- Shrink the roster from 200 to 60 systems and drop spiral arms / core bulge for a uniform-in-area sparse disk (data/galaxy.json)
- Turn the jump network into a pure spanning tree (shortcuts off): exactly one route between any two systems, barren systems become single-gate dead-end leaves
- Remove the rendered Star entity; non-home system centers are now empty space with the star kept only as invisible dossier flavor
- Gate anchors restricted to planets (stations no longer anchor) and every non-barren system guaranteed ≥1 planet so a buildable world always exists
- Give barren dead ends 1–2 asteroid clusters drifting inside their gate's level-1 tether as the stop's only payload
- Bump save format to 2 and reject legacy format-1 saves with a clear toast message
- Update tests, docs, and README to reflect the maze layout, leaf dead ends, empty centers, and new barren cluster rules
- constrainShip on Planet, Star, Station, JumpGate, and AsteroidCluster now
returns a contact boolean (true only when position/velocity/acceleration
actually changed) so the scene can distinguish "touched" from "no-op".
- GameScene.onPostUpdate reads those flags and, if the ship is in its
Shift+click thrust state, calls stop() + setState('normal', 'contact')
the first frame any solid or the tether rim touches it — the hold ends
and the ship rests on the rim instead of driving through.
- Non-thrust ships are left alone by the rule; their existing arrival/brake
logic still owns their stop.
- dev/contact.test.mjs: headless tests covering no-contact outside the
keep-out, contact + push-out + inward-motion strip on approach, no
spurious contact while sliding off the rim, the full thrust-into-planet
stop-dead-on-rim integration, and that the rule only fires in thrust.
- dev/smoke-game.mjs: add a third thrusttest check (c) verifying a
Shift+click straight into the planet stops it dead on the rim.
- Ship gains a `thrust` state and `thrustToward()` that commits to the heading toward the click point and holds full throttle past it, until a plain click or stop steers out.
- GameScene pointer handler branches on `pointer.event.shiftKey`: Shift+click locks the heading (raw aim), plain click still flies to the clamped stop point.
- Mining teardown no longer stomps the ship state when the player has already moved it into `thrust`/`normal`.
- Update hint text and add unit tests (tests 7–10) plus a live-scene smoke harness (`?thrusttest=1`) verifying past-click flight, steer-back arrival, stop braking, and mining-exit signaling.
- Replace direct-click-to-jump with a shared comms panel variant that shows LINK ACTIVE/DORMANT status, REQUEST JUMP (disabled while dormant), and CANCEL
- Render gates from the new 256x256 spritesheet (frame 0 body, frame 1 active swirl) with procedural fallback when the texture is missing
- Active gate swirl spins clockwise and breathes alpha between configurable bounds; dormant gates keep the body at full alpha with the swirl hidden
- Wire CommsPanel to a dynamic primary-button action id so the same panel serves world and gate variants
- Add dev probe page (dev/gate-comms.html/.mjs) and update jumpgate/jump-travel tests for the new sprite path, fallback renderer, and comm-window flow
- Introduce Star entity (procedural texture per spectral class) drawn at the origin of every non-home system; only the starting system's central body is the home world
- Freeze `homeSystemId` at roster build so lazily generated content for newly arrived systems no longer misreads as home and deals a second home world
- Anchor tether-l1 builds on newly discovered worlds (effects.tether in data/builds.json) and re-materialize installed tethers after jump cuts / scene rebuilds
- Discovery now reports the central body in every system ("Home World" vs. spectral-class star label); stars are solid but not comms targets
- Add dev tools: nav-reach-probe (soft-lock analysis), star unit tests, tether-newworld browser test; fix landing video references and Phaser stubs
- Add JumpTravel.js with pure arrival geometry (return-gate lookup, spawn point past keepout) and wire it into GameScene.jumpThroughGate to re-stage the run via the save pipeline and scene restart
- Add gate hit-test (gateAt) so active gates trigger the jump on click while dormant ones show a console nudge and fall through to fly-here
- Add jump config block to gates.json (feature switch, arrival gap, delay, toast templates) and update landing.json gasgiant shop clips
- Add dev/jump-travel.test.mjs covering config, geometry, real-galaxy coverage, and determinism; refresh PROJECT_NOTES for the new mechanic
- Introduce a dynamic "system" research category built at runtime with two techs: `{System} Map` (granted on entry) and `Unlock {System} Jumpgates` (researchable once every NAV point is discovered).
