Rotation by direction
The orb's rotation eases toward the heading of travel (atan2 of velocity), so the highlight glides as you change direction.
One object with real mass: lag, momentum and rotation. The orb chases the cursor the way a physical body chases a target — and squashes as it moves.
The core orb, the trailing ghost and the outer ring each smooth toward the target at a different rate — creating a layered sense of mass and drag.
The orb's rotation eases toward the heading of travel (atan2 of velocity), so the highlight glides as you change direction.
Velocity scales the orb up to 1.14× as it moves fast and relaxes back to rest — the classic anticipation-and-follow of animation.
Only transforms are written each frame — no layout reads.