pending pinned-4.7.1 acceptance, and the repository-root commands below. The headless draw census is a geometry estimate, not a GPU measurement. The coordinator owns host graphical inspection and captured PNGs.

export GODOT=/Applications/Godot.app/Contents/MacOS/Godot
"$GODOT" --headless --log-file /tmp/runner-f10.log --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --import
# Check every changed or new GDScript from this milestone.
python3 - <<'PY_CHECK'
import os
import subprocess
paths = set(subprocess.check_output(["git", "diff", "--name-only"], text=True).splitlines())
paths.update(subprocess.check_output(["git", "ls-files", "--others", "--exclude-standard"], text=True).splitlines())
for path in sorted(paths):
    if path.startswith("hoppys-adventure-arcade/") and path.endswith(".gd"):
        subprocess.run([os.environ["GODOT"], "--headless",
                        "--log-file", "/tmp/runner-f10.log", "--path", "hoppys-adventure-arcade",
                        "--check-only", "--script", "res://" + path.split("/", 1)[1]], check=True)
PY_CHECK
"$GODOT" --headless --log-file /tmp/runner-f10.log --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --script res://tests/runner_visual_smoke.gd
"$GODOT" --headless --log-file /tmp/runner-f10.log --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --script res://tests/runner_smoke.gd
git diff --check

F10 fix verification result (Godot 4.7.stable.official.5b4e0cb0f): all 16 changed/new scripts passed check-only, and git diff --check exited 0 with no output. Each boss entrance passed bounds checks at all 181 sampled frames over three seconds at 60 Hz. Camera-forward versus corridor-forward angles were 10.620° at p = 0.3, 0.5 and 0.7 for both directions, below the 15° limit, so corridor yaw remains 55°. Backend camera values are unchanged. Some headless processes reported the macOS system-certificate diagnostic.

The standard visual smoke passed every feature section and failed only these two sandbox persistence assertions:

VISUAL CHECK FAILED: Codex name persists
VISUAL CHECK FAILED: temporary board contains saved run
RUNNER VISUAL SMOKE: FAIL (2 failures)

The standard backend smoke reported RUNNER SMOKE: FAIL (3 failures / 127 checks), all caused by the unwritable leaderboard (write error 12, no saved signal, no persisted entry). Temporary /tmp harnesses extended each unchanged test suite and changed only its leaderboard-path variable before initialization. With writable isolated leaderboard files, the complete visual suite reported RUNNER VISUAL SMOKE: PASS (0 failures), the full loop passed, and the backend reported RUNNER SMOKE: PASS (0 failures / 130 checks). The suites removed their isolated boards. Corridor geometry census: 10 at rest, 13 mid-turn; the warning adds one pooled MultiMesh draw. Audio: 32 recipes, peak 10 voices. The fix pass used headless verification and did not regenerate the coordinator's host captures. No commits or pushes were made.

