Record the v0.9.6 release build

TODO.md

@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ see `AGENTS.md` for the workflow and `MEMORY.md` for the decisions behind these
 
 ## Gap Analysis and 0.x Roadmap
 
-Baseline: **v0.9.5** (2026-11-02). Three playable venues, tutorial/campaign/checkpoint resume,
+Baseline: **v0.9.6** (2026-11-03). Three playable venues, tutorial/campaign/checkpoint resume,
 difficulty/help, audio/accessibility settings, a 24-NPC budget baseline, a complete
 escalation/access/radio loop, shift review, the Blender asset library, 263 headless + 101 Python
 tests, a 21/21 clean screen-design judge and an optional Forward+ Desktop HQ build. This is a strong
@@ -45,73 +45,11 @@ release-candidate foundation, not yet a 0.10.0 release candidate.
 | Future 0.x | Stable 0.x feature set | Live replay, more venues, VO/music, image-to-mesh props and seasonal content | Scope creep before release | 0.11.0+ |
 
 **Current priority:** map optimization, the **pre-build NPC revisit**, the
-**0.9.3 UI polish**, **0.9.4 NPC visual optimization** and **0.9.5 texture
-refinement** passes are complete (all moved to `DONE.md` on 2026-11-02).
-0.9.6 integration and the 0.10.0 release candidate are next. The source version
-is now 0.9.5; the v0.9.5 release is published.
-
-## Patch 0.9.6 — Integration, performance and judge gate
-
-Goal: integrate the UI/model/texture patches, prove the combined build on the
-target paths and leave a clean release-candidate handoff.
-
-### Integration and asset rebuild
-
-- [x] Rebuild all changed Blender/GLB/AO assets, re-import, and verify manifest/fit/
-      audit coverage. (The v0.9.5 commit already rebuilt the base, eight characters,
-      gear and AO maps; this checkpoint re-imported them and re-ran
-      `blender_assets.py audit`/`fit` and `npc_pipeline.py audit`, all exit 0.)
-- [x] Run the complete headless suite, Python tooling and smoke matrix; fix any
-      regression from the three polish patches. (Godot 263/263, Python 101/101;
-      14 smokes green: audio, campaign, crowd, emergency, focus/radial, movement,
-      NPC budget, PLAN verbs, props, scenario content, session shell, timeline,
-      tutorial and UI flows. Campaign/tutorial used isolated `XDG_DATA_HOME`.)
-- [x] Re-run the 24-NPC budget smoke and record frame time, mesh count and any
-      texture-memory change; check Web and Desktop HQ if available. (24 avatars,
-      168 meshes, 131,616 triangles, 6.90 ms of 50 ms headless; NPC maps remain
-      0.48 MB. A clean detached worktree at `f5b8ef2` built Linux/Windows/macOS/
-      Web/HQ (`161.5/197.1/148.0/97.8/241.5 MB`); the Web zip has index.html,
-      wasm and pck, the HQ zip has `override.cfg`, and the HQ binary launches
-      headless with the Forward+ override.)
-- [x] Verify save/campaign/tutorial behavior is unchanged by the visual/UI patches.
-      (Persistence/session tests remain in the 263-test suite; campaign and tutorial
-      smokes passed with isolated `XDG_DATA_HOME`.)
-
-### Visual gallery and judge gate
-
-- [x] Recapture the full gallery, portraits, venue/realsim stages and Desktop HQ A/B
-      as needed; no stale screenshots in the release set. (Gallery 21/21,
-      NPC baseline 48 frames, final-context review 96 frames and a fresh 10-shot
-      realism run were recaptured. No Forward+ code changed since 0.7.1, so the
-      HQ A/B was not re-staged; the HQ artifact is checked with the release build.)
-- [x] Run `tools/check_screenshots.sh`, `screen_designs.py compare` and
-      `screen_designs.py judge` on the final captures. (21 good / 0 bad; compare
-      21 good / 0 bad; judge 21/21 match, 0 review, 0 diff.)
-- [x] Run the realism judge for the affected concepts with a pinned model; record
-      model, attempt count, spend and verdicts. (`z-ai/glm-5.3-flash`, 1 pass per
-      shot, 10 shots, no fallback/retry: mean overall 2.1, lighting 2.4, materials
-      2.1, texture 1.7, backdrop 2.3, characters 1.8, Pillow gap 0.291. The local
-      tool does not expose token spend; the report is gitignored under
-      `docs/screens/realism/2026-11-02-096/`.)
-- [x] Review all `review` verdicts manually; convert unexplained layout/composition
-      mismatches into fixes or explicit known limitations. (Screen judge has 0
-      `review` verdicts; the remaining realism comments are the known stylized
-      gaps already documented, not layout regressions.)
-- [x] Ensure generated realism folders remain gitignored/local-only and only the
-      durable report decisions/docs are committed. (`docs/screens/realism/` stays
-      ignored; `git status` shows no generated capture files.)
-
-### Release-candidate handoff
-
-- [x] Update README, architecture, development status, changelog and TODO with the
-      final patch-level results and any remaining gaps. (README/PLAN/architecture
-      now point at 0.9.6; the changelog and development status record the
-      integration build, performance numbers, judge results and the clean-worktree
-      export rule; `docs/RELEASING.md` documents the ignored-folder trap.)
-- [-] Tag/version or otherwise freeze `0.9.6` as the integration checkpoint before
-      the `0.10.0` release candidate. (claimed; committing and tagging)
-- [ ] Exit: combined build is functionally green, visually reviewed, performance
-      measured and ready for the 0.10.0 content-lock/playtest phase.
+**0.9.3 UI polish**, **0.9.4 NPC visual optimization**, **0.9.5 texture
+refinement** and **0.9.6 integration** passes are complete (all moved to
+`DONE.md`). The **0.10.0 release candidate** is next: content lock, external
+playtest, balance, save migration and release/legal sign-off. The source version
+is 0.9.6; the v0.9.6 release is published.
 
 ## Postponed — Milestone 0.10.0 — Release candidate