# DEAD AGAIN 1.21 — THE CRITICS' CUT

This pass used simulated critic personas, not real external reviewers. Each was given a narrow aesthetic brief and asked to argue for changes rather than merely praise the game.

## 1. MILES — DOS platformer critic
Taste: early PC shareware, immediate readability, low-friction restarts.

Critique:
The level-start card was too large and sat directly over the playfield. The game was making the player wait for presentation instead of getting out of the way.

Change:
- level banner reduced from a large central 264x60 card to a compact upper strip
- display time reduced from 1.35s to 0.95s
- movement physics unchanged

## 2. INEZ — pixel-art / VGA art critic
Taste: strong silhouettes, tiny palettes, functional visual hierarchy.

Critique:
The world dressing had personality, but some state information was weaker than the decoration. In particular, the exit always looked inviting even before the key was collected.

Change:
- locked exit is now visibly red/dormant with a tiny lock glyph
- collected-key exit becomes green/live and pulses
- foreground interaction state now outranks scenery
- Human Dave remains the same readable human silhouette

## 3. ROOK — game-feel critic
Taste: responsive platformers where difficulty comes from decisions, not unclear feedback.

Critique:
Do not touch the movement constants. The current movement and phone buttons already have positive real-user feedback. Improve anticipation around hazards instead.

Change:
- electric floors now show a yellow pre-charge warning immediately before firing
- crusher danger band is larger and pulses yellow/red
- key pickup receives a tiny visual flash
- coyote time, acceleration, jump impulse, gravity and touch response remain untouched

## 4. ADA — handheld/mobile critic
Taste: Game Boy-like hardware ergonomics with modern phone constraints.

Critique:
The HTML shell had drifted away from the CSS design system: the page used old `machine/desktop-frame/brand` class names while the stylesheet contained the much better battered CRT / dedicated handheld design.

Change:
- restored the full battered VGA CRT desktop shell
- restored the Fisheggs Pocket VGA handheld shell
- restored the industrial website background
- portrait remains screen-first and safe-area aware
- landscape keeps the game near full viewport height with controls at the side
- four small utility buttons wrap cleanly rather than squeezing the main A/B controls

## 5. VERA — chiptune critic
Taste: PC-speaker / AdLib-era economy; memorable motifs without modern soundtrack bloat.

Critique:
The SFX had character, but the game had no musical memory. A continuous dense soundtrack would also be wrong: DEAD AGAIN needs enough silence for death, switches and machinery to remain important.

Change:
- added five sparse procedural motifs, one per zone
- THE ESCAPE: terse upward square-wave figure
- THE WORKS: mechanical repeated pulse
- THE MIRROR: more open triangle-wave intervals
- THE BLACK: slower, emptier low-register motif
- THE BELOW: unstable chromatic sawtooth figure
- music is deliberately quiet and sparse under SFX
- no samples or copied melodies are used

## 6. JONAS — sound-design critic
Taste: crunchy arcade transients, clear priority, minimal fatigue.

Critique:
Jump/death/key sounds should be shorter and more percussive, and the player needs a real mute control.

Change:
- tightened jump/death/gem/switch envelopes
- key/secret/win sounds use tiny two/three-note signatures
- music and SFX use separate gain buses
- `M` toggles sound on desktop
- `SOUND` toggles it on handheld
- mute state persists locally

## Editorial decision

The panel unanimously rejected adding more mechanics in this pass.

The rule for 1.21 is:

> Preserve the verified game. Improve what the player sees, hears and understands.

Accordingly, this release does not alter Dave's movement physics or the 45-level campaign logic.