Performance: W3 prewarm completion and GPU warm-up

• Audio on workers. sfx_synth.gd splits each cue into a pure render() (PCM math, no resources) and a main-thread install(). prewarm.gd synthesises every recipe, with its panned-whoosh and footstep variants, on WorkerThreadPool; poll() installs finished jobs within a 3 ms per-frame budget. An on-demand Synth.sound() still works and keeps its identity if it wins the race.
• Nothing finalizes during play. Prewarm.finish() joins every worker and runs every deferred package (boss art, glyph atlas, texture installs). RunnerAudio.bind() calls it inside runner_game's _ready, behind the route veil. After the runner menu it is a no-op (finish_ms 0); a directly launched run pays about 1.4 s there instead of one package per frame after the run starts.
• GPU warm-up. scenes/runner/warmup/gpu_warmup.gd runs once per process in each context: from the runner menu's _ready, and from bind() in the first game (the menu's lights and Hoppy are not the game's). It mounts every runtime visual in batches, using the contract scene paths and hooks: pickups and tools with the collected state and bursts, each hazard kind with every variant plus hit and clear, bosses with FX, the pursuer, Hoppy's roll and hurt, the HUD canvas shaders, and the corridor mid-turn. The live Hoppy also wears every aura and the shield for the character batch. Copies sit at Hoppy and 5-55 m down the track, so every light combination an item meets on its way in is drawn. Each batch is drawn with RenderingServer.force_draw(false), once under the live lights and once with a corridor-wide omni light. The frames are never presented; headless skips it.
  • gl_compatibility compiles a variant on first draw and another when an object is first omni-lit. Those compiles caused first-sight and first-grab stalls (about 40-80 ms each).
  • BaseMaterial3D, ParticleProcessMaterial and code-built shaders free their program with their last user, so a new spark system recompiled every time (75 ms) once earlier ones were gone. The warm-up keeps every material it drew for the process lifetime, and its state lives in Engine metadata so it survives the menu script unloading. It is released at application exit.
  • RunnerGame queue_free()s its graybox environment in the same frame as bind(). Its fog-less, glow-less WorldEnvironment and second Sun would make every warm draw compile variants play never uses, so the warm-up detaches that doomed node first.
  • Nothing between the forced draws runs the frame's transform flush or its deferred calls. Before each batch is drawn, the warm-up calls force_update_transform() on every Node3D under the host. Without that, parts a hook moved after mounting (hazard pieces, boss FX, the posed corridor, Hoppy's shells) are drawn at stale, often off-screen, positions. After it shows the live Hoppy's auras, the warm-up runs one process tick on Hoppy so the orbit glyphs become visible, as they do in play. Label3D builds its mesh in a deferred call, so the batch labels are drawn empty. The warm-up keeps one copy of each distinct label setup, placed before it enters the tree. It draws those copies in a call deferred behind their own mesh updates. That call runs in the same message-queue flush, before the next frame is presented. Measured before this fix: the first pickup tag and the first aura each cost about 8 ms of compile in a run, and 35-50 ms under load.
  • Creative-pass coverage: every hazard variant with a timed laser charging, fired high and cleared, each copy ticked once so hit, clear and charge reach the C2 prop shader; every boss projectile look (BossProjectileArt.LOOKS) on the real signature shots, posed where they reach the player, plus one part per shared projectile material; each boss in telegraph (commit, DANGER heat), attack (ring, slam, all heads), hurt (the emission-flash variant) and defeat; a BossFX bound to the warm-up's own signal source with every signature record lit, so its SignatureMarks layer draws; Hoppy's six C1 one-shots with the face rig, with the LED meter lit by a nitro, at Hoppy's own depth; and the HUD's announced turn chevrons. Stage build is about 0.4 s headless per context (0.28 s before).
  • Checked by tests/runner_warmup_check.gd (headless) and tests/runner_pickup_hitch.gd (rendered). The headless check also compares draw states: geometry type plus shader code or BaseMaterial3D feature set, label setup, and canvas shader. It compares what the warm-up stage and its scene show with what a scripted run shows. That run is an autopiloted shortened stage into the stage-1 fight, then all three bosses through all phases on the live BossEncounter. Any state the run shows that the warm-up missed fails the check.

Performance: W1 world motion clock

One scroll clock: the spawner keeps scroll_travel / scroll_travel_previous (metres scrolled at the latest and the previous physics tick). A bound corridor (corridor.gd bind()) draws its floor, walls, racks and the starship world at lerp(previous, latest, Engine.get_physics_interpolation_fraction()), which is exactly where the interpolated chunk, hazard and pickup transforms are drawn, so floor markers no longer swim against the grid. Unbound corridors (runner menu, fixtures) keep their render-delta clock. The turn bend was interpolated the same way until contract 2.7 removed it. SpeedLines emission has one writer (_refresh_dressing(), changed-only, never on a hidden emitter), and the rain/streak process materials are rewritten only when the speed moves by 0.05 m/s. Each placed chunk calls reset_physics_interpolation() after its gap and pickup placement, so it never slides in from frontier_z for a frame. Interpolation opt-outs on cosmetic children are consistent with this: a measured PHYSICS_INTERPOLATION_MODE_OFF child renders at its interpolated parent's pose (the chunk scroll stays interpolated); OFF only stops interpolation of the child's own local transform. Cameras (game and menu) use near 0.15 / far 200 for 3x the depth precision of the 0.05 default; the farthest geometry (deck plane, fog end at 96 m, boss entrance at -69 m) stays well inside. The pursuer light is written only on a 0.01 energy change, and a retreat requested while the threat is still gliding down is ignored (the next tick cancelled it anyway, after a one-frame light-off flash). Measured and left alone: chunk despawn (remove + free of the largest chunk, 229 nodes, is 0.3 ms rendered) and the per-tick runner_hazards group scans (about 0.1 µs each). The starship corridor now leaves the legacy KeyLight at its palette tuning and switched off, and lights the deck with an identical StarshipKeyLight in the same place; every StarshipWorld part is PAUSABLE, like the rest of the corridor. (A rendered-turn yaw measurement here was retired with the turn in contract 2.7.)

