# TODO

Work is grouped by theme. Each item should be small enough to complete and verify on its own;
see `AGENTS.md` for the workflow and `MEMORY.md` for the decisions behind these plans.

## Gap Analysis and 0.x Roadmap

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, 272 headless + 101 Python
tests, a 21/21 clean screen-design judge and an optional Forward+ Desktop HQ build. This is a strong
release-candidate foundation, not yet a 0.10.0 release candidate.

### Documentation audit (completed 2026-11-01)

- [x] Make `docs/architecture.md` the single architecture source: asset/content pipeline
      contracts, runtime venue-switch/fallback flows, deployment/version constraints, quality
      requirements, risk register and documentation ownership map.
- [x] Keep command-heavy operational pages separate but subordinate: `docs/asset-tooling.md`,
      `docs/blender-assets.md`, `docs/getting-started.md`, `docs/RELEASING.md` and
      `docs/smoke-checklist.md` link to architecture rather than acting as parallel sources.
- [x] Remove the obsolete `docs/plan-graphics-v0.6.md` and its links; completed graphics work is
      represented by ADR-0013, the asset pipeline section and the changelog.
- [x] Resolve stale claims: README release version/download row, development status
      "Forward+ not implemented", and Blender props "not AO-baked".
- [x] Record the documentation ownership rule in `docs/architecture.md` §12: design intent
      (`PLAN.md`), mechanics (`gameplay.md`), system architecture/contracts (`architecture.md`),
      decisions (ADRs), status (`development-status.md`), roadmap (`TODO.md`), operations
      (tooling/release docs).

### Gap register (remaining roadmap)

| Area | Current baseline | Remaining gap | Risk | Milestone |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Content and balance | 3 venues with validated 12+ event matrices, recovery events and contextual dialogue | External playtest evidence, balance/fairness pass, event-weight tuning and final content lock | Repetition or unfair outcomes survive into the release candidate | 0.10.0 |
| Dialog/UI | Audited terminology, copy, button states, focus/navigation, modal close, long strings and all 21 screen captures | Keep the capture/compare/judge gate current as content changes | Low; the remaining risk is drift after new UI is added | Complete (0.9.3) |
| Animation/presentation | Procedural pose layers, portrait captures, reduced hem clipping, 8,000/8,000 NPC cap | Thorough NPC silhouette/face/gear/pose/LOD optimization before visual QA | Close-up jank reduces perceived quality | Complete (0.9.4) |
| Audio/accessibility | Procedural ambience/SFX, volume controls, captions/reduce-motion settings, searchable Help | Full accessibility/localization acceptance review, audio caption coverage and P0/P1 fixes | Public release cannot claim accessible play | 0.10.0 |
| Localization | English JSON table, validation and input-generated Help | Pseudo-locale/layout audit and translator workflow sign-off | Text expansion/clipping at release | 0.10.0 |
| Performance/platform | 24-NPC headless budget (6.94 ms), Compatibility/Web/HQ paths | Target hardware matrix, Web/HQ manual profiling, frame-time/memory evidence | Platform-specific drops or startup failures | 0.9.6 / 0.10.0 |
| Save lifecycle | Settings/campaign/history/checkpoint files, atomic writes | Migration fixtures from 0.8/0.9, fresh-install/upgrade verification, rollback instructions | Player progress loss on upgrade | 0.10.0 |
| QA/CI | Headless suite, smokes, screenshot compare, 21/21 judge | Release-candidate smoke matrix, final gallery and release dry run | Regressions escape the release gate | 0.9.6 / 0.10.0 |
| Release/legal | Unsigned desktop/macOS builds, Web/HQ packages | Signing/notarization decision, checksums, AI-asset provenance, credits, privacy/body-camera and rating review | Public release blocked by trust/policy | 0.10.0 |
| Documentation | Architecture/ADR/status/roadmap ownership established | Final README/changelog/status/TODO/smoke-checklist sign-off and known-limitations page | Docs drift at launch | 0.9.6 / 0.10.0 |
| 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**, **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.

## Milestone 0.10.0 — Release candidate

Goal: freeze the feature set, prove it with external players, clear release/legal blockers and
verify every distribution path. This is the next minor release after the 0.9.x patch line.

### Content lock and external playtest

- [x] Declare a content/feature freeze for 0.10.0; only release-blocking fixes and balance changes
      may land after the freeze. (Frozen 2026-11-03 after the 0.9.6 integration
      checkpoint; this pass is limited to release reliability, accessibility,
      balance evidence and packaging.)
- [ ] Produce a release-candidate build with the tutorial, campaign, all three venues, Help,
      accessibility settings and checkpoint/resume enabled.
- [ ] Run at least five first-time-player sessions covering the tutorial and one full venue shift;
      record where players get stuck, misunderstand evidence or choose disproportionate escalation.
- [ ] Triage findings by severity (P0/P1/P2) and fix every P0/P1 onboarding/accessibility issue;
      keep the rest as explicit known limitations or post-0.10 items.
- [ ] Re-run the affected tutorial/campaign smokes after each fix and capture a fresh first-hour
      walkthrough for the release notes.

