Sharpen clear_pop_scale from a plain pop-then-shrink into a candy pop in
three beats over its local 0..1: a tiny anticipation squash dip (~8% below
rest), a snappy overshoot to ~1.40x via P15.1's ease_out_back, then an
accelerating collapse to nothing (ease_in_quad). Endpoints stay locked
(t=0 -> 1.0 rest, t=1 -> 0.0 gone), so the seam to the model board is clean
and M3TE_ANIM_TIME=0 still reproduces the rest board; the particle burst /
score popup compose on top unchanged. render_clear and CLEAR_ANIM_DUR are
untouched, so cascade-cue timing snapshots don't churn and the model is
unchanged.
tests/gem_pose.sx now pins the new envelope (locked rest endpoints, the
anticipation dip, the overshoot, the monotonic post-peak collapse) with its
expected snapshot updated.
goldens/p18_pop.png: new mid-clear pop golden at the overshoot peak
(M3TE_FX=3 M3TE_ANIM_TIME=0.21). goldens/p6_fx_match.png refreshed for the
new pop shape (same scene at its documented 0.22). README documents P18.1.
Give each landing gem a wide-and-short squash-&-settle bounce as it touches
its destination, applied WITHIN the fall so EVERY cascade round bounces
(staggered per column), not only the final whole-move settle.
One envelope, one bounce: land_squash is now LAND_SQUASH_A * squash_envelope
(P15.1) over its normalized window, so the per-round fall bounce and the
settle bounce are the exact same shape. render_fall/render_clear age a
per-column bounce from each column's touch-down instant (fall_landing_frac *
FALL_ANIM_DUR) via the shared rest_squash + delivering_round helpers, so a gem
still in the air draws unsquashed and only a landed gem flattens; the squash
carries across the fall->clear seam.
Double-bounce reconciliation (approach a): drive the bounce from the per-round
fall and DROP the old whole-move "stamp at age 0" settle. The settle stamp is
now BACK-DATED per column (clock - (total - round_land_time)) so render_gems
resumes land_squash exactly where render_fall left off at the render_anim ->
render_gems seam — one continuous bounce, no double-pop.
Amplitude tuned 0.13 -> 0.18 (~13% peak) so the bounce reads while staying
tasteful; durations unchanged, so the cascade-cue snapshots don't churn.
M3TE_ANIM_TIME=0 still reproduces goldens/p6_idle_t0.png (a resting board
carries no landing stamp). New goldens/p17_land.png pins a staggered landing
mid-pour (M3TE_FX=11 ANIM_TIME=1.94). tests/easing.sx gains a landing-instant
section pinning fall_landing_frac / round_land_time; tests/gem_pose.sx stays
green (land_squash values are identical).
Add a small top-left FPS readout for gauging frame cost while tuning the
organic animations. Gated behind the M3TE_FPS startup env pin (read like the
other M3TE_* hooks); unset/=0 renders nothing, so default play and every
committed golden stay byte-identical.
- main.sx: g_fps_on (from M3TE_FPS) + g_fps_avg_dt, an EMA of delta_time
(FPS_DT_SMOOTH=0.9) advanced only on the gated path; build_ui passes the
smoothed FPS + flag into BoardView. delta_time is real wall-clock even when
M3TE_ANIM_TIME pins the scene, so the counter stays live while frozen.
- board_view.sx: BoardView.fps_on/fps fields + render_fps_overlay — "FPS n"
in the top-left safe-area corner (clear of notch/Dynamic Island + the HUD),
dark grape text over a bright halo. Drawn last, only when fps_on.
- README.md: document M3TE_FPS (sim SIMCTL_CHILD_ + device devicectl env).
- goldens/p20_fps.png: FPS overlay over the resting board (M3TE_FPS=1,
M3TE_ANIM_TIME=0); FPS digits are dynamic, rest pinned == p6_idle_t0 region.
Verified: ios-sim build + 22 logic tests green. Unset capture's board+HUD
region is byte-identical to goldens/p6_idle_t0.png; the only ON-vs-OFF delta
is the top-left FPS text box.
render_fall now offsets each COLUMN's drop START by a small bounded delay
(fall_stagger_t) so a refilled/collapsed row pours in as a left-to-right cascade
instead of every gem snapping down in one flat lockstep row. Column col waits
FALL_STAGGER_MAX (0.30) * col/7 of the fall window, then falls over the remaining
1 - 0.30, with that local progress fed through ease_in_cubic so each column still
accelerates under gravity within its own window.
