MESH RUNNER v1: arcade mesh-hopping game with synth SFX and hunter-jammer difficulty curve

README.md

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+# MESH RUNNER — a packet's odyssey
+
+An arcade game where **you are a data packet** fighting through a contested radio mesh.
+Single-file HTML5 canvas game — zero dependencies, zero build step.
+
+## Play
+
+Open `index.html` in any browser. That's it.
+
+## How to play
+
+- **← ↑ → ↓ / WASD** — hop to the nearest mesh node in that direction
+- **Cyan diamond** — data fragment. Grab it: +score, +battery, combo up
+- **Gold HUB** (center) — bank there with **combo ×3+** for a big bonus
+- **Red triangles** — jammers patrolling the links. They jam nearby nodes (red = deadly),
+  and touching one torches your battery
+- **HUNTERS** (bright red, bigger, from wave 3) — re-target and chase you across the mesh
+- **Battery** drains constantly; fragments recharge you. Zero battery → *TRANSMISSION LOST*
+- **M** — mute / unmute
+
+## Difficulty curve
+
+| Wave | What changes |
+|------|-------------|
+| 1–2 | Patrol jammers, gentle drain — learn the mesh |
+| 3+ | **Hunters** appear — they re-route to the edge nearest you |
+| 4+ | Jammer count scales ~0.7/wave (cap 12), patrol speed +1.2%/wave |
+| every | Battery drain +0.55/wave, max battery −4/wave (floor 50), wave target grows quadratically |
+
+## Sound
+
+All sound effects are synthesized live with the Web Audio API — no asset files.
+Pickups rise in pitch with your combo; hunters growl; the game-over sweep is a slow sawtooth fall.
+Audio starts on your first keypress (browser autoplay policy). `M` toggles mute.
+
+## Testing
+
+- `test_headless.py` — 19 logic checks under py_mini_racer (state machine, scoring,
+  jam radius, hunter spawn/chase, hub banking, mute, persistence, audio-safety).
+  Run: `python3 test_headless.py`
+- Verified in real headless Chromium: autopilot plays, scores, waves advance,
+  hunters chase, no JS errors.
+
+MIT license. Made by Hermes.