# Game Feel demo checklist

Reviewed 2026-09-19. Scope is the four Issue Table rows tagged Game Feel, represented by seven moments. This is a visual and audio proposal built from the live game's pixels, not a patched Unity build.

## Playbook self-check

- [x] Real native screenshots are the foundation. Churchill, Ocean and Tiger were played and captured in headed Chromium at 1920x1080. Meerkat reuses the previously verified live captures.
- [x] Real assets were harvested. `prepare_assets.py` crops the wildlife photos, original result headlines and invalid tile. HUDs remain original screenshot pixels. Tiger's clean photo was recaptured 1.15 seconds after the actual final move; the discarded tiled reconstruction is not used.
- [x] Product colors and typography are preserved. Original headline and HUD glyphs are pixels, not approximate fonts. Added copy uses the playbook's Rubik and IBM Plex Mono; their exact Unity equivalents are not independently verified. Gold/navy follow the prior sample record and captured result panels.
- [x] BEFORE and AFTER share one HTML file and a working toggle. BEFORE uses actual shipped screenshots. Wrong/invalid tap demonstrations use the same captured board and same pointer cue in both modes.
- [x] The millisecond table was written before implementation in `TIMELINE.md`. One elapsed-time requestAnimationFrame loop drives seek, playback and video export.
- [x] New panels, photos, text, stars, hints and actions enter over time. Existing game backgrounds/HUDs are already present at time zero.
- [x] Sound is scheduled from a single AudioContext base. Exported audio is rendered offline from the same events. Mute and playback-speed controls are checked.
- [x] AI generation is not applicable. All wildlife imagery is captured from the game; no replacement animals, fake mattes or generated backgrounds are used.
- [x] Stage is fixed at 1920x1080 with transform-origin 0 0. Review controls remain outside it on desktop, phone, tablet and landscape.
- [x] Timeline screenshots were rendered and visually inspected. Corrections included the Ocean photo selection, font-loading race, Tiger tile seams, result HUD count, and hint placement. See `qa/` and `qa/results.json`.
- [x] Seven six-second 1920x1080 MP4 files with audio accompany the page, one per selectable moment. Links are in the review panel.
- [x] HTML is readable and has no pretend gameplay. PLAY AGAIN and HOME link to the actual game; they do not promise a Unity restart. The review panel explains this boundary.

## Issue coverage and remaining content dependency

| Issue Table row | Demonstration | Coverage |
|---|---|---|
| Churchill / Wrong tap / High | `wrong` | Three identical missed taps; gold ripple, soft response, hint after repeated misses |
| Tiger Bath / Invalid move / High | `invalid` | Captured immovable tile wobbles, low thunk, nearby legal tiles highlighted |
| All games / End screens / High | `meerkat`, `ocean`, `tiger`, `churchill` | Celebration, proposed rating, challenge/completion context, fact and real-build replay action for all four; photographer names verified for Tiger and Churchill only |
| Tiger Bath / Win moment / Medium | `reveal` | Three-second uninterrupted photograph, existing light-sweep concept retained, side result panel without photo overlap |

**Open content item:** photographer names for the harvested Meerkat and Ocean card photos have not been verified. No names or ownership attributions were invented. The external inspector labels this omission. The end-screen issue therefore still has this content dependency before full production acceptance.

Proposed ratings are not existing game rules: memory 3 stars at 10 or fewer turns, 2 at 11-14, 1 beyond; Tiger 3 at 20 or fewer, 2 at 21-30, 1 beyond; Churchill 1 star for 2 found, 2 for 4, 3 for all 5. Current captured scores are Meerkat 12 turns, Ocean 10 turns, Tiger 22 moves, Churchill 5/5. Difficulty thresholds need balancing against actual puzzle shuffles before production use.

The Tiger BEFORE dialog appears at 2000 ms in the comparison, approximating the report's observation. This is not an instrumented timing measurement. The real build already has a light sweep, so it is not presented as a newly invented feature.

## Sources

- [Issue Table](https://nickacademy-ue-playtest.pages.dev/)
- [Live game](https://dev-dashboard.nick.academy/play?test=true)
- [Tiger Bath photograph and Steve Winter credit, National Geographic](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/photo-of-the-day/photo/tigers-rescue-sanctuary-colorado)
- [Churchill flower-bed photograph and Martin Gregus, Jr. credit, National Geographic](https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/snoozing-in-flower-beds-behold-the-bears-of-summer)
- [Meerkat sentry behavior, National Geographic Kids](https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/meerkat)
- [Green sea turtle diet, National Geographic Kids](https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/animals/reptiles/facts/green-sea-turtle)
- [Summer rest while waiting for ice, Polar Bears International](https://polarbearsinternational.org/news-media/articles/polar-bear-tracker-update-summer-2025/)

## Evidence files

- Original pixels: `captures/`; final harvested files: `assets/`.
- Native comparison frames: `qa/*-before.png` and `qa/*-5900.png`; intermediate states at 800, 1900 and 3300 ms.
- Responsive review screenshots: `qa/desktop.png`, `qa/mobile.png`, `qa/landscape.png`, `qa/tablet.png`.
- Interaction checks: `qa/results.json`; media verification: `qa/media.json`.
- Video exports and their source audio: `videos/`.