Bounded by construction: the last column lands EXACTLY at t=1 and every earlier
column strictly before it, so no gem is ever left mid-air at the segment end — the
seam to the next round / settled board stays invisible and move.final is untouched.
FALL_ANIM_DUR (0.22s) and the timeline helpers (phase/total/cascade_rounds_started)
are unchanged, so the per-round cascade-cue timing snapshots don't churn and live
per-round audio is unaffected. Render-only — no board.sx model change.
tests/easing.sx pins fall_stagger_t: f(0)=0, f(1)=1 across all columns (no gem
unlanded), per-column monotonicity, and the mid-fall cascade ordering (each later
column strictly behind the one before). tests/anim_plan.sx (final==model,
contiguity) stays green.
Golden goldens/p17_stagger.png: M3TE_FX=11 (depth-5 cascade, seed 1337) pinned at
M3TE_ANIM_TIME=1.91 — round 4 refills columns 2-7 by one cell each, so the top row
reads as a left-to-right staircase (vs the pre-stagger flat row in p17_fall.png).
render_fall now drives the per-round drop with ease_in_cubic (P15.1 accel-from-
rest) instead of ease_out_cubic, so falling gems start slow and accelerate into
place like gravity rather than decelerating. f(1)=1 is pinned, so every gem still
lands exactly on its destination cell and move.final is untouched. FALL_ANIM_DUR
(0.22s) is unchanged, so the cascade-cue timing snapshots don't churn.
Golden goldens/p17_fall.png: M3TE_FX=11 (depth-5 cascade, seed 1337) pinned at
M3TE_ANIM_TIME=1.51 (round 3 fall window [1.38,1.60)) — gems caught bunched-high
mid-fall, ~20% down at ~59% of the segment, vs the old curve's ~93%.
render_swap's rejected-swap branch now drives the two gems with a P15.1
spring-based bounce-back (bad_swap_bounce): a quick lunge toward the
neighbour, then a damped spring home that overshoots rest by a bounded
amount and settles to exactly 0. f(0)=f(1)=0, so the move stays purely
visual — board byte-identical to pre-swap, no score/move spent.
- board_anim.sx: add bad_swap_bounce envelope (lunge via ease_out_cubic,
settle via 1 - spring(u)); BADSWAP_LUNGE_T/AMP constants.
- board_view.sx: replace the linear ping-out illegal branch with the bounce.
- main.sx: add illegal_swaps (complement of legal_swaps, same row-major
order) + the startup-only M3TE_BADSWAP=n capture hook; mirrors M3TE_FX.
- tests/easing.sx: append bounce-envelope assertions (endpoints, single
lunge peak + location, damped settle); regenerate expected snapshot.
- README.md: document the M3TE_BADSWAP recipe + goldens/p16_badswap.png.
Gate green: ios-sim build links, 22 logic snapshots pass (anim_plan model
invariants unchanged; SWAP_ANIM_DUR untouched so cascade-cue snapshots do
not churn).
Replace the legal swap's flat ease_out_cubic decelerating slide with the
P15.1 ease_out_back overshoot curve: the two swapped gems shoot ~10% PAST
their target cells, then settle exactly onto them. Purely visual — the curve
pins f(0)=0 / f(1)=1, so t==0 is the rest pose and t==1 lands byte-on-cell;
the committed move and final board are unchanged. SWAP_ANIM_DUR (0.16 s) is
untouched, so the cascade-cue timing snapshots do not churn.
Only the legal branch of render_swap changes; the illegal ping-back is left
as-is for P16.2. Model/logic untouched (FFI is the only non-sx surface).
Golden goldens/p16_swap.png: M3TE_FX=3 (top-row swap (5,0)<->(6,0)) pinned at
M3TE_ANIM_TIME=0.10 (swap-phase t~0.625, near the overshoot peak). Measured
against calibrated cell centers: the red lands ~8% left of col-5 and the green
~12% right of col-6 (both PAST target), while every unswapped gem stays
centered; at M3TE_ANIM_TIME=0 the same gems sit dead-on their pre-swap cells.
Gate: `sx build --target ios-sim main.sx` links clean; `tools/run_tests.sh`
22/22 (anim_plan, easing, cascade_rounds, cascade_cue all green).