### Balance and fairness pass

- [ ] Define measurable targets for routine compliance, access-decision accuracy, peaceful
      resolution, justified emergency calls and false-positive/false-negative rates.
- [ ] Run scripted venue sweeps across easy/normal/hard and all four phases; compare outcomes and
      tune event weights, reaction tables, compliance and report strictness where targets fail.
- [ ] Review emergency calls against actual danger: no routine behavior should make emergency the
      dominant winning move, and genuine threats must remain answerable.
- [ ] Verify the reputation grades, debrief explanations and campaign progression still communicate
      the de-escalation-first design after tuning.
- [ ] Record the balance evidence and any deliberate exceptions in `docs/development-status.md`
      or `MEMORY.md`.

### Save migration and session reliability

- [x] Add fixtures for a 0.8-era settings/campaign/history save and a 0.9.0 checkpoint; verify
      migration/default-filling and a clean first launch with no files. (Committed
      fixtures under `src/test/fixtures/saves/`; 9 migration/failure tests cover
      old settings/campaign/history, the 0.9.0 checkpoint, all three venue
      checkpoint round-trips, clean install, corrupt JSON and a blocked atomic
      replace. Suite is now 272 tests.)
- [x] Test fresh install → tutorial → campaign → pause → quit → resume → review → next venue on
      an isolated user-data directory. (Tutorial and campaign smokes shared one
      isolated `XDG_DATA_HOME`; tutorial completion/replay/skip then campaign
      resume/review-continue/help both passed. Pause/menu behavior is covered by
      `smoke_session_shell.gd`.)
- [x] Test corrupt JSON, partial temp files, missing optional fields and a failed atomic rename;
      confirm fallback behavior never destroys a valid save. (Corrupt/partial files
      fall back to defaults; a blocked temp path reports an error and leaves the
      prior valid settings intact. `_load_json` now uses the non-logging JSON
      instance parser.)
- [x] Verify checkpoint resume after all three venues, after an incident, with NPCs at the door and
      with flashlight/body-camera/door state set. (The migration suite round-trips a
      checkpoint for Hollywood, the Joke Shop and the TV Studio with an open
      incident, one NPC row, flashlight/body-camera/door flags; the campaign smoke
      resumes a live checkpoint through the real `GameManager`.)
- [x] Document save locations, schema versions, reset behavior and rollback/export instructions in
      `docs/getting-started.md` and the release notes. (`getting-started.md` now
      documents the four files, version-1 checkpoint, atomic write/fallback,
      clean install, reset and backup/rollback.)

### Release engineering and distribution

- [ ] Run `tools/build_releases.sh` from a clean checkout and verify Linux/Windows/macOS/Web/HQ
      artifact names, sizes and checksums.
- [ ] Smoke-test fresh Linux portable/AppImage, Windows portable/installer, macOS unzip/launch,
      Web static hosting and Desktop HQ Vulkan fallback on the target matrix.
- [x] Add a disk-space preflight and retention policy to the release/publish scripts so a full
      Gitea host cannot leave a partially uploaded release. (`publish_release.sh`
      checks artifact size/free space, writes SHA-256 checksums, supports
      `PUBLISH_DRY_RUN`, rolls back uploaded assets/new releases on failure, and
      offers opt-in `RETAIN_RELEASES` pruning; dry-run verified.)
- [x] Verify release metadata, tag/version consistency, asset counts and download links; retain
      at least the latest 0.8/0.9 releases and document older-asset pruning.
      (Source/version and tag are both 0.9.6; all seven published releases carry
      5–7 assets, including the retained v0.8.0/v0.8.1/v0.9.0/v0.9.1 line.
      `publish_release.sh` documents opt-in `RETAIN_RELEASES` pruning and
      `RELEASING.md` describes the seven-release policy.)
- [x] Decide and document whether macOS signing/notarization is required for 0.10.0 or explicitly
      remains a future release blocker; record the quarantine instructions either way.
      (0.10.0 ships unsigned with quarantine instructions; signing/notarization
      remains an explicit public-release blocker in `RELEASING.md` and
      `known-limitations.md`.)

