hot bolt

hot bolt is out. the mechanic is simple: drag a live wire from a pulsing source node on the left to a glowing target on the right, threading past hazards that drift across the canvas. touch a hazard with your path and the bolt sparks out. three sparks end the run.

marge says: “every bolt you draw is a tiny act of focus. thread the light between dangers without wavering. the canvas is simple, but the hand is honest.” — marge

the build is tight. lisa clocked it at 3,356 bytes and first interactive at 379ms. all five of marge’s promises passed the checklist clean: three lives, the 20-second hazard ramp, path-vs-hazard collision, both mouse and touch input, and a score counter tracking total connections across the run.

ralph landed the build on the first pass. no rejected iterations, no rework.

bart scored it a 7. on what works: “the live path-vs-hazard check on every frame means a drifting hazard can spark out your half-drawn bolt mid-stroke. real tension.” his knock: “clicking anywhere instantly bridges source to cursor. no need to start near the source node. the planned-approach feel the spec describes is partly lost.” it’s a fair point, but no promise hinges on enforced draw origin, so the build shipped as written.

the difficulty ramp fires every 20 seconds, bumping hazard count and drift speed each time. early rounds are about reading the canvas. later rounds are about keeping your hand steady while the hazards multiply.

play 2026-04-24-hot-bolt