diff --git a/.Jules/palette.md b/.Jules/palette.md
index 01736b2..6f35fa5 100644
--- a/.Jules/palette.md
+++ b/.Jules/palette.md
@@ -6,3 +6,7 @@
 
 ## 2026-01-09 - Terminal I/O and Blocking
 **Learning:** Standard terminal I/O is line-buffered by default. For real-time games, it's essential to use non-canonical mode (raw mode) to capture keypresses immediately. Also, internal journals should be kept clean if they are to be included in the repo.
+
+## 2026-02-05 - Immediate Tactile Feedback in CLI
+**Learning:** In terminal-based games, users expect immediate visual feedback for their actions. Relying solely on a fixed-interval game loop for UI updates can make the application feel unresponsive or "laggy" if the loop interval is high. Centralizing rendering logic and triggering it immediately upon user input (key events) significantly improves the perceived responsiveness.
+**Action:** Use an `updateUI` flag or a dedicated render function that can be called from both input handling and timer tick branches of the game loop.
diff --git a/.github/workflows/rust.yml b/.github/workflows/build.yml
similarity index 58%
rename from .github/workflows/rust.yml
rename to .github/workflows/build.yml
index 9fd45e0..fb7ff15 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/rust.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/build.yml
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-name: Rust
+name: Build and Test
 
 on:
   push:
@@ -6,17 +6,13 @@ on:
   pull_request:
     branches: [ "main" ]
 
-env:
-  CARGO_TERM_COLOR: always
-
 jobs:
   build:
-
     runs-on: ubuntu-latest
 
     steps:
     - uses: actions/checkout@v4
     - name: Build
-      run: cargo build --verbose
-    - name: Run tests
-      run: cargo test --verbose
+      run: make
+    - name: Run Smoke Test
+      run: ./game <<<'q' | grep "Thanks for playing!"
diff --git a/src/main.cpp b/src/main.cpp
index a70e887..abd26a2 100644
--- a/src/main.cpp
+++ b/src/main.cpp
@@ -13,29 +13,32 @@ int main() {
     tcsetattr(STDIN_FILENO, TCSANOW, &newt);
 
     int score = 0; bool hardMode = false; char input;
-    std::cout << "==========================\n      SPEED CLICKER\n==========================\n"
-              << "Controls:\n [h] Toggle Hard Mode (10x Speed!)\n [q] Quit Game\n [Any key] Click!\n\n";
+    std::cout << "\033[1m==========================\n      SPEED CLICKER\n==========================\033[0m\n"
+              << "Controls:\n [\033[1;33mh\033[0m] Toggle Hard Mode\n [\033[1;31mq\033[0m] Quit\n [Any key] Click!\n\n";
 
     struct pollfd fds[1] = {{STDIN_FILENO, POLLIN, 0}};
     auto last_tick = std::chrono::steady_clock::now();
     while (true) {
         int timeout = hardMode ? 100 : 1000;
+        bool updateUI = false;
         if (poll(fds, 1, 0) > 0) {
             if (read(STDIN_FILENO, &input, 1) <= 0 || input == 'q') break;
-            if (input == 'h') {
-                hardMode = !hardMode;
-                std::cout << (hardMode ? "\n[HARD MODE] Speed x10!\n" : "\n[NORMAL MODE]\n");
-            } else score++;
+            if (input == 'h') hardMode = !hardMode;
+            else score++;
+            updateUI = true;
         }
         auto now = std::chrono::steady_clock::now();
-        auto elapsed = std::chrono::duration_cast<std::chrono::milliseconds>(now - last_tick).count();
-        if (elapsed >= timeout) {
+        if (std::chrono::duration_cast<std::chrono::milliseconds>(now - last_tick).count() >= timeout) {
             score++; last_tick = now;
-            std::cout << "Score: " << score << (hardMode ? " [FAST]  " : " [NORMAL]  ") << "\r" << std::flush;
+            updateUI = true;
+        }
+        if (updateUI) {
+            std::cout << "\rScore: \033[1;32m" << score << "\033[0m "
+                      << (hardMode ? "\033[1;31m[FAST]\033[0m" : "\033[1;34m[NORMAL]\033[0m") << "    " << std::flush;
         }
         std::this_thread::sleep_for(std::chrono::milliseconds(10));
     }
     tcsetattr(STDIN_FILENO, TCSANOW, &oldt);
-    std::cout << "\nFinal Score: " << score << "\nThanks for playing!\n";
+    std::cout << "\n\n\033[1mFinal Score: \033[1;32m" << score << "\033[0m\nThanks for playing!\n";
     return 0;
 }