# Alpha v3.0.0 – v3.0.4 — Endless Mode Uplift & HUD Overhaul

Two major updates shipped back-to-back. v3.0.0 rebuilt Endless Mode from the ground up with a combo system, Rising Tide timer, and timed challenges. v3.0.4 followed with a full pixel-art HUD redesign, performance improvements to the loading pipeline, and a batch of combat fixes.

## New: Combo Scoring System

Endless Mode now rewards aggressive, continuous killing.

- **Kill combos** build a multiplier — the faster you kill, the higher it goes.
- A live **combo counter** floats above your character and updates in real time.
- **Persistent sparks and particles** pulse around the counter while a streak is active.
- Combos lock the score display until the streak ends, then the full score lands at once with a satisfying "fly" animation.
- Stage-transition kills no longer count toward combo or scoring — your streak is measured fairly within a stage.

## New: Rising Tide (Death Clock)

Endless Mode now has a ticking countdown that forces constant pressure.

- A timer counts down in the top-centre of the screen. **When it hits zero, it's over.**
- Every kill adds a small amount of time. Clearing ATM objectives and prisoners adds larger bonuses.
- A **bonus feed** directly below the clock shows what just added time: `+0.5s 5 kills`, `+20s ATM`, `+10s prisoner` — so you always know what's keeping you alive.
- Feed entries are colour-coded: kills (green), ATMs (cyan), prisoners (yellow), challenges (purple).
- Kill bonuses are batched into 1-second windows so the feed doesn't flicker — if you kill 5 enemies in a second you get one clean entry instead of five.

## New: Timed Challenges

A reworked challenge system with new types and reliable spawn timing.

- Challenges now spawn on a proper schedule rather than at unpredictable intervals.
- New challenge types added alongside the existing ones.
- Completing a challenge awards time back to the death clock (shown in the bonus feed).

## HUD Overhaul

The entire in-game UI has been rebuilt in a new style.

- Clean, readable layout with a consistent dark charcoal and gold colour language.
- **Boss HP bars** now appear prominently when a boss is active.
- **Mini HP bar** sits near the player for at-a-glance health awareness without hunting the corner of the screen.
- **Score fly** — killed enemies send gold upward into the score counter.
- The Death Clock is now correctly centred at the top of the screen (a long-standing alignment bug is fixed).
- All HUD elements remain readable at 1080p and above.

## Combat Fixes

- **Melee hitbox** restored to use the full hurtbox shape extent — enemies that looked like they were in range now correctly get hit.
- **Attack indicators** have a 15 px tolerance and tightened overlap distance for more responsive feel.
- Stage-cleanup kills (enemies cleared during a stage transition) no longer pollute run stats, analytics, or scoring.

## Balance

- Economy retuned across gold sources and ATM/prisoner values.
- Weapon upgrade gates adjusted.
- Combo tier thresholds and decay rates tuned for better feel at all skill levels.
- Endless Mode pressure (enemy speed, HP, damage) and boss scheduling rebalanced.

## Performance & Loading

- **Loading pipeline frame budget doubled** (8 ms → 16 ms per frame) — loading completes faster and with less stuttering on mid-range hardware.
- **Projectile pool** is now properly pre-warmed behind the loading screen instead of stalling the game on first shot.
- **Weapon scenes** are preloaded during the intro sequence so the first weapon equip no longer causes a visible hitch.
- Removed significant debug print spam that was firing every frame and on every kill in non-debug builds.