Playtest fixes (two reports, both bugs):
- Bad ground no longer instantly crashes: holes and obstacles only
put you down above surfaceCrashSpeed; below that you bog to a crawl
that is capped under the crash speed, always escapable
- Steep ramps (45°) no longer crash: launch lifts the bike clear of
the lip, pitch is clamped to pitchMax, and landing angle is clamped
to landGroundAngleMax so straddled cliff edges don't count as
rideable surfaces
- Harness now drives every ramp at seven speeds; no crashes allowed
Wave 5 polish:
- Scenery: infield and apron shrub rows (bush, apronBush, tuft)
transcribed from NES track maps
- Ramps given readable silhouette (packed-earth hatch, dark stroke,
lit crest, sheer-face cut)
- Gaps show infield through lane; lane dividers and cool-zone
chevrons fixed for alternating-lane contrast
- Snow and night themes retinted for visibility
- iconFrame 91 already painted
Tooling:
- Map reader masks ramp columns to avoid false mud/cool-zone detection
- All 10 track qualifyMs retuned from playtest measurements
Updated build plan and sprites docs.
Address three fidelity issues found during Brian's playtest:
- Throttle: base speed 150→175, heat now chases a target (0.5 for A, 1.0 for B)
so holding A alone settles the meter halfway without stalling.
- Turbo: overheat window extended to 6–8 seconds (heatRiseRate 1/7s), turbo speed
275→235 against 175 base (57% boost). AI rivals now use hysteresis (heatOff/
heatOn) instead of feathering around a single threshold.
- Landing: tolerance is lopsided — rear-wheel-first is safe (landCleanBack 0.45 /
landHardBack 1.20), nose-down is strict (landCleanNose 0.32 / landHardNose 0.92).
Crash rates across banks dropped from 1.3–5.9 to 0.2–3.0 per 1000px.
Other changes:
- Qualify targets: max(human × 1.06, expert × 1.12) so a perfect ride has margin.
- Fix NaN in countdown caused by renamed heatRate constant.
- Soak bands re-based; added monotonic ordering check (expert > human > steady > naive).
- Title screen now shows controls and "LAND REAR WHEEL FIRST" hint.
- All 10 track qualifyMs values retuned to new physics.
Brian Fertig