- Wire gate activation through the research effects seam so completing the jumpgate tech activates the system's gates plus linked return gates, anchors level-1 tethers at each activated gate, and saves/restores via a new `activatedGates` set.
- Extend ResearchModel with optional tree hooks (`available`, `lockNote`) so dynamic categories can gate research on live world state without adding static requires.
- Add map and gate procedural icons, update tests for the new category contract and icon roster, and document the system category in project notes.
- Clicking a planet or station now opens the comms panel without moving the ship; world clicks are no longer fly-here targets, keeping mining beams live during panel interaction
- Add double-click (350 ms) skip for landing and takeoff clips in SurfaceScene so players can cut to the deck or flight world immediately
- Push restored mineral hold through the upper-right HUD on load so the readout matches the saved value instead of staying at zero
- Replace removed Phaser v4 Container.removeChildren() with removeAll(true) in JumpGate and Station destroy paths
- Update landing.json shop entries for terran frames 2–3 and document the new skip behavior
- Add dev harnesses for surface-skip, hold-restore, scene-restart, container-probe, and import probes; extend comms-click and saves-ui tests to cover the new interactions
- Galaxy shrunk to 200 systems (data/galaxy.json) — always fully known,
generation ~15 ms; roster/content two-level design unchanged.
- Object composition replaces planetCount (data/systems.json → objectCount):
10% barren (jump-gate-only), else 2/3/4/5 objects (planets + free-space
stations) at 15/30/30/15. One unified roll (rollSystemComposition) shared
by the content generator and the frame pass.
- Barren systems: no planets, no stations, no asteroid clusters; their
single gate sits on the star→destination ray at barrenDistance (8192 px).
Strong connectivity keeps them reachable.
- Jump gates are DORMANT by default: every gate record carries
active:false, the entity renders dim with a still field. Activation is
the seam for the tether mechanic (an activated gate anchors a level-1
tether). data/gates.json gains barrenDistance.
- Frame diversity (js/galaxy/PlanetFrames.js): one galaxy-wide pass spreads
(class, frame) across the galaxy — fixed spatial order, least-used face
among already-assigned nearest stars, seeded tie-breaks. Stamps
planet.frame + content.homeFrame, read by GameScene.
- Tests: dev/frames.test.mjs added; jumps/galaxy/discovery/jumpgate/asteroids
suites updated to the new rules (composition buckets, barren gates,
active flags, frame determinism/spread, 5-object max, index clamps).
- Docs (README, PROJECT_NOTES) and stale 40k references updated.
- Introduce data/gates.json + js/galaxy/JumpNetwork.js: a strongly-connected, degree-limited spanning tree over the nearest-star graph (plus local shortcuts) so every system holds 1–3 gates, all jumps are local, and no system is closed or trapped
- Place each gate on the tether circle of an anchor (planet / space station / home world), facing its destination star; enforce radius band, clearance from anchors, and gap between gates in SystemGenerator.layoutGates
- Add the JumpGate entity (procedural twin-pylon portal) with the same solid contract as Planet/Station, discoverable in cyan, listed in the HUD dossier; wire into GameScene solids + discovery
- Guarantee every system holds at least one gate anchor (barren systems get a deep-space station); cap the home system at 3 objects so it fits the tighter band
- Rework solar-system layout to a full pairwise band [minSpacing, maxSpacing] with rotation tuned toward gate bearings; update tests and docs accordingly
- Extract minerals from the latched asteroid at ratePerSec × miningSpeed; each mineral shrinks the rock by 1 px so the beam stays latched to its rim.
- Break rocks that lose ~1/3 of their original size: large ones halve in place (beam keeps mining one half), small ones shatter into pieces that fly home and load the hold.
- Add ship.minerals hold with addMinerals/setMinerals capped at stats.mineralStorage; a full hold ends the run instead of grinding the rock away.
- Persist the hold in save/restore (captureState writes ship.minerals, applyRestore restores it) and keep legacy saves working when the field is absent.
