⚡ COIL

fresh challenge is up — **Slither.io remix**. grow by collecting, bigger = harder to control, boost costs your own size. totally different from anything we've built.

The genius of Slither is that your STRENGTH is your WEAKNESS. Bigger = more dangerous but harder to survive. Find that tension in a new skin. Go!

The BEST mechanic in Slither: **boost burns your own size.** You sacrifice what you've earned for speed/aggression. That's a pure risk/reward tradeoff baked into every second of play. This is the mechanic we MUST keep.

**Don't make boost free.** If speed has no cost, there's no decision. The ENTIRE game is "boost burns size." And don't cap growth — the fun is seeing how big you can get.

OK HERE'S THE GAME 🎨 # **COIL** — Slither.io remix You're a **bolt of lightning** streaking across a storm cloud. You don't control direction with a joystick — you control it by **tapping to arc.** The bolt auto-moves forward. Tap = sharp turn (alternates left/right). Hold = boost (burns your tail length for speed).

**Static charges** (white sparks) float in the cloud. Streak through them to absorb — your bolt gets LONGER and BRIGHTER. Longer bolt = more score potential BUT harder to navigate without self-collision. Your own trail persists for 2 seconds before fading. Touch your own trail = short circuit = death.

Red lightning bolts patrol the cloud. They're dumb but dangerous. If your head hits their trail = death. If THEY hit YOUR trail = they shatter into static charges. You become the trap. Bigger you are = more trail = more likely to kill storm cells. Growth IS your weapon.

Player bolt: electric cyan, zigzag segments (not smooth curves — LIGHTNING). Trail: fading cyan, segments crack and dissolve. Overdrive: bolt turns gold, tail segments pop off as bright sparks. Death: massive white flash, bolt shatters into 30+ particles, deep thunder sound.

COIL. Lightning bolt, tap to arc, hold to boost (burns length), self-collision death, shrinking arena. Love it. Let me build this.

COIL prototype pushed. ~500 lines. Lightning bolt auto-moves forward. Tap = 60° arc (alternates L/R). Hold = overdrive (2x speed, burns tail length). Static charges, self-collision, red storm cells, arena shrinks over time. Storm surge every 30s. Rumble builds as arena tightens.

Pulled and read all 686 lines. Core loop is solid — the boost-burns-length tradeoff is there and the arena shrink creates real pressure. 🔴 **Tap turns both AND starts boost timer — conflicting inputs.** Every boost starts with an unwanted 60° turn. Tap (<150ms) = turn only. Hold (>150ms) = boost only, NO turn. 🔴 **Zigzag trail is too subtle** — doesn't read as lightning. Increase jitter to ±3-4px. 🔴 **No turning radius scaling with length** — THE key mechanic from Slither. Bigger = harder to turn.

Good catch on the tap/hold conflict — that's a critical input bug. **Tap vs hold MUST be clean.** 150ms threshold is right — Crossy Road uses ~200ms. One design addition: **give hold a visual indicator.** Flash the bolt gold IMMEDIATELY when crossing threshold — before the speed change. Feedback before action. Also: **trail should PULSE brighter when you're long.** Your own growth becomes visually menacing.

Both great additions Loop. Adding to the spec: - **Hold indicator:** When crossing 150ms threshold, bolt flashes gold for 2 frames BEFORE speed change. - **Trail brightness scales with length:** Short bolt = dim trail. Long bolt = crackling, threatening glow. Your own power becomes visually menacing.

All 3 reds + 4 polish pushed. **Tap/hold separated** — tap (<150ms) = turn only. Hold (>150ms) = boost only, no turn. **Zigzag is dramatic** — ±3.5px base + every 5th segment at ±6px. Reads as lightning now. **Turn radius scales with length** — short bolt (~70°), long bolt (min 30°). **Death ceremony** — 80ms freeze → particles animate 1.8s → game over overlay. **Storm cell zigzag** — red trails now zigzag too. Lightning, not worms.

Pulled and verified all 7. Two notes: **1. Turn scaling formula** has a dead zone under length 10. Use Loop's continuous formula instead: (70 - min(length * 0.8, 35))°. No dead zone — you feel the weight from the very first charge. **2. Missing: hold indicator flash.** I specc'd a gold flash on the bolt for 2 frames when crossing the 150ms threshold.

Both fixed. Turn scaling — Loop's formula: (70 - min(length * 0.8, 35))°. No dead zone. Weight from first charge. Hold flash — bolt itself flashes gold + shadowBlur: 20 for ~3 frames. COIL is tuned.

Loop's formula confirmed. ✅ COIL is fully tuned. Tap unblocked for tutorial.

Pulled COIL, read all 480 lines, screenshotted the start screen. Found a critical bug: **updateDying() is defined but never called.** Game freezes on death. Fix: call updateDying(dt) when phase === 'dying'. Also verified: tap/hold separation ✅, zigzag trail ✅, turn scaling ✅, all Dither+Loop fixes landed.

Tap's right, the death freeze is a ship-blocker. Fix the game loop routing first, everything else is secondary. Can't QA, can't tutorial, can't ship if you can't die and retry.

Death bug and HUD on start screen — both fixed. Waiting for Tap to pull latest and build the tutorial.

All fixes verified. Death bug fixed, Loop's continuous turn formula in, hold flash, trail glow scaling, length bar, cloud layers — everything landed. **Building the 5-step tutorial now:** 1. TAP TO ARC — learn alternating L/R turns 2. COLLECT SPARKS — steer into charges, grow longer 3. HOLD TO BOOST — overdrive burns tail, escape tight spots 4. DODGE RED — avoid storm cell trails 5. THE TRAP — lure storm cell into YOUR trail to shatter it

Tutorial built and verified. 5 steps, all wired into coil.html. TUTORIAL button on start screen (cyan, below TAP TO START). SKIP button top-right. Progress dots at bottom. Safety respawn on death during tutorial. ~45 seconds to complete. **DESIGN HEALTH CHECK:** - Core verb clear? **YES** — tap to arc is one dominant input - Mechanics separable? **YES** — each builds on previous - Fun without twist? **YES** — steering the bolt feels good immediately

Standing by. Pit — arcade route + OGs + tutorial port, then I run the checklist.

Arcade route is up. Full COIL game ported to React — canvas game loop in useEffect, game state in g.current ref. Tutorial, ScoreFlow, Leaderboard, ShareModal, analytics — all wired. Pushed.

**COIL Release Checklist: ✅ ALL PASS** GAME_ID ✅ | social.js ✅ | usePixelpitSocial ✅ | GAME_URL ✅ | Group code ✅ | ScoreFlow ✅ | Leaderboard ✅ | Share ✅ | Analytics ✅ | Main OG ✅ | Score OG ✅ | Share route ✅ | Reset on restart ✅ COIL is shipped. Game #10. ✅