Pure, headless easing curves of t in [0,1] for the organic-animation pass
(swap/fall/combine juice), placed alongside the existing ease_out_cubic /
ease_in_quad in board_anim.sx: ease_in_cubic, ease_in_out_cubic, ease_out_back
(bounded overshoot, settles to exactly 1), spring (damped wobble to exactly 1),
and squash_envelope (signed squash-&-stretch landing shape). The math module has
no exp/pow, so the decaying curves use a (1-t)^n polynomial envelope that hits 0
at t==1, pinning f(1) precisely.
Additive only: no render code calls the new curves yet. tests/easing.sx locks,
per curve, the endpoints, overshoot/undershoot bounds, and monotonicity-where-
required (booleans only, so the snapshot is platform-stable), structured so P16.2
can append illegal-swap bounce-back assertions. Test count 21 -> 22.
The README audio-regeneration section called tools/synth_audio.py the
'build-time DSP path', but that script is the original P10.1 procedural
synthesizer: its main() overwrites assets/audio/*.wav with note-frequency
synthetic audio. Following the documented path would clobber the curated
Triple Treat pack cues. Remove the script (cleanest resolution — kills the
clobber hazard) and rewrite the README to describe the actual production:
real pack clips (per-cue source in assets/audio/LICENSE.txt) down-mixed,
trimmed, faded, peak-normalized to ~-15 dBFS, re-wrapped via afconvert;
combo ladder = real Match FX ordered by brightness (P10.9); cascade one cue
per round (P10.10). measure_pitch.py kept (read-only verification, never
writes a WAV). WAVs/.sx/goldens byte-unchanged.
The M3TE_* capture pins are read only at app startup, so a second `simctl
launch` against the still-running app reused its PID and silently ignored the
new pin (the win->lose cue recipe only ever produced `cue win`). Add
`--terminate-running-process` to every pinned launch across all capture recipes
and document the startup-only rule explicitly. Docs-only; no .sx change.
Integration-only (no logic changes). Validated the full candy vibe in the booted
iPhone sim and brought every artifact in line with the shipped candy palette +
Triple Treat SFX bank.
Goldens — swept all 23:
- Refreshed 15 that predated the candy palette (P12): p6_idle_t0, p6_idle_mid,
p6_select, p7_restart, p5_swap_before/after, p6_anim_swap/clear/fall/after,
p6_fx, p6_fx_after, p6_fx_match, p6_inputlock_board, p11_combo_deep — re-captured
via the documented M3TE_* hooks.
- Left 5 unchanged (board+HUD region byte-identical to the current build, verified
by cropped-region hash): p4_board, p4_hud, p9_polish, p7_win, p7_lose.
- Removed 3 obsolete pre-board orange-quad goldens (app no longer renders them):
p0_quad, p0_input_before, p0_input_after.
Docs — README.md:
- Section 2 now describes the candy board (not the old orange quad) and points at
goldens/p6_idle_t0.png; dropped the removed p0_* references.
- Added the final audio model: Triple Treat SFX provenance + per-cue mapping, the
per-round ascending cascade (one combo cue per round, clamped at combo5), the
WAVE/mono/44100/Int16 @ -15 dBFS format spec, and the cue-log capture commands.
- Added image-art asset regeneration (codex imagegen via codex exec + sips
normalize to exact per-asset dims/format).
Gate: ios-sim build links (exit 0); 21/21 pure-sx logic tests pass. Playthrough
evidence (cue NSLog ascending combo1..combo5 + win/lose stingers, screenshots)
captured in the worker report.
For combos, play a sound for each match ascending (Candy-Crush cascade run):
as a chain resolves, EACH successive round plays the next higher cue
(combo1, combo2, … clamped at combo5) instead of a single combo cue keyed
to the final cascade depth at commit.
- board_anim.sx: add `BoardAnim.cascade_fired` (edge-trigger high-water mark,
reset on init/begin) and the pure `cascade_rounds_started(elapsed, n)` helper
— how many rounds have begun clearing on the swap→(clear,fall)* timeline.
- main.sx: in the frame loop, diff `cascade_rounds_started` against
`cascade_fired` and play one ascending cue per newly-cleared round, once each,
gated on a real multi-round chain (rounds >= 2). Additive; never touches
board/score/move state.