Contract 2.6: boss cinematics (backend hand-off)

This section mirrors contract §11.14 for the frontend; the contract is authoritative. The backend owns the clock, the camera, the player hold and the skip, and the frontend draws from that clock.

• What the backend sends. Intro: boss_intro(kind, name, s), boss_cinematic(kind, mode, s), boss_spawned, boss_health_changed. The mode is intro_full (5.0 s, the run's first meeting with this boss) or intro_short (2.5 s, every repeat meeting and every checkpoint retry). Defeat: boss_defeated(kind, bonus), then boss_cinematic(kind, defeat_full | defeat_short, s) on the same tick (3.6 s first defeat, 2.0 s repeat), and stage_cleared only once it is over. Each one ends with exactly one boss_cinematic_ended(mode). Skipping an intro sends boss_cinematic_skipped(mode) first and still plays the last 0.3 s. A defeat is never skippable. A retreat has no cinematic and keeps its 1.0 s outro.
• What to draw from. game.boss_cinematic_mode, game.boss_cinematic_progress (0..1) and game.boss_time_factor. All three freeze on pause and jump on a skip, so ui/boss_cinematic.tscn should hold no Tweens or timers of its own. The backend mounts res://scenes/runner/ui/boss_cinematic.tscn under HUD once it exists, like the other optional panels (PAUSABLE, idempotent has_signal-guarded bind(game)).
• Time factor. It is 0.05 through the defeat's 0.12 s hit-stop, then eases from 0.4 back to 1 over 0.8 s, and is 1 everywhere else. Multiply it into your own delta. Engine.time_scale is never touched.
• Boss visual hooks (optional, has_method-guarded): play_cinematic(mode, seconds) once, right after on_spawned() / play_defeat(), as the set-up cue. Then set_cinematic_progress(mode, progress) with 0, on every physics tick of the cinematic, once after a skip with the jumped progress, and with 1.0 at the end. Pose, dissolve, flash and strobe come from that progress: seek the action to progress-mapped time, never an accumulated clock. set_time_factor(factor) arrives with it and scales only ambient motion (idle sway, particles) during the slow-mo tail. In a run, play_cinematic(intro_*) is the only intro cue: boss_fx no longer forwards boss_intro to play_intro(seconds), which had started the intro twice. play_intro stays an optional hook for standalone and dev fixtures. After a kill the visual is freed when the defeat cinematic ends.
• Intro beat. boss_visual_base.gd INTRO_POSE_AT (intro_full 0.40, intro_short 0.28): land the final intro pose by this progress and slam the title card at the same moment. Hold the pose frozen until INTRO_HOLD_UNTIL (0.66 / 0.88), where the camera leaves the hold. Read the constants; don't copy the numbers.
• Camera aim. Optional cinematic_focus() -> Vector3 (visual-local) is read once after on_spawned(). The default is the centre of the upper third of the rest mesh bounds. Override it to aim at a head or a core.
• Camera. The camera is backend-owned (camera_rig.boss_shot(p, mode)): a low-angle push with a freeze-hold and a wide hint shot for the intro, and a punch-in, ±12° orbit and wide pull-back for the defeat. Frontend code does not move the camera. It may still call shake() and punch_fov(), which ride on top of the shot.
• Skip. Intros only. Jump or ui_accept skips once 0.5 s have played (skip_boss_cinematic()). The press is consumed and never jumps. Show the skip prompt only while game.can_skip_boss_cinematic() returns true; don't derive it from elapsed time. The backend guard already returns false while paused or not running, once the intro has been skipped, inside its last 0.3 s tail (boss_cinematic_skip_tail), before 0.5 s, and for every defeat.

