Decide the canonical runtime image root (ADR-0014)

assets/images/ is now the runtime root for composed interface/scene art:
ui/ for screen and panel art, scenes/ for full-frame scene art. Tiled PBR
textures remain under assets/textures/; docs/screens/designs and concepts stay
reference-only; QA captures stay under docs/screenshots. Mockups that become
runtime art are copied/processed with a new name (no overwrites) and always
have a code fallback.

Records the convention in MEMORY, adds ADR-0014 to the architecture index, and
closes the first storage-restructure TODO item.

docs/adr/0014-runtime-image-root.md

@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+# ADR-0014: Canonical runtime image root and image conventions
+
+- **Status:** Accepted (2026-11-01)
+- **Date:** 2026-11-01
+
+## Context
+
+The project now contains several kinds of images, and their locations overlap:
+
+- hand-authored and AI-generated **surface textures** under `assets/textures/`
+  (`ai/game_ready/`, `ai/game_ready/v2/`, `npc/`),
+- **screen mockups** under `docs/screens/designs/`,
+- **scene references** under `docs/screens/concepts/`,
+- **QA captures** under `docs/screenshots/` and `docs/screens/realism/`,
+- **raw AI output** under gitignored `assets/textures/ai/*/raw/`.
+
+The visual-alignment pass needs the game to load proposed interface and scene
+art at runtime. That art is currently only in the docs tree, which is not the
+right place for resources the build must ship and which contributors expect to
+be documentation-only. Without a convention, UI art, tiled materials, reference
+mockups, and screenshots will keep being confused for one another.
+
+## Decision
+
+1. **`assets/images/` is the canonical runtime root for composed image art** —
+   interface art, backgrounds, and full-frame scene art that the game loads as
+   an image, not as a tiled material.
+   - `assets/images/ui/` — screen and panel art used by the UI layer (start
+     menu/venue selection background, pause/settings chrome, HUD plates).
+   - `assets/images/scenes/` — composed scene/background art loaded directly as
+     an image (not repeated as a surface texture).
+2. **Tiled material textures stay under `assets/textures/`.** Brick, concrete,
+   asphalt, fabric, skyline strips used with UV repetition, and model maps are
+   materials, not composed screen art. Raw AI output stays in gitignored
+   `assets/textures/ai/*/raw/`; validated environment candidates stay under
+   `assets/textures/ai/game_ready/v2/`.
+3. **`docs/screens/` remains reference-only.** `designs/` holds mockups and
+   `concepts/` holds larger art-direction sets; neither is shipped or loaded by
+   the game. When a reference becomes runtime art, it is copied/processed into
+   `assets/images/` with a new descriptive name, following the no-overwrite
+   rule (`-vN` suffixes from the asset tooling).
+4. **QA output stays in `docs/`.** `docs/screenshots/` holds the README/catalogue
+   captures and `docs/screens/realism/<run>/` holds trial captures/reports.
+   These are not runtime resources and may be regenerated.
+5. **Naming.** Files under `assets/images/` are lowercase `snake_case` PNGs,
+   `<screen>_<variant>.png`, at the native UI size (1280×720 for 16:9 screens)
+   or the size the scene actually uses. Every runtime image needs a procedural
+   or neutral fallback in code so a missing file never breaks a screen.
+6. **Imports.** Runtime images are normal Godot textures: commit the PNG, let
+   `godot --headless --path . --import` regenerate `.import` sidecars, and keep
+   development-only images out of `assets/images/`.
+
+## Consequences
+
+### Positive
+
+- One obvious place for art the game actually loads, separate from references
+  and QA captures.
+- Builds/exports can include `assets/images/**` without also shipping mockups,
+  screenshots, or raw AI output.
+- The no-overwrite rule and variant naming make visual experiments reversible
+  and keep the docs references stable.
+
+### Negative
+
+- A reference image that becomes runtime art exists in two places (docs copy +
+  processed runtime copy); contributors must keep the processed copy current.
+- Moving existing mockups later is a path migration that touches docs, tools,
+  and `preload()` paths — tracked as the remaining visual-alignment storage
+  tasks.
+
+## Alternatives considered
+
+- **Use `docs/screens/designs/` as the runtime root.** Rejected: docs are not
+  ship-ready gameplay resources, and mixing references with runtime art makes
+  exports and cleanup brittle.
+- **Put everything in `assets/textures/`.** Rejected: composed UI/scene art is
+  not a tiled material; mixing it with PBR tiles hides the distinction and
+  invites incorrect import settings.
+- **Keep images only in code / procedural UI.** Rejected: the visual-alignment
+  pass is explicitly about using the rendered mockups as the target look.