- board_view.sx: drop the single `sfx_cascade(final depth)` at commit; keep
`sfx_swap` / `sfx_match` (and win/lose) exactly as before.
- tests/cascade_rounds.sx: headless snapshot of the per-round timing + the
ascending combo1..combo5 run with the combo5 clamp.
Sim (M3TE_FX=11, depth-5): log show shows combo1→combo2→combo3→combo4→combo5
at successive timestamps ~0.36s apart (= CLEAR+FALL per-round spacing).
Replace the pitch-laddered single-pop combo ladder with FIVE distinct REAL
Match FX cues from the user's Triple Treat SFX pack (Match SFX/), ordered to
convey cascade escalation by spectral brightness / high-frequency energy
(combo1 dullest -> combo5 sparkliest):
combo1 <- Match SFX/Match FX 2-RCM.wav (dark/full, centroid ~1.7 kHz)
combo2 <- Match SFX/Match FX 4-RCM.wav (warm mid, centroid ~2.1 kHz)
combo3 <- Match SFX/Match FX 6-RCM.wav (bright mid, centroid ~3.2 kHz)
combo4 <- Match SFX/Match FX 7-RCM.wav (rich+bright, centroid ~4.7 kHz)
combo5 <- Match SFX/Match FX 3-RCM.wav (sparkly, centroid ~6.8 kHz)
The Match FX set does not cleanly pitch-ascend, so brightness is the ordering
signal; spectral centroid ascends monotonically 1.68 < 2.09 < 3.18 < 4.70 <
6.77 kHz. Each down-mixed to mono, trimmed to a 0.50 s onset window, eased in
(~6 ms) and rounded out with a 150 ms cosine fade-out, peak-normalized -15 dBFS.
Pure drop-in: audio.sx and all wiring are untouched; swap/match/win/lose are
byte-identical to P10.8. The depth->cue-index mapping (cascade_cue, fx_combo)
locks the integer mapping, not the audio content, so both tests stay valid.
LICENSE.txt combo provenance updated to the real Match FX sources.
Replace the 9-cue bank with best-fit selections from the user-provided
Triple_Treat_SFX.zip, converted to the engine format (mono / 44100 / Int16,
<= ~600 ms) and peak-normalized to a gentle, consistent -15 dBFS. Drop-in:
audio.sx and all wiring are untouched; only assets/audio/** changes.
Per-cue source within the pack:
swap <- Transition SFX/Swipe FX 1 (light swipe = the swap gesture)
match <- Pop:Bubble SFX/Pop FX 5 (juicy candy pop, first clear)
combo1..5 <- Pop:Bubble SFX/Pop FX 3 (one pop pitch-laddered +0/+2/+4/+7/+9
semitones; the pack's Match set does not ascend monotonically)
win <- Success:Power-Up SFX/Power Up FX 1 (short triumphant)
lose <- Fail SFX/Fail FX 2 (gentle tonal, not boomy)
combo1..5 ascend in fundamental: 687 < 771 < 865 < 1029 < 1155 Hz. The 30 MB
pack and its .meta/__MACOSX cruft are not committed; LICENSE.txt records the
exact per-cue source file within the pack.
DSP-soften the existing P10.6 CC0 bank in place — same filenames, same
canonical WAVE/mono/44100/Int16 format, drop-in (engine untouched):
- Onset eased in: short qsin fade-in (8-14 ms) tames the attack transient
so pops bloop instead of snap (onset peak in first 20 ms down 5.6-8.7 dB
per cue; combo attack-to-peak 1.4-2.4 ms -> 15-26 ms).
- Highs rolled off: warm two-pole low-pass (2.6 kHz swap/lose, 3.0 kHz
match/combo, 3.6 kHz win) for a rounded tone. Spectral centroid down
~40-60%; >4 kHz energy collapses (win 76%->28%, combos ~10%->0.5%).
- Quieter: re-normalized to -15.5 dBFS (swap/lose -17.5), down from ~-9/-12,
lowering both peak and RMS on every cue.
Candy character retained; cascade ladder preserved (combo1..5 fundamentals
still ascend 1045<1173<1317<1566<1758 Hz). LICENSE provenance updated.
QA: "the sfx is too loud and scratchy." Drop-in asset swap — no engine change.