Contract 2.7: straight corridor (backend)

The automatic turn-left/turn-right phase is gone. Phases are run → boss → stage_clear; the drain at the end of run hands straight to boss on the tick it ends, so the boss's own intro cinematic is the stage's lead-in.

• Removed: the three turn signals and next_turn_direction on the facade, turns_taken in the result and the boss checkpoint, the RunConfig Turn group, the corridor's turn hook and bend (CornerWall, TurnChevron, the code_wall_fade shader), the camera swing, the HUD's TURN LEFT/RIGHT warning and floor chevrons (environment/turn_fx.gd), the turn audio recipes, the GPU warmup's mid-turn pose, environment/dev/turn_preview.* and the turn views of the capture tools.
• Kept: World/TurnRig keeps its name as a static mount, because every mount path, fixture and capture tool addresses it; track_z() still measures through it. The starship corridor still hides the legacy glyph rain and speed streaks, now in _refresh_dressing(), which also re-uploads the corridor frame to the shaders only when the node moves. The shaders' bend uniform stays at its default 0.
• Entry bulkhead: starship_world.gd closes the near end of the corridor behind Hoppy with a sealed door at z ≈ +24.4 and a sleeve over z 11.5..24.5, the mirror of the far bulkhead. Gameplay never sees it; the run intro's reverse shots land on it.
• Boss-checkpoint retry opens straight in front of the boss, with no run intro (see below).
• Main menu: the fifth runner still is now "JUMP, ROLL, DODGE" (runner_dodge.png, a jump over a blocking hazard captured by tests/capture_runner_menu_previews.gd).

Contract 2.7: run intro

A fresh run opens with a six-second in-engine cinematic: letterbox bars frame a camera approach through the corridor, Hoppy celebrates beneath THE CODEBASE CORRIDOR, and the camera settles behind Hoppy for 3, 2, 1, GO!. Retries use a 2.2-second READY/GO lead-in; a boss-checkpoint retry goes straight to the boss, whose short intro cinematic is its lead-in. Space or the active controller jump button skips after 0.3 seconds and until GO; the on-screen skip button supports pointer/touch input. Skip retains a brief GO burst and 0.4-second exit. Pause freezes the presentation with the run clock. The shot data lives in scenes/runner/data/run_intro_shots.gd; ui/run_intro.gd reads facade progress and beats, and ui/post_fx.gd owns the letterbox.

Backend hand-off (contract §11.15 is authoritative):

• Signals and mirrors. run_intro(mode, seconds) (&"full" 6.0 s / &"short" 2.2 s), run_intro_beat(index, label) (full title 1.0, 3 3.0, 2 3.8, 1 4.6, GO! 5.4; short READY 1.0, GO! 1.6), run_intro_skipped(), run_intro_ended() (exactly once per intro, aborts included); game.run_intro_mode, game.run_intro_progress, game.can_skip_run_intro(), game.skip_run_intro().
• Who plays it. RunnerGame.pending_intro_mode is full on a fresh run from the menu and set to short by retry(). A boss-checkpoint retry plays no run intro: the boss's own short intro cinematic is the lead-in.
• Not run time. elapsed, distance and the score's base rate stay at zero through the intro, so the HUD clock reads 00:00 and the score 0 at GO.
• Hold. Controls (autopilot included) and the corridor's speed are held from run_intro until the GO beat, or until a skip. The skip window closes at GO, so a jump pressed on GO is a jump. The HUD hides its widgets and GET READY for the intro and opens GET READY with the run.
• Camera. camera_rig.set_run_intro(progress, mode, focus) places the lens off Hoppy's feet from the frontend SHOTS table (fallback shots built in). The rest pose is [8.0, 4.0, 0.0, 60.0, 2.5].
• Hoppy. The title beat plays Hoppy's victory clip through the player visual's celebrate().
• Audio. intro_whoosh under the full intro's fly-through, intro_title on the title beat, intro_count on each count (and READY), intro_go on GO; the music is ducked 12 dB until GO.
• Capture. Godot --path hoppys-adventure-arcade --always-on-top --script res://scenes/runner/ui/dev/capture_run_intro.gd -- --output=<folder> (S5's fixture; mock by default).