# DEAD AGAIN 1.16 — ROBOT DAVE 45/45 CERTIFICATION

## Result

**45 / 45 campaign levels have been completed by Robot Dave through the actual `Game` engine.**

Robot Dave does not use a simplified physics clone for certification. It imports the real game class and supplies the same left/right/jump inputs a player uses. Certification therefore exercises the real collision, coyote time, jump buffering, doors, Ghost Anchors, enemies, conveyors, electrics, crushers, moving platforms, keys and exits.

The demonstrated death count is the **best known executable count**, not automatically a mathematical proof of the absolute minimum. Any previous PERFECT target that Robot Dave beat has been reduced to the demonstrated count. A dedicated minimisation pass is the next stage.

## Campaign ledger

| # | Level | Robot deaths | Current mastery target | Completion |
|---:|---|---:|---:|---|
| 1 | GET OUT | 0 | 0 | PROVEN |
| 2 | GREED | 0 | 0 | PROVEN |
| 3 | DEAD END | 0 | 0 | PROVEN |
| 4 | HOLD IT | 1 | 1 | PROVEN |
| 5 | AFTER YOU | 1 | 1 | PROVEN |
| 6 | BAIT | 0 | 0 | PROVEN |
| 7 | TWO OF ME | 2 | 2 | PROVEN |
| 8 | BAD TIMING | 1 | 1 | PROVEN |
| 9 | THE WALL | 1 | 1 | PROVEN |
| 10 | AGAIN | 2 | 2 | PROVEN |
| 11 | CROSSING | 1 | 1 | PROVEN |
| 12 | CROSSFIRE | 0 | 0 | PROVEN |
| 13 | ELEVATOR | 1 | 1 | PROVEN |
| 14 | MACHINE ROOM | 2 | 2 | PROVEN |
| 15 | THE DROP | 1 | 1 | PROVEN |
| 16 | SIX SECONDS | 2 | 2 | PROVEN |
| 17 | FALSE FLOOR | 1 | 1 | PROVEN |
| 18 | BAD COMPANY | 1 | 1 | PROVEN |
| 19 | CHOIR | 2 | 2 | PROVEN |
| 20 | SHIFT CHANGE | 2 | 2 | PROVEN |
| 21 | LIAR | 1 | 1 | PROVEN |
| 22 | FOLLOW ME | 0 | 0 | PROVEN |
| 23 | BACKWARDS | 2 | 2 | PROVEN |
| 24 | DECOY | 1 | 1 | PROVEN |
| 25 | NOT A WALL | 0 | 0 | PROVEN |
| 26 | SACRIFICE | 1 | 1 | PROVEN |
| 27 | ECHO CHAMBER | 2 | 2 | PROVEN |
| 28 | WRONG DOOR | 1 | 1 | PROVEN |
| 29 | ERASE ME | 2 | 2 | PROVEN |
| 30 | REFLECTION | 2 | 2 | PROVEN |
| 31 | NO HELP | 2 | 2 | PROVEN |
| 32 | THREAD | 2 | 2 | PROVEN |
| 33 | KNIFE EDGE | 0 | 0 | PROVEN |
| 34 | FOUR | 3 | 3 | PROVEN |
| 35 | CROWD | 2 | 2 | PROVEN |
| 36 | ONE WAY | 2 | 2 | PROVEN |
| 37 | FIVE | 3 | 3 | PROVEN |
| 38 | MISTAKE | 2 | 2 | PROVEN |
| 39 | SILENCE | 2 | 2 | PROVEN |
| 40 | DEAD AGAIN | 3 | 3 | PROVEN |
| 41 | BEHIND YOU | 2 | 2 | PROVEN |
| 42 | SIX | 4 | 4 | PROVEN |
| 43 | NO GHOST | 0 | 0 | PROVEN |
| 44 | EVERYBODY | 3 | 3 | PROVEN |
| 45 | ALIVE AGAIN | 4 | 4 | PROVEN |

## Mastery targets disproved in this pass

Robot Dave produced executable runs below ten previous targets, so those targets were corrected:

- CHOIR: 3 → 2
- SHIFT CHANGE: 3 → 2
- ECHO CHAMBER: 3 → 2
- REFLECTION: 3 → 2
- THREAD: 3 → 2
- KNIFE EDGE: 1 → 0
- FOUR: 4 → 3
- MISTAKE: 3 → 2
- SIX: 5 → 4
- EVERYBODY: 4 → 3

These are best-known counts. The next minimisation campaign may lower some again.

## Important defects found and repaired during certification

- pressure switches buried by reachability-normalised ledges
- switches that could not physically fit Dave's 12×14 body
- a self-locking door dependency in BACKWARDS
- Ghost Anchors placed inside enemy patrol lanes
- machinery that displaced the ghost powering it
- moving-platform travel corridors through solid architecture
- overly narrow pressure-plate trigger widths
- teaching machinery that could be exploited as an unpowered stepping stone
- AFTER YOU / CROSSING floor geometry that failed to enforce the bridge lesson
- redundant upper patrol in SACRIFICE that contaminated the intended hunter-decoy puzzle
- redundant crusher choke in DEAD AGAIN that blocked the only final-control route

## Robot Dave upgrades

The certification tool now contains:

- heuristic platforming
- support-aware traversal
- Ghost Anchor planning
- frame-level platform dismount search
- beam state-space search
- best-first / A* fallback
- state keys containing time phase, enemy state, ghost/anchor state, moving-platform state, electric state and crusher phase
- neutral jump as a first-class action
- high-resolution player-state bucketing for edge jumps
- explicit safe waiting for moving machinery

## What 45/45 does and does not prove

It proves that every campaign room has at least one executable completion under the current engine and current level data.

It does **not** prove that the displayed mastery target is the mathematical minimum in every room. It also does not replace human judgement about whether a certified route is enjoyable, readable, or appropriately difficult.

The next step is a minimisation + cruelty pass: search for lower-death certificates, then use the certificates as regression tests while tightening levels without breaking solvability.