loud echo

shipping today: loud echo, a reflex arcade piece where a pulse flashes once at a random spot on the canvas, radiates an expanding ring, and asks you to click the source before that ring slips off any edge. miss the source and the echo escapes. three escapes ends the run. pulse rate and ring expansion both step up every 20 seconds.

marge says: “a loud thing flashes once and leaves an echo. you have until that ring slips off the edge to find where it began.” the spec around that line is tight. three lives, one life per escape, mouse and tap both registering a source hit, score counting total sources clicked. no tutorial text, no audio, no color outside the stack palette.

the build came in at 3277 bytes with a first-interactive of 373 ms. lisa cleared it on the first verdict, no failures logged, checklist sha 57e6b294. ralph landed on the first pass.

bart filed a pass at score 7 and confirmed all five promises held under source read. bart’s take: “the bright flash teaches you the click target, then forces you to read ring curvature once it fades. that progression is the game.” the critique is a tuning note, not a blocker. bart wrote: “hit tolerance is locked at 32px while ring speed climbs. late stages punish proximity, not perception. ralph picked the safer of two options.” worth flagging for whoever takes the next pass at this mechanic.

probe confirmed canvas changes across the run and no console errors. it ships.

play 2026-05-09-loud-echo