Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/main' into auto/frame-blend-draw-path

docs/agents/PLAYTEST-2026-09-02-menus.md

@@ -103,14 +103,40 @@ player gets past the boot.
 | Ⓐ #3 | activates the plate → main menu | ✅ implemented |
 
 * **Port:** Ⓐ during the title build-in should jump the sequence to the plate's
-  arrival rather than being swallowed. ⚠️ **Careful what "jump" means** — the
-  plate has a declared arrival at `t=238` and the title a build-in ending at
-  `t≈118`. Whether the game *snaps* both clocks forward, or only reveals the
-  plate and leaves the title where it is, is a question, not a detail. Ask if
-  the capture does not say.
-* **Decoder:** what does Ⓐ do to the clocks? This is also a **second, cheap route
+  arrival rather than being swallowed. ⚠️ **Careful what "jump" means, and do
+  not choose it.** See below — it is a test of an authored premise, not a detail.
+* **Decoder:** what does Ⓐ do to the clock? This is also a **second, cheap route
   to the plate-arrival question** — a press that skips to the plate tells you
   where the game thinks the plate belongs.
+
+### 🔴 F4 is a TEST OF `clock: "shared"`, which is authored and only ~20 % confirmed
+
+**Correction, by the human who wrote this page: an earlier draft said "both
+clocks". There is only ONE.** `authored/flow.json` sets `"clock": "shared"`: the
+title is two composited builds — build 4 the artwork, build 2/3 the plate — and
+they run on **one clock started together**. Build 4's artwork finishes at
+`t ≈ 118`; the plate reaches full alpha at `t = 236`. Saying "both clocks" would
+send someone hunting for a second one that this corpus says does not exist.
+
+With that fixed, the question is sharp and **observable**:
+
+| if Ⓐ … | then pressing EARLY looks like |
+|---|---|
+| **advances the shared clock** | the title artwork **snaps** to finished, and the plate appears |
+| **only forces the plate visible** | the artwork **keeps animating** its remaining build-in while the plate appears over it |
+
+So film a boot, press Ⓐ while the wordmark is still building in, and watch the
+**artwork**, not the plate.
+
+📌 **Why this matters beyond the feature.** `clock: "shared"` is **authored**, and
+`plate-arrival-halves.md` says in its own words that it is *"not falsified… not
+confirmed to better than ~20 % either"*. There is also an unresolved anchor
+disagreement **inside one binary**: the reconciliation picked `t=118`, while
+`settle_time()` returns **160** and the boot prints `settles at t=160`.
+
+If Ⓐ snaps the artwork, that is evidence **for** one shared clock. If the artwork
+carries on while the plate appears, the plate has a timeline of its own and the
+authored premise is in trouble. **Answer F4 before building on `shared`.**
 * 📌 And it bears on `REFUTED.md`: *"any title after the first one refuses
   input"* is already narrowed to the attract-returned title. This is a third
   input the boot title accepts.

docs/agents/decoder-loop.md

@@ -62,14 +62,30 @@ because the port is blocked on two of them.
    the plate appears or when Ⓐ is accepted? ⚠️ A negative needs a positive
    control (R4): show the method finding the *menu's* cue before concluding the
    title has none.
-4. **F4 — WHAT DOES Ⓐ DO TO THE CLOCKS?** In the real game, Ⓐ during the title
+4. **F4 — WHAT DOES Ⓐ DO TO THE CLOCK?** In the real game, Ⓐ during the title
    build-in **reveals the plate immediately** — so the boot takes three presses:
-   skip video, reveal plate, accept plate. Does the game snap both clocks
-   forward, or only reveal the plate? 📌 This is also a **cheap second route to
-   the plate-arrival question**: a press that skips to the plate tells you where
-   the game thinks the plate belongs. And it is a third input the boot title
-   accepts, which narrows `REFUTED.md`'s *"any title after the first refuses
-   input"* further.
+   skip video, reveal plate, accept plate.
+
+   🔴 **This is a test of `clock: "shared"`.** The title is two composited builds
+   — build 4 the artwork (finishes `t≈118`), build 2/3 the plate (full alpha
+   `t=236`) — and the port's `authored/flow.json` runs them on **one** clock
+   started together. That premise is **authored**, and the port's own
+   `plate-arrival-halves.md` calls it *"not falsified… not confirmed to better
+   than ~20 %"*, with an unresolved anchor disagreement inside one binary
+   (`t=118` from the reconciliation, `160` from `settle_time()`).
+
+   The discriminator is observable: **press Ⓐ early, while the wordmark is still
+   building in, and watch the ARTWORK, not the plate.**
+
+   | if Ⓐ … | the artwork |
+   |---|---|
+   | advances the shared clock | **snaps** to finished |
+   | only forces the plate visible | **keeps animating** its remaining build-in |
+
+   📌 It is also a **cheap second route to the plate-arrival question** — a press
+   that skips to the plate says where the game thinks the plate belongs — and a
+   third input the boot title accepts, narrowing `REFUTED.md`'s *"any title after
+   the first refuses input"* further.
 
 ⚠️ Deliver a **series, not a settled value** — see
 [`TEMPORAL-VERIFICATION.md`](TEMPORAL-VERIFICATION.md), and note that the port's

docs/agents/port-loop.md

@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ difficulty select comes first in the real game and that the port announces it.
 | **F1** | **The menu REPEATS on a held direction. Ours does not.** One step per deflection was authored as the safe choice; the human has now watched the real game and it repeats. | **Implement the mechanism. Take the RATE from the Decoder — do NOT ship a placeholder interval.** An invented rate here is indistinguishable from a measured one later, and this is the exact field where that already cost us. |
 | **F2** | **SFX too loud, and there is no mix at all.** Measured: `confirm` −17.7 dB mean / **−0.0 dB peak**, 3 dB hotter than the music; no gain value exists anywhere in `export/` or `authored/`. | Add gains **at playback, as data** — a bus per kind. ⚠️ **Do NOT normalise in the exporter**: re-levelling destroys the relationship between clips and a modder cannot undo it. The Decoder is checking whether the mix is on the disc. |
 | **F3** | **Something is missing on the title screen** — a track or a sting. The export has one music file and the port plays nothing on the title. | Wait for the Decoder; nothing to author yet. |
-| **F4** | **Ⓐ skips FORWARD through the boot, and we implement two of three presses.** Ⓐ#1 skips the video ✅, **Ⓐ#2 reveals the plate immediately ❌ missing**, Ⓐ#3 activates it ✅. | Make Ⓐ during the title build-in jump to the plate. ⚠️ Whether the game snaps **both** clocks forward or only reveals the plate is a question — ask rather than choose. |
+| **F4** | **Ⓐ skips FORWARD through the boot, and we implement two of three presses.** Ⓐ#1 skips the video ✅, **Ⓐ#2 reveals the plate immediately ❌ missing**, Ⓐ#3 activates it ✅. | Make Ⓐ during the title build-in jump to the plate — but **do not choose what "jump" means.** 🔴 It is a **test of `clock: "shared"`**, which is authored and, in your own words, *"not confirmed to better than ~20 %"*. If Ⓐ advances the shared clock the artwork **snaps**; if it only forces the plate visible the artwork **keeps animating**. Those look different on an early press, so the oracle can settle it. **Answer it before building on `shared`.** (Correction: an earlier draft of this brief said "both clocks" — there is only ONE, and hunting for a second would waste an iteration.) |
 
 **H3, the plate delay, is ACCEPTED** — *"feels the same… sufficient"*. Stop
 working on it. Leave the row unattributed rather than closing it green.