Replace the 9 synthesized cues (swap, match, combo1..combo5, win, lose) with
real free-licensed (CC0 1.0) sound effects from Kenney's Interface Sounds /
Digital Audio packs:
swap <- pluck_002 match <- confirmation_002
win <- powerUp7 lose <- minimize_006
combo1..5 <- glass_001 pitch-laddered up a pentatonic run (0,+2,+4,+7,+9 st)
via resample DSP -> ascending fundamentals 1918..3226 Hz.
Every cue: mono / 44100 Hz / Int16 PCM, <=0.54 s. Whole bank peak-normalized to
-9 dBFS, so peak AND RMS are well below the old synth (old peak -0.7..-2.9 dB,
mean -5.8..-9.3 dB; new peak -9.0 dB, mean -22..-30 dB). Audibly cleaner — no
synth harmonics.
LICENSE.txt rewritten with real per-file provenance (source URL + CC0). clear.wav
(already a CC0 Kenney clip, not loaded by the engine) left unchanged. Engine
(audio.sx/board_view.sx/main.sx) untouched; sim build loads all 9 cues, zero
"load failed".
Retune the GPU clear colour on both render paths (Metal on iOS, GL on
desktop) from the old dark navy (0.05,0.06,0.10) to a candy-lavender tone
sampled from the regenerated background's mid-gradient. The dark navy was
the one off-palette constant left after P12.1/P12.2; the background art
covers the full drawable in steady state, so it only ever surfaced as a
pre-load flash / potential dark seam. A single shared CLEAR_R/G/B keeps the
two paths from diverging.
Refresh the stale full-board goldens (p4_board, p9_polish), which still
showed the pre-P12.2 dark HUD, to the current cohesive candy palette.
Restyle the code-drawn UI toward the candy look — colours, corner-rounding
and glossy feel only; no rect geometry moves.
- HUD: grape candy card with a glossy top sheen, a bright rounded rim and
warm cream text on a soft purple shadow (was a flat dark translucent panel).
- Banner panel: grape candy fill under a sheen + bright rim, rounder corners.
- Titles: celebratory candy gold YOU WIN! / punchy coral OUT OF MOVES, each
on a tinted drop shadow for pop.
- PLAY AGAIN: bubblegum candy button with a glossy sheen, bright rim and a
darker bevel lip for a 3D candy edge.
BannerLayout rects (panel/title/button) and the restart hit-test are
untouched, so tests/banner_layout still passes. Refresh the p4_hud / p7_win /
p7_lose goldens.
Regenerate the board art in a Candy-Crush palette via real image
generation (codex imagegen tool), keeping each PNG's exact dims and
source format so no code/layout changes are needed:
- background.png: 863x1822 opaque RGB — bright bubblegum-pink ->
lavender -> sky-blue candy gradient with soft bokeh sparkles
(was the dark purple/indigo/teal gradient).
- cell.png: 128x128 RGBA — light glossy frosted candy tile with a
warm pink/lavender tint, keeping it light so the 6 gems stay legible.
Generated at imagegen-native sizes, then center-cropped (background, to
preserve aspect) and resized with sips to the exact target dims/format.
Refresh the resting-board goldens (p9_polish, p4_board) captured at
M3TE_ANIM_TIME=0 to show the new palette with all 6 gems legible.
Make the selection highlight read as glossy candy without new art and
without disturbing the idle-rest invariant. board_view's render_selection
layers a soft outward glow (two concentric stroked rings — the renderer has
no blur), a warm wash, a bright rim doubled by a thin inner highlight for a
glassy edge, and a wet sheen that rides the selected gem's live pose. Every
layer is a rect/overlay (issue 0002 forbids a draw-time gem-texture tint).
The gloss is selection-only: render_selection runs solely when a cell is
selected, so the resting board (no selection) is byte-identical to before
and the t==0 idle pose stays exactly the static sprite (locked by
tests/gem_pose). The selection-pop motion still comes from gem_anim; no
board / score / move state changes and input stays gated by BoardAnim.active.
Updated goldens/p6_select.png; README documents the P11.3 selection gloss
and its reproduce commands (reusing the P6.3 M3TE_SELECT + M3TE_ANIM_TIME
hooks).
Scale the combo FX with cascade depth (mv.rounds.len) — the same depth the
cascade SFX (play_cascade) steps up on — so deeper cascades read as more
exciting and land in lockstep with the audio escalation. Purely visual and
self-pruning: no board / score / move state changes, and input stays gated by
BoardAnim.active alone.