- Play new mining_split sfx on each break and surface split/absorbed/storageFull events as console toasts.
- Expose AsteroidCluster rock surgery (setSize/addRock/removeMember) for runtime splits, and add headless Phaser stub + loader plus a mining test suite covering extraction, halving, shattering, full-hold stop, and the hold API.
- New shared audio voices: js/utils/Sfx.js (playSfxOn/stopSfxOn/sfxPlayingOn)
and js/utils/Music.js (loop voice + shuffle playlist), both with v4 guard
rails (cache.audio.has, stopByKey, isPlaying) so missing assets never throw.
- data/music.json: menu loop, shuffled deep-space soundtrack for GameScene,
and per-world surface loops keyed by planets.png frame; new mp3 assets in
assets/music/.
- data/sfx.json: add ui_hover/ui_click/ui_window/ui_close/mining_loop and a
dedicated scan track; wire UI components (buttons, panels, popups, save
vault) to the shared voice via scene.playSfx seam.
- GameScene: start/stop the shuffle on create/shutdown, stop both soundtrack
and mining hum on 'sleep' (landing launch+sleep) and resume on 'wake';
mining hum loops while beam is live and stops quietly on 'stopped'.
- SurfaceScene: preload and loop the world's track from landing through
takeoff; fix landing frame hand-off to pass sheetFrame instead of the
texture Frame object.
- MenuScene: preload SFX + menu music, start the menu hum in create, stop it
on the 'shutdown' event (v4 never calls shutdown() on transition).
- data/ship.json → stats: hullIntegrity/shields/cargoHold/mineralStorage,
exposed as ship.stats for future combat/trading/mining systems.
- Tests: dev/sfx.test.mjs and dev/music.test.mjs cover the shared voices,
guards, and data contracts; ship-behavior and system-hud tests extended
for base stats and the mining hum lifecycle.
- New SurfaceScene overlays GameScene when the player requests landing:
plays a one-shot landing clip, then a looping surface clip behind a
dedicated command deck (Shop/Build/Ship + Take Off + Menu).
- Wire comms panel "Request Landing" / "Land" buttons to launch the
surface; TAKE OFF stops SurfaceScene and wakes GameScene so the run
resumes exactly where it left off.
- ActionBar accepts an optional `buttons` override so scenes can supply a
different slot list while sharing layout/colors/animation.
- SavePanel gains a `stateScene` option so saves from the surface read
state from the paused GameScene underneath.
- Add data/landing.json (per-frame video map) and four placeholder
surface clips; CommsPanel now passes its full target payload through to
onAction so landing metadata survives the round-trip.
- Add dev harnesses: headless-Firefox screenshot helper, click-path test
for the real user flow, and a surface-flow assertion suite with parked
screenshot pages.
- New CommsPanel UI: world-anchored rusty-metal/green-phosphor console that opens on planet or station click, showing name decode, reputation bar (41 marks, -20 to +20), and REQUEST LANDING / LAND / CANCEL buttons
- New Station entity with procedural rendering (deep-space station ring + solar wings, or waypoint beacon), solid collision, and comms-target support
- data/stations.json configures station kinds, sizes, ship clearance; added to manifest
- GameScene wires click-to-fly + panel open together, handles button/outside/ESC close race, ESC priority, and commsAction seam for future landing logic
- Reputation.marksFor() computes lit-mark count for the gauge; covered by new unit tests in dev/reputation.test.mjs
- Dev tooling: comms-click (real-input interaction test), comms-shot (screenshot states), wdshot setup-step logging
- Introduce `Ship.state` ('normal' | 'mining') with `setState()` and an
`onStateChange` callback so the scene can react to state exits.
- Any player-initiated movement (world click or compass autopilot) now
drops the ship back to 'normal', which ends the mining sequence via the
scene's handler; Mining.update() enforces the gate as a belt-and-braces.
- Rename `Mining.isLocked` to `isActive` and update GameScene click logic:
clicks no longer hold during extension — they move the ship and abort the
arm's reach.
- Tighten the popup-button swallow window from 300 ms to 20 ms and add a
`containsScreen()` hit-test so only the exact button press is consumed,
not subsequent deliberate clicks on the panel area.