### Legal, credits and platform policy

- [x] Audit AI-assisted asset provenance and licenses; record source/model usage and any
      redistribution constraints for textures, characters, props and UI art.
      (`CREDITS.md` records the Blender/OpenRouter toolchain, default model slugs,
      missing per-file generation metadata and the commercial-rights review as an
      explicit release blocker.)
- [x] Audit audio/SFX/music licensing (or confirm everything is procedural) and add a credits file.
      (All runtime audio is procedural; no external music/SFX files are bundled.
      `CREDITS.md` records this.)
- [x] Review body-camera/privacy language, mental-health-crisis representation, age/content rating
      and storefront requirements; fix any release-blocking copy or content.
      (`PRIVACY.md` clarifies the simulated body camera/local-only data; the
      accessibility and known-limitations pages record the remaining
      mental-health/rating/storefront review as a release blocker rather than
      claiming approval.)
- [x] Add the player-facing credits, known limitations, accessibility statement and privacy note to
      the release package/README. (`README.md` links `CREDITS.md`, `PRIVACY.md`,
      `docs/accessibility.md` and `docs/known-limitations.md`; the Web and Desktop
      HQ package builders copy those documents into the shipped archives.)
- [ ] Mark external legal/storefront approval as complete or explicitly block the 0.10.0 release on it.

### Documentation and visual sign-off

- [ ] Update `README.md`, `PLAN.md`, `docs/architecture.md`, ADRs, `docs/development-status.md`,
      `docs/getting-started.md`, `docs/smoke-checklist.md`, `CHANGELOG.md` and this roadmap.
- [ ] Regenerate the full screenshot gallery and realism baselines after content lock; run
      `check_screenshots.sh` and the pinned vision judge, recording model/spend/verdicts.
- [ ] Run the manual smoke checklist on every target and attach/link the release-candidate evidence.
- [ ] Verify the tutorial/campaign/help text at maximum font scale and with the longest strings.
- [ ] Remove or archive stale plans/notes and confirm no contradictory version/status claims remain.

### Release-candidate QA and exit

- [ ] Run the complete headless suite, Python tooling, tutorial/campaign/session/scenario smokes,
      24-NPC budget smoke and release build from a clean checkout.
- [ ] Run the manual QA matrix: fresh install, upgrade, offline launch, gamepad, accessibility
      settings, pause/resume, all venues and Desktop HQ fallback.
- [ ] Confirm no P0/P1 defects remain; P2 items must be documented as known limitations or
      post-0.10 work.
- [ ] Create the `v0.10.0` version bump, changelog entry and tag; build/publish the release and
      verify all assets and download links.
- [ ] Exit: the release candidate is content-locked, externally played, legally reviewed,
      documented, reproducibly built, and approved as the 0.10.0 release candidate.

## Future 0.x / non-blocking candidates

- [ ] Live 3D body-camera replay.
- [ ] Additional venues or seasonal events.
- [ ] Real voice/dialogue audio.
- [ ] Image-to-mesh prop pipeline.
- [ ] Rare easter eggs/cameos (e.g. Bob Dobbs) only after core content and QA are stable.

## Roadmap dependencies and risks

- Content volume is the largest schedule risk; tutorial and campaign work must not outrun the
      event/dialogue matrix.
- The vision judge is a dev-time aid with an external key/budget; CI must never make it a hard gate.
- Godot version changes can alter lighting/imports; do not combine an engine baseline move with a
      content/feature milestone.
- Signed macOS builds and legal/AI provenance are release blockers, not polish.
- Keep the de-escalation-first rules and rare-emergency design unchanged while adding progression,
      difficulty and feedback.

## Realism follow-ups (deferred)

- [x] Re-run the screen-design judge for `12-joke-shop`, `13-studio-arrival` and the
      Forward+ A/B with the valid key: **13/13 match, 0 diff**; the HQ A/B is in the report.
- [ ] Capture a hooded/winter NPC close-up once a scenario spawns types 5-7 (the explicit
      `--portrait-type` override is already in `capture_realism.gd`).
- [ ] Human-authored tree/hedge silhouettes: the whole scene now reads well except the foliage,
      which is still flat-shaded clumps (`_shrub()`/`_tree()` in `tools/blender_assets.py`).
      Only worth doing if a higher-poly organic builder is added to the library.
- [ ] Camera height: the concept frames are shot at ~1.55 m with a slightly wider lens; the game
      camera sits at 1.7 m. Decide whether the first-person height should match the art direction
      or stay at the current gameplay value.

## Future ideas (optional, not scheduled)

- [ ] Live 3D body-camera replay (the timeline is text-only today).
- [ ] Additional venues or seasonal events authored from the new `.tres` files.
- [ ] Real voice/dialogue audio (the crowd bed and radio crackle are procedural).
- [ ] Swap the primitive prop builder for an image-to-mesh model API behind the same
      `assets/models/generated/<prop>.glb` contract.