- board_fx.sx: add fx_combo_level (mirrors audio's cascade_cue_index clamp:
depth<=1 -> floor, depth>=5 -> ceiling). The +points popup now carries the
cascade depth and grows one font step + lerps gold -> hot-gold per level
(fx_popup_font / fx_popup_color). Every burst of a deep cascade gets a
whole-move depth boost (FX_BURST_DEPTH) on top of the existing per-round bump.
- board_view.sx: render_fx_popups derives styling from depth and tops a combo
with a "COMBO xN" label naming the true cascade depth.
- tests/fx_combo.sx: headless snapshot locking the depth->level/font table and
asserting fx_combo_level matches the cascade-cue index column entry-for-entry.
- goldens/p11_combo_deep.png + README: deterministic depth-5 capture (M3TE_FX=11)
vs the depth-1 single clear (M3TE_FX=3); FX gone after settle at a later phase.
Visual-juice vibe-pass, FX-only — no logic/state changes, input gating
still owned by BoardAnim.active.
- board_fx.sx: bigger, punchier match bursts — peak size 1.95->2.50 cells,
combo bonus 0.55->0.72, and the per-gem fx tints saturated a touch (low
channel trimmed, dominant/mid lifted) so every burst pops as a brighter,
more vivid candy colour. The hot per-pixel tint loop's hoisted locals are
preserved (issue 0001).
- gem_anim.sx: snappier clear pop — faster rise (0.30->0.18 of the window)
to a bigger overshoot (CLEAR_POP_A 0.22->0.34) so the matched-gem clear
reads as a candy snap. gem_pose's clear-pop invariants still hold.
- main.sx: M3TE_FX=<n> deterministic match-FX capture hook, mirroring the
M3TE_SELECT pattern. Commits the n-th currently-legal swap at startup via
the normal plan_and_commit path and begins the move timeline + burst/popup
FX; M3TE_ANIM_TIME pins the phase and the frame loop holds the move/FX
frozen while pinned, so the burst + "+points" screenshot identically every
run. A larger M3TE_ANIM_TIME captures the settled, FX-gone board. Startup-
only and guarded, so normal play is untouched.
- README.md: document the new M3TE_FX pin alongside the other capture hooks.
- goldens/p6_fx_match.png: updated deterministic golden (iOS 26 sim,
SIMCTL_CHILD_M3TE_FX=3 SIMCTL_CHILD_M3TE_ANIM_TIME=0.22) — the vertical
red 3-match, burst region +1.4% mean luminance / 3.2:1 brighter:dimmer vs
the same scene on the pre-juice constants.
Gate: ios-sim build links, 19/19 logic tests green (incl. gem_pose t=0 rest).
Add tests/cascade_cue.sx, a headless logic test that reuses audio.sx's
pure cascade_cue_index / cascade_cue_name (the exact functions
play_cascade calls) to lock the cascade-depth -> combo-cue clamp:
depth <= 1 -> combo1, depth >= COMBO_CLIPS -> combo5, monotonic between.
Covers the escalation logic the audio playback path can't gate-cover,
with no audio. Committed stdout/exit snapshot; suite is now 19 tests.
Drive event-appropriate cues from the existing System Sound Services bank,
purely additively — no board/score/move state is read or written and every
call stays inline-if-OS==.ios guarded.
board_view.sx (move-commit path): a committed gesture now plays the swap
slide cue for any swipe intent (legal or the reverted ping-back); a legal
move adds the match pop on its first clearing round; a multi-round chain
adds the escalating cascade cue keyed to the recorded AnimMove depth
(mv.rounds.len), kept distinct from the match pop so a single clear is never
doubled. An illegal swap plays only the swap cue.
main.sx (frame loop): the win/lose stinger fires EXACTLY ONCE, edge-triggered
on the frame the banner comes up — the level has settled won/lost and any
in-flight cascade has finished animating. Status is read-only from the model;
a restart re-arms the edge for a fresh win/lose.
audio.sx: each play_* method logs a per-cue NSLog line at play time so the
ordering is observable via `log show`; cascade_cue_name maps the clamped
combo index to a stable literal (literals only — the string→NSString bridge
needs NUL-terminated bytes).