- Expand the headless mining test to cover the new movement-abort contract:
world click mid-extension breaks the arm, autopilot retracts the beam,
and ship state transitions are asserted at every stage.
- Generate 4–8 rock groups per system with seeded placement, spacing, and slow tumble/drift motion driven by data/asteroids.json
- Add AsteroidCluster entity (Phaser container) with halo, dust motes, per-rock spins, and ship keep-out collision reusing Planet.resolve
- Integrate clusters into GameScene: load spritesheet, constrain ship post-physics, include in click-to-fly/autopilot/discovery/compass
- Synthesise unique cluster names via NameGenerator.asteroid (syllables + field suffix)
- Add dev test suite and ?seed= param for deterministic galaxy generation
- Load `assets/images/ships-player.png` as a Phaser spritesheet via
`data/ship.json` (`texture`, `frameWidth`, `frameHeight`, `frame`)
- Add `artFacing` config; Ship applies a constant `artOffset` so heading
math is unchanged while the frame art (facing north) renders correctly
- Scale sprite as `(size * scale) / frameWidth` to preserve the 46 px world
hull size and collision radius regardless of frame dimensions
- Fall back to the built-in procedural dart when the sheet is missing or
fails to load, with a console warning in GameScene.create()
- Update ship-behavior tests to account for `artOffset` in heading checks
- Add source art (`ships-player.psd`, landed-ship reference) and a demo
video; document the new pattern in README and PROJECT_NOTES
- Discovery rule: ship within `discovery.distance` (540 px) of a world's edge discovers it once per system; state is pure, save-ready (`Discovery.toJSON/fromJSON`)
- Off-screen compass (`DiscoveryCompass`): themed screen-edge arrows with type/name chips point back at discovered worlds; geometry helpers (`edgeAnchor`, `circleInView`, `lerpAngle`) exported for Node tests
- Solar-system layout: `layoutSystemPlanets` places generated worlds in a deterministic annular band around the home world, enforcing edge-to-edge separation and per-class scale/tint from `data/planets.json`
- All system planets are solid to the ship (collision + click-clamp), not just home
- Rim ping + HUD toast on discovery (`celebrateDiscovery`)
- New planet class pools (rocky/gas/ice/lava) with frames, `classScale`, `classTint`, and `typeLabels`
- Smoke-game dev hooks: `?ship=x,y` and `?near=px` for screenshotting discovery/compass states
- Node test suite (`dev/discovery.test.mjs`) covering rule boundaries, per-system state, JSON round-trip, layout bounds/determinism, compass geometry, and class pools
- Allow planet kinds to specify multiple sheet frames and pick one with a seed-derived Rng so the same galaxy always gets the same home world.
- Add Ethnocentric and Centauri font assets.
Adds the player's home planet to the starting system, rendered from the new
planets.png spritesheet. The planet is a solid disc: the ship may come within
shipClearance of its rim but can never cross it, and clicks on the planet
clamp to the keep-out rim so the ship always has a reachable destination.
- js/entities/Planet.js: solid-disc entity with a circle keep-out constraint
(constrainShip/resolve, pure and scene-free) plus edgePoint/aimPoint helpers
- data/planets.json (+ manifest entry): texture, frame size, scale, homePlanet,
shipClearance, spawnDistanceFromEdge
- Ship.js: exposes a radius (half the hull width) for the keep-out math
- GameScene.js: loads the spritesheet, spawns the home world at the origin,
starts the ship ~150 px off its rim in a seed-derived direction, and applies
the constraint each frame after the ship moves
- dev/planet.test.mjs: Node tests of the constraint against real config;
dev/test-game.html gains a <base href> so asset paths resolve from /dev
- Boot the game from a static server with no build step (Phaser 4 vendored in lib/)
- Main menu (New Game button) and GameScene where clicking makes the ship fly there
- All tunables live in data/*.json (game/menu/ship), loaded via manifest + Config singleton
- Ship behavior driven by arcade physics (thrust, drag, maxSpeed, arrival) with a Node test harness (dev/ship-behavior.test.mjs) and a dev smoke page that boots straight into GameScene
- Project conventions documented in docs/PROJECT_NOTES.md; README rewritten to describe layout, run instructions, and dev tools
Brian Fertig
Brian Fertig