security-game/MEMORY.md

MEMORY

Session memory for durable decisions, state, and gotchas. Keep concise, remove obsolete entries.

Decisions

• DuckDuckGo collection tool (2026-11-03): tools/refcollect.py wraps the duckduckgo_search package (installed locally; renamed ddgs upstream). All outbound requests share one TokenBucket (--rate 0.5 req/s, --burst 3) and a polite retry routine: full-jitter exponential backoff, Retry-After honoured, permanent HTTP failures fail fast, six attempts maximum. Requests send a complete Firefox header set, not just the UA. DDG rate-limits by IP for a while after probing, so the per-venue collections should still be run in small spaced batches. Downloads are local_only/unchecked-local and never committed.

• Comedy Store multi-model concepts (2026-11-03): four scene pairs (facade, street, strip, visitor) now live in docs/screens/concepts/joke_shop/, each anchored on a local-only tmp/research/comedy-store/ photo with one google/gemini-2.5-flash-image and one openai/gpt-5-image-mini frame (.refgen.json records unchecked). Gotcha: DDG photo 07.jpg was titled "Ramada hotel" but is actually an interior stage shot — Gemini refused it with a text-only message; the hotel/parking ramp reference is still missing from the local set. The map-recreation plan is tracked in TODO.md §3D model and local map re-evaluation → K. Comedy Store map recreation.

• Jimmy Kimmel Live = starting point (2026-11-03): the building is the game's starting point: the Hollywood first shift and the late-night TV Studio arrival both begin at the El Capitan Entertainment Centre housing the Kimmel stage/studio. Four photo-anchored entrance concepts (day + night × gemini + gpt) are in docs/screens/concepts/hollywood_boulevard/, and the fact is stated in docs/hollywood-boulevard-map.md and docs/gameplay.md.

• Jimmy Kimmel Live research (2026-11-03): three new local-only DDG sets — tmp/research/jimmy-kimmel-stage/ (15 frames, stage/audience), tmp/research/jimmy-kimmel-entrance/ (12 frames, the El Capitan entrance with the Kimmel marquee/signs) and tmp/research/hollywood-block/ (11 frames, the Masonic Temple/El Capitan block). The Kimmel entrance frames confirm the starting-point building is the El Capitan Entertainment Centre with "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" signage over the same six-column facade. Some DDG frames arrive as AVIF mislabeled .png/.jpg; refcollect.py sheet now skips unreadable files and the AVIF frames were converted with ffmpeg for the contact sheets.

• Local-only reference override (2026-11-03, owner decision): for development-only photo research the licence gate does not apply. Downloads for this track live in tmp/research/ (gitignored) and may come from DuckDuckGo image search, street-view frames, neighbouring properties and buildings across the street — never committed, never shipped, never used as a committed asset. The moment a frame is promoted to docs/screens/refs/<venue>/ it passes the sidecar licence + privacy gate and CREDITS.md; the committed boards and the deferred Gaussian splatting gate are unchanged. Tracked in TODO.md §3D model and local map re-evaluation → A.

• Godot 4.7.2 --import gotcha (2026-11-03): with a stale .godot/ cache, --import (and --editor --quit-after N) scans new image files but never imports them — no .import files are created, and preload() of the new texture then fails to compile every dependent script (the confusing Could not resolve external class member "spec" comes from game_manager.gd, not the texture). A brand-new file still not importing after several runs is the signature. Workaround that works: run the import in a scratch copy with .godot/ removed (rsync -a --exclude .godot --exclude tmp --exclude .git ./ /tmp/proj-copy/ then godot --headless --import there), and copy back the generated .png.import plus the matching .godot/imported/*.ctex/.md5. CI is unaffected (it imports fresh and .import files are committed).

• Facade-realism pass complete (2026-11-03): the masonic facade now uses the photo-anchored limestone_ashlar field (see the ashlar decision below), the event banners carry a warm self-light (0.14 base, 0.28 night / 0.028 day via _marquee_emissive), and the marquee sign face + bulbs are test-verified to brighten at night (test_marquee_emissive_balanced_at_night). The marquee canopy/sign box stay black_metal by design — it is the fictional "GIG LINE" marquee over the Masonic Temple, not the red El Capitan Theatre marquee next door (which is represented by the blade-sign neighbour). Day and night captures promoted; both three-up boards rebuilt.

• Image-recitation filter (2026-11-03): Gemini image models (google/gemini-2.5-flash-image) reject a reference image with finish_reason: content_filter / native_finish_reason: IMAGE_RECITATION when the photo shows a well-known branded facade (the Comedy Store wall) — the same photo is fine as documentation evidence, just not as a generation anchor. Workaround: anchor on a less-branded frame of the same block (the hillside photo worked), or generate the texture text-only when the reference adds no geometric detail (the dark stucco tile is text-only for this reason).

• Ashlar limestone pick (2026-11-03): the masonic facade field uses limestone_ashlar[_normal].png, generated reference-anchored on the 2009 CC BY facade photo, 768 px tile ≈ 4.6 m of wall (~167 px/m, inside the 40–400 band). stone_steps stays for trim; facade tint warm-shifted to Color(0.85, 0.81, 0.74). Night emissive balance and banner/canopy materials are still open in the facade-realism item.

• OpenRouter reference-anchored generation (2026-11-03): the /v1/images endpoint takes no input image; the working image-to-image path is POST /v1/chat/completions with a content array ({"type": "image_url", "image_url": {"url": "data:...;base64,..."}}). google/gemini-2.5-flash-image honours reference geometry well (kept the El Capitan column rhythm, motto band, banner slots and blade sign from a photo); response images arrive as message.images[].image_url.url (data URL) — the parser also falls back to a data URI inside the message text. Implemented in generate_textures.generate_image(reference_path=...) and scene_concepts.py generate --reference; licence gate + .refgen.json provenance sidecar.

• Recent-photo research, gitignored (2026-11-03): Commons geosearch around the El Capitan block found usable last-12-months imagery (Dolby billboards 2026-09-30 CC0 x6, Dolby street + fresh star 2026-07-17 CC0, El Capitan frontage with an impersonator 2026-02-25 CC BY-SA 4.0, Celia Cruz marker and a star series 2025-09-28 CC0, Thunderbolts premiere 2025-04-28 CC BY-SA 2.0). Eight candidates downloaded to tmp/research/elcapitan-2026/ with meta.json — never commit these; committed references still go through the sidecar licence gate. Finding: no recent photo frames the El Capitan facade straight-on in daylight; the 2009 CC BY facade frame stays the geometry reference. Geosearch (generator=geosearch, ggscoord, radius, ggsnamespace=6) is the reliable "photos of this exact location" query; keyword search is not. Plan for reference-anchored generation (--reference) is in TODO before any tool code is written.

• TV Studio shares the Hollywood location (2026-11-03, owner clarification): the Late Night TV Studio venue is the same El Capitan Entertainment Centre block at 6840 Hollywood Blvd (the building houses Jimmy Kimmel Live!), restaged for a late-night arrival with a bulb canopy, black sedan and barrier line. VENUE_SPECS["tv_studio"] is a 30.0 m variant of the 29.6 m Hollywood facade. One reference board (docs/screens/refs/hollywood/) serves both venues; do not create a separate TV Studio photo board or treat it as a distinct real site.

• Hollywood reference board (2026-11-03): five Wikimedia photos live in docs/screens/refs/hollywood/ with SIDECAR.md (licences: CC BY 2.0 x2, CC BY 3.0, PD x2), cropped/re-encoded to <=1600 px JPEG q85 with EXIF stripped, foreground crowd cropped out of the facade shot. The board is linked from docs/hollywood-boulevard-map.md and the CC BY files are credited in CREDITS.md. Gotchas: the Commons API needs a descriptive User-Agent and rate-limits rapid thumbnail downloads (HTTP 429) - fetch all metadata in one titles=A|B|C query and space the downloads. check_docs requires each image to be linked from its folder README.md, so each venue folder needs both README.md (board) and SIDECAR.md (provenance). The board grew to nine photos on 2026-11-03 (El Capitan Theatre neighbour CC BY 2.0, terrazzo + star close-up CC0, night street context CC BY-SA 3.0). The CC BY-SA frame is redistributed unmodified for study only with no derived asset, and that review is written into the sidecar; a licensed night photo of the hero facade is still the top missing reference.

• Joke Shop reference board removed (2026-11-03): the committed Comedy Store photo board was removed in favour of the local-only tmp/research/comedy-store/ research set (owner override: development reference, no licence gate, never committed). The three-up board's photo panel remains a historical public-domain frame; the block's current reference lives in the gitignored research folder.

• Blender Skills Pack installed locally (2026-11-03): the MIT blender-skills pack (v1.3.0, 94 skills + a shared references/ folder) is installed at .agents/skills/blender-skills/ for Blender asset work. .agents/ is gitignored and .agents/.gdignore keeps Godot's scanner out, so it never ships, exports or affects tests. Skills link shared docs as ../references/<file>.md, so keep the pack flat when updating: cp -a <pack>/.claude/skills/. .agents/skills/blender-skills/. Pi gates project .agents/skills behind project trust, so the trust prompt must be accepted before the skills load.

• Priority order (2026-11-03): TODO.md now leads with the unversioned 3D model and local map re-evaluation track, then Character development, then the versioned 0.10.0 release candidate and later releases. Local map workstreams are H–M inside the same 3D track. Do not attach a placeholder version to an unversioned track; assign one only when its scope enters a release. Character development is generator-first (ADR-0015); the map work evaluates OSM/3D data, licensed reference imagery, AI-assisted composition and development-only Gaussian splatting.

• Commit/build discipline (2026-11-03): commit each coherent verified change as it lands, not only at milestone end, and push shareable commits. Every major, minor and patch version requires a CHANGELOG.md entry, a local tools/build_releases.sh build and artifact/checksum verification before tagging. CI tag builds are the second gate, not a substitute.

• Gaussian splatting / photo-derived maps (unversioned local track): expanded in TODO.md "Gaussian splatting evaluation". Accepted photo channels are team captures, permissioned user/volunteer photos and clearly licensed downloads; every set needs a provenance/consent sidecar. Sparse web photos are reference/training supplements, not a splat source. Five enhancement paths are ranked (reference/QA, texture bake, mesh proxy, distant backdrop, single-facade user-photo supplement). Splats stay offline/development-only until the ADR proves licence, privacy, Godot Compatibility/Web cost and mesh-based collision; no runtime splat dependency in 0.10.0.

• NPC model variety decision (2026-11-03, ADR-0015): CC0 is acceptable for shipped assets; CC-BY only with attribution in CREDITS.md; no service assets with redistribution restrictions. The procedural generator is the primary path. Four crowd-variety specs were prototyped with the existing builder (npc_crowd_a bun/slim/sunglasses, npc_crowd_b bald/broad/beard/shoulder bag, npc_crowd_c coat/umbrella, npc_crowd_d hood/cup); all audit clean at 4,550–5,258 tris / 4,356–5,086 verts. Prototype assets stay in tmp/npc-research/generator_proto/; do not add them to the current release candidate. Quaternius is a reference, not a shipped base: welding brings Casual_Hoodie from 12,518 to 3,199 verts and a 0.75 decimate to 2,423 verts / 4,654 tris, and its Idle/Walk clips read well, but the T-pose 62-bone realistic rig/proportions do not match the arm-down 13-bone contract. A contract rebuild is a no-go without a body proportion warp; a second rig/animation path needs its own ADR. MakeHuman is deferred to a separate local pipeline: the CC0 base is 19,158 verts / 36,972 tris and decimates to 3,780 / 6,468 at 0.35, but needs retopology, a custom rig and project clothing. Research previews are committed under docs/blender_previews/sheet_npc_{sources_research,crowd_prototypes}.jpg; the CC-BY entries (CesiumMan/RiggedFigure, © Cesium) are attributed in CREDITS.md and are development-only.

• 0.10.0 balance protocol: docs/balance-acceptance.md defines targets and denominator/cohort rules for the 36 venue/difficulty/phase cells, seeds 1–100, access/emergency error rates and matched calm vs emergency-first comparisons. These are acceptance criteria, not measured results; sweeps/playtests remain open. Inspection found _read_npc_truth() is type-derived, not behavior-derived; the pending emergency fairness review must cover this oracle mismatch rather than treating internal truth as independent evidence.

• The visual-alignment path/loader/panel/HUD work and the realism lighting pass are complete and recorded in DONE.md; remaining visual items are the realism follow-ups in TODO.md.

• Character mesh cap (2026-11-02): the eight library variants now use 8,000 triangles / 8,000 glTF vertices per character (CHAR_MAX_TRIS/CHAR_MAX_VERTS in tools/blender_assets.py), up from 6,000/5,000. The frozen npc_base fallback keeps its 6,000/4,000 contract. This headroom is specifically for the remaining face, hand-grip and clothing realism work; re-run the 24-NPC and Web/Compatibility budgets as geometry lands. Do not add detail without measuring, and do not silently lower the cap back to 5,000.

• PLAN.md is a compact product/design document, not an implementation log. Historical control and v0.3.0 specs were folded into its Presentation and Controls section; put new step-by-step work in TODO.md, not the plan.

• Editable Blender sources under assets/models/blender_src/ are gitignored and untracked (46 .blend files removed from the index on 2026-11-01); the .gdignore marker stays tracked.

• screen_designs.py judge default google/gemini-2.5-flash-lite worked on 2026-11-01 (7 match / 4 review / 0 diff); --model remains available.

• capture_realism.gd parses --portrait-type=N; it was documented but ignored before the gear pass. Portrait captures need the requested NPC type to have spawned, otherwise the stage can finish with an empty frame; use the Blender character previews (render --only npc_coat) for deterministic gear checks.

• Headgear: the firefighter helmet was lifted 2 cm after the brow/face pass; cap and hood were visually checked on npc_vest/npc_hoodie. The beanie is unused and shares the cap shell.

• Gear fit is measured with python3 tools/blender_assets.py fit (stdlib, reads the GLBs): head width uses skin vertices weighted to Head in y 1.55–1.81; clothing radius is the cloth skirt in y 0.30–0.52 with a pants hip fallback. The command reports per-character gear boxes, head-band status and x/radial skirt clearance; test_blender_assets covers its shape.

• Post-realism work is split by theme, not by date: finished items are archived in DONE.md, and TODO.md carries the 0.x gap register and milestone roadmap. New work belongs there, not in a revived historical plan document.

• Graphics v0.6.0 plan (completed 2026-11-01; ADR-0013): NPCs move to Blender-authored skinned meshes. tools/npc_pipeline.py builds assets/models/generated/npc_base.glb; NpcAvatar keeps the procedural _build_body() fallback. Preserve Rig/Head, the limb node names, and the seed-deterministic outfit_for/layer_for/hand_item_for helpers. Blender = flatpak 5.2.0 LTS, sandbox cwd /app/blender → absolute paths for --python. CI stays offline (committed assets).

• Engine: Godot 4.7.2 stable (official editor build, ~/.local/bin/godot). The system's preinstalled godot-runner cannot load projects from arbitrary paths because it was compiled without path overrides; use the official editor binary instead.

• Language: GDScript. All cross-file references use explicit preload() constants (not class_name globals) so scripts compile in headless --script runs without the editor's class cache.

• Test framework deviation: the project uses a custom minimal headless test runner (src/test/test_runner.gd) instead of GUT, because GUT needs the editor plugin. CI runs it with --headless.

• Eventing: no autoload signal bus. ShiftCoordinator owns an EventBus instance (src/core/event_bus.gd) passed to subsystems; subsystems emit only when a bus is assigned. Autoloads at parse time are unreliable under --script.

• Static signals are not available in Godot GDScript ("Expected func or var after static") — do not use them.

• GDScript lambdas capture local variables by value; mutating a captured local inside a lambda does not affect the outer variable. Use member functions for accumulators in tests.

• Shift length is the scenario's shift_duration_s (900 s in all three venues). Tests and the screenshot tool override elapsed time; they do not change the default.

• RNG: NPC reactions and event scheduling are seedable for deterministic tests.

• Mouse look (v0.7.3): guard look is handled in GuardController._input() (before GUI), not _unhandled_input; focus/click-back recaptures the cursor and the HUD is made mouse-transparent recursively. Regression tests cover yaw/pitch and HUD filters.

• v0.9.0 production pass: CI/release, local dev and project now use Godot 4.7.2; the version-adaptive light falloff remains for older editors. Audio settings are master_volume/sfx_volume/ambience_volume; accessibility has reduce_motion and captions_enabled (HUD log is the caption surface). Budget smoke is 24 NPCs (6.94 ms headless). Coat/dress stride is scaled to 0.76 to reduce hem clipping. Localization remains English-table based; pseudo-locale/VO/music are post-0.10.

• Radio submit fix (v0.8.1): RadioPanel.action_button now connects pressed for normal reports; button_down/up remains exclusive to emergency hold-to-confirm. Regression test covers both modes.

• Campaign/v0.8.0: Campaign owns Hollywood → Joke Shop → TV Studio progression. campaign.json, shift_results.json, settings.json and versioned shift_state.json persist separately; pause saves a checkpoint, review Continue advances, Settings resets with confirmation. Difficulty keys are easy/normal/hard (ai_difficulty); scripted QA bypasses tutorial unless --tutorial is passed. Help is searchable and generated from InputBindings.REMAPPABLE.

• Tutorial (0.8.0 work): docs/tutorial.md is the eight-beat design; src/game/tutorial.gd is the pure state machine, TutorialOverlay is the non-blocking card, and GameManager wires it with a safe visitor, suppressed spawns, persisted completion/skip and Settings replay. Scripted test/capture runs bypass it unless --tutorial is passed; smoke_tutorial.gd covers completion/replay/skip.

• Pre-build NPC revisit (2026-11-02): the final-context harness is src/test/capture_npc_review.gd (8 library models, 3 distances, 2 venues, day/night). It found two P1 gear-fit issues: the lanyard badge was hidden under the jacket and the firefighter helmet brim sat over the eyes. Both are fixed at runtime with NpcAvatar.GEAR_OFFSETS (lanyard forward 4 cm, firefighter_helmet up 3 cm); the authored GLBs and the fit report remain asset-space measurements. The guard model is staged through the review-only character_override because it has no spawned NPC role. Signed off 2026-11-02: 96 final-context captures, no P0; lanyard/helmet P1 fixes; the backpack straps, caps, low-poly hands/faces and optional close-range flashlight wash were accepted or deferred. The 24-NPC budget is 6.94 ms, the gallery is 13 good / 0 bad, the screen-design judge is 13/13 and a clean portrait measured a 0.732 vision gap against the photoreal concept. No release build, version bump or tag was created at this gate.

• NPC texture resolution (0.9.5, 2026-11-02): tools/npc_pipeline.py now generates 256² albedo/normal/ORM maps instead of 128² (AI shirt/trousers are resized to 256). The base and all eight library GLBs plus AO maps were rebuilt; texture files total ~0.5 MB, eight GLBs ~5.75 MB, and the 24-NPC smoke is 6.94 ms.

• 0.9.5 texture/UI audit (2026-11-02): all 21 screen-art textures are 1280×720 and referenced by their screens; access cards are 256×128 and HUD icons 64×64, with no oversized or unused runtime texture. The 24-NPC smoke now reports 168 meshes / 131,616 triangles / 6.94 ms (50 ms budget). Compressed payloads are picks 24.55 MB, UI art 22.67 MB, NPC maps 0.48 MB. Legacy root textures remain only for generate_textures.py and the asset test.

• Environment surface audit (0.9.5, 2026-11-02): capture_realism.gd gained surfaces (Hollywood pavers/asphalt/limestone/facade) and surfaces_joke (neighbour awning, canopy, pavers) stages with the HUD hidden. The Walk of Fame band now uses T_CONCRETE as dark terrazzo; the neighbour awning uses a neutral tint (0.62) and 4× UV so the red/cream stripes survive; the skyline shader fades its lower 42 m toward a per-phase haze colour. Brick/asphalt picks needed no replacement. No seams or broken UV scales found.

• NPC fabric UV/AO (0.9.5, 2026-11-02): cloth/pants use Materials.NPC_FABRIC_UV_SCALE = Vector3(4,4,1), and NpcAvatar skips the baked per-character AO on those two slots. The 256² AO was magnifying into large blotches; the fabric now reads as a fine weave. Skin/hair/gear keep baked AO. Test test_fabric_uv_scale_avoids_the_baked_