diff --git a/apps/ai-game-creator-shell/src-tauri/src/tests/mod.rs b/apps/ai-game-creator-shell/src-tauri/src/tests/mod.rs
index a91336e16..6f5317d98 100644
--- a/apps/ai-game-creator-shell/src-tauri/src/tests/mod.rs
+++ b/apps/ai-game-creator-shell/src-tauri/src/tests/mod.rs
@@ -1576,6 +1576,7 @@ pub(crate) fn spawn_mock_llm_server_responses(response_contents: Vec<String>) ->
 
 pub(crate) fn spawn_mock_llm_tool_plan_then_invalid_final_reply(
     planning_response: String,
+    final_reply_requests: usize,
 ) -> String {
     let listener = bind_test_tcp_listener("mock invalid final reply bind");
     let base_url = format!("http://{}", listener.local_addr().expect("mock llm addr"));
@@ -1617,11 +1618,7 @@ pub(crate) fn spawn_mock_llm_tool_plan_then_invalid_final_reply(
             .write_all(planning_response.as_bytes())
             .expect("mock tool plan response");
 
-        // Autonomous runs enforce a 12-retry floor. Return the same malformed
-        // response for the initial final-reply request and every retry so this
-        // fixture tests deserialize exhaustion rather than an accidental
-        // connection-refused fallback after the first malformed response.
-        for _ in 0..=12 {
+        for _ in 0..final_reply_requests.max(1) {
             let (mut final_stream, _) = listener.accept().expect("mock final reply accept");
             drop(read_mock_http_request(&mut final_stream));
             let invalid_body = "{invalid-json";
@@ -5934,7 +5931,7 @@ async fn background_agent_runtime_marks_response_plan_step_failed_when_final_rep
         "response": ""
     })
     .to_string();
-    let base_url = spawn_mock_llm_tool_plan_then_invalid_final_reply(plan_json);
+    let base_url = spawn_mock_llm_tool_plan_then_invalid_final_reply(plan_json, 1);
     let _config_guard = write_test_local_config(format!(
         r#"{{
   "agentLlm": {{
@@ -5943,6 +5940,7 @@ async fn background_agent_runtime_marks_response_plan_step_failed_when_final_rep
       "baseUrl": {base_url:?},
       "model": "design-runtime-model",
       "apiKind": "openai_responses",
+      "maxRetries": 0,
       "retryBackoffMs": 1
     }}
   }}
diff --git a/apps/ai-game-creator-shell/src-tauri/src/tests/runtime_state.rs b/apps/ai-game-creator-shell/src-tauri/src/tests/runtime_state.rs
index 88db4e255..9515a6e4a 100644
--- a/apps/ai-game-creator-shell/src-tauri/src/tests/runtime_state.rs
+++ b/apps/ai-game-creator-shell/src-tauri/src/tests/runtime_state.rs
@@ -1147,7 +1147,7 @@ async fn background_final_reply_failure_keeps_private_conversation_and_hashes_pu
         "response": ""
     })
     .to_string();
-    let base_url = spawn_mock_llm_tool_plan_then_invalid_final_reply(planning_response);
+    let base_url = spawn_mock_llm_tool_plan_then_invalid_final_reply(planning_response, 1);
     replace_test_local_config(
         &config_path,
         format!(