feat(maze): shrink map and rebalance compact gameplay

PLANS.md

@@ -1173,3 +1173,205 @@ headline at random whenever a player opens the page.
   helper falls back safely when unavailable. This satisfies every Milestone 013
   acceptance criterion. Milestone 013 is `COMPLETE`; Milestone 014 remains
   `NOT_STARTED`.
+
+## Milestone 014 — Compact square maze and gameplay rebalance
+
+**Status:** `COMPLETE`
+
+### Objective
+
+Reduce the default maze from `128 x 64` (8,192 cells) to a square `32 x 32`
+maze (1,024 cells), exactly one eighth of the original area, and rebalance the
+game so that its exploration, competition, and fairness requirements remain
+meaningful at the smaller scale.
+
+### Scope
+
+- Change the canonical and implementation-default maze dimensions to
+  `32 x 32` while retaining central symmetry and bounded generation.
+- Recalculate cycle density, exit separation, key-placement distance,
+  landmarks, artifacts, and compass placement for the reduced area.
+- Preserve the rule that finding the key is no easier than the subsequent
+  search for an exit under the project's deterministic balance metric.
+- Update player and observer presentation requirements for a square map.
+- Update protocol bounds, tests, diagnostics, and balance documentation that
+  depend on the former `128 x 64` default.
+- Revalidate memory, static-asset, and firmware partition budgets.
+
+### Deliverables
+
+- `32 x 32` authoritative maze generation and gameplay configuration.
+- Rebalanced object placement and deterministic balance thresholds.
+- Updated canonical gameplay, architecture, UI, generation, balance, and MVP
+  acceptance documentation.
+- Updated host and browser tests for the compact square map.
+
+### Acceptance criteria
+
+1. The default authoritative map is exactly `32 x 32`, containing 1,024 cells,
+   and no production default remains dependent on `128 x 64` dimensions.
+2. A 1,024-seed deterministic sweep produces connected, centrally symmetric
+   maps with valid starts, exits, objects, and no generation failure.
+3. Rebalanced key and exit placement preserves the invariant that key
+   discovery is no easier than the subsequent exit search under the documented
+   deterministic metric.
+4. Object counts and cycle density are scaled for the smaller map and remain
+   bounded, symmetric where required, reachable, and free of collisions.
+5. Player and observer views render the complete square map correctly at the
+   responsive sizes defined in `docs/UI_STYLE.md`.
+6. All host and browser tests pass, and firmware plus web images build within
+   their partition budgets.
+7. The project owner confirms through representative two-player testing that
+   the compact map remains fair, understandable, and free of gameplay-blocking
+   defects, or explicitly approves an evidence deviation.
+
+### Evidence
+
+Implementation is complete and host-verified; representative two-player
+confirmation remains pending.
+
+- On 2026-09-08, `bash scripts/run_host_tests.sh` passed every health, Wi-Fi,
+  NVS, provisioning, lobby/protocol, maze, game, disconnect-recovery, browser,
+  and web-asset suite. The deterministic 1,024-seed sweep generated connected,
+  centrally symmetric `32 x 32` maps without failure, reported cycles
+  `19..19`, dead ends `74..128`, start-to-key distances `93..422`, key-to-exit
+  distances `84..352`, start-to-exit distances `26..242`, at most two
+  generation attempts, and preserved `start_to_key >= key_to_exit` for every
+  seed. Fixed maze plus workspace storage measured 5,596 of 65,536 bytes.
+- The default configuration now uses 1,024 cells, two cross-half connection
+  pairs, eight extra cycle pairs, 22-cell minimum exit separation, two
+  landmark pairs, and one vision-artifact pair. The three-cell base view,
+  ten-successful-move artifact effect, 150 ms movement cooldown, compass rule,
+  and 200 ms draw window remain unchanged. Observer serialization passed with
+  1,024 cells, 12 objects, 88 bounded chunks, and a 490-byte largest chunk.
+- The browser tests passed with explicit `32 x 32` dimension bounds and a
+  square-map fit scale. Web-asset reproduction reported SHA-256
+  `3461d20742e1999c1489465d7f3a68317d56b3acfc5ac5003341e1cf2d478eed`
+  using 20,314 of 1,572,864 allowed compressed bytes.
+- A clean `pio run -e esp32-c6-devkitm-1` build passed for application version
+  `0.14.0`, using 58,868 of 327,680 RAM bytes and 1,027,934 of 2,097,152
+  application bytes. `firmware.bin` measured 1,028,560 bytes with SHA-256
+  `428e7690bed50d30caf61aca174d838f00d7de1a603f14ea669e996e3d167123`.
+- `pio run -e esp32-c6-devkitm-1 --target buildfs` passed. The fixed LittleFS
+  image measured 2,031,616 of 2,031,616 partition bytes with SHA-256
+  `467f0a07413c83bff5ea246b5063289eb61f8bf40b95d16d639b3241ceda8a9d`.
+- Acceptance criteria 1--6 have concrete evidence. Criterion 7 requires the
+  project owner's representative two-player confirmation or an explicitly
+  approved deviation, so Milestone 014 remains `IN_PROGRESS`.
+- On 2026-09-08, the project owner confirmed representative two-player testing
+  of the compact `32 x 32` map: gameplay is fair and understandable, all
+  expected flows work as intended, and no gameplay-blocking defect was found.
+  Together with the deterministic sweep, browser, host, firmware, and
+  filesystem evidence above, this satisfies every Milestone 014 acceptance
+  criterion. Milestone 014 is `COMPLETE`; Milestone 015 remains `NOT_STARTED`.
+
+## Milestone 015 — Pre-reader child-friendly game experience
+
+**Status:** `NOT_STARTED`
+
+### Objective
+
+Redesign the mobile player experience so that children of early primary-school
+age and younger can understand and enjoy the game without needing to read,
+while preserving server authority, hidden-state protection, and all gameplay
+rules.
+
+### Scope
+
+- Replace text-dependent status comprehension with large, distinct pictograms,
+  shapes, colors, motion, and optional local sound cues.
+- Give each player a friendly visual character and color identity instead of
+  relying on the labels `P1` and `P2`.
+- Enlarge and dynamically frame the visible maze so that the playable area is
+  the dominant mobile-screen element, including when the player is near a map
+  edge and receives fewer visible cells.
+- Add a large on-screen joystick designed for one-thumb control. Its movable
+  circular handle follows the thumb within a bounded base, includes a forgiving
+  dead zone, and returns visibly to the center when released.
+- Map joystick direction to the four existing orthogonal movement commands and
+  map displacement magnitude to a bounded command-repeat rate: a small
+  intentional displacement walks slowly, while a larger displacement moves at
+  the fastest server-approved rate. The browser never bypasses the
+  authoritative movement cooldown or predicts movement locally.
+- Retain swipe and keyboard input as equivalent optional alternatives without
+  displaying the existing directional-arrow buttons during normal mobile play.
+- Introduce a short, replayable, wordless onboarding sequence that demonstrates
+  movement, walls, keys, exits, compasses, vision artifacts, and meeting the
+  other player through animation and guided interaction.
+- Communicate pickup, blocked movement, compass direction, enhanced vision,
+  opened exits, victory, defeat, draw, pause, and reconnection with immediate
+  icon-first animation and sound feedback.
+- Keep concise Russian text as an optional secondary aid for readers and
+  accessibility technology, never as the only way to understand a required
+  action or game state.
+- Provide visible mute and reduced-motion controls, avoid rapid flashes, and
+  ensure that meaning never depends on color alone.
+- Preserve bounded local assets, offline operation, responsive behavior, and
+  the existing authoritative command and projection contracts.
+
+### Deliverables
+
+- Updated child-oriented visual language and mobile layout specification in
+  `docs/UI_STYLE.md`.
+- Large icon-first player HUD, maze viewport, and touch-control design.
+- Friendly player characters and locally stored visual/audio feedback assets.
+- Wordless interactive onboarding that demonstrates dragging, holding, and
+  releasing the joystick, plus a replay control.
+- Deterministic browser tests and viewport-based visual regression evidence.
+- Facilitated usability-test guide for pre-readers and early readers.
+
+### Acceptance criteria
+
+1. At the canonical `412 x 916` mobile viewport, the visible maze is the
+   dominant element and uses the available play area without a large inactive
+   void around the current projection.
+2. Movement is possible through an always-visible on-screen joystick with a
+   touch area of at least `160 x 160` CSS pixels. Its handle tracks a mouse,
+   touch, or pointer drag, remains bounded within the base, and snaps to the
+   center on release, cancellation, pause, disconnect, or loss of focus.
+3. Joystick displacement maps monotonically to a documented bounded repeat
+   rate: increasing displacement never produces slower movement, the dead zone
+   sends no command, and maximum displacement cannot exceed the authoritative
+   server movement limit. Direction is resolved to exactly one of the four
+   existing orthogonal commands, with hysteresis preventing rapid direction
+   flicker near diagonal boundaries.
+4. A child can distinguish their character, carried key, enhanced vision,
+   compass direction, exit state, blocked movement, and match result without
+   reading text or recognizing `P1`/`P2`.
+5. First-time onboarding demonstrates joystick drag distance, direction,
+   release-to-stop, walls, and every required interaction through animation and
+   guided input; it can be replayed and can be skipped by an adult.
+6. Essential state uses at least two visual channels such as icon plus shape,
+   motion, or pattern; color is never the sole signal.
+7. Optional sound feedback has an obvious icon-only mute control, and reduced
+   motion preserves all information without rapid flashing or disorienting
+   effects.
+8. Player-facing text remains Russian, semantic labels remain available to
+   assistive technology, and the interface does not require reading for normal
+   play.
+9. Browser tests cover joystick dead-zone, displacement-to-rate mapping,
+   direction hysteresis, release and cancellation, icon-driven state
+   transitions, onboarding, mute, reduced motion, and the supported mobile
+   viewport; all existing host tests continue to pass.
+10. The compressed local web payload remains within the 1.5 MiB asset budget
+   and the LittleFS partition, without internet or third-party runtime assets.
+11. Facilitated observation with representative pre-readers confirms that they
+    can discover the joystick, move slowly and quickly, stop reliably, react to
+    a wall, recognize a key objective, and follow a compass cue without spoken
+    reading instructions, or the project owner explicitly approves a documented
+    evidence deviation.
+
+### Evidence
+
+Completion evidence is not yet available because implementation has not
+started. A baseline inspection of the live game at a `412 x 915` viewport on
+2026-09-08 found that the visible maze occupied only `80 x 140` pixels inside a
+`381 x 729` play area, status labels were approximately `8--10.56` pixels,
+status icons were `23 x 23` pixels, the player was identified primarily as
+`P1`, and no directional touch controls were visible in the game area. These
+observations define the principal redesign targets. The planned joystick
+replaces directional-arrow buttons rather than adding them. Expected completion
+evidence includes before-and-after viewport captures, deterministic browser
+tests, `bash scripts/run_host_tests.sh`, a reproducible `buildfs` size report,
+and the facilitated child-usability confirmation or an explicitly approved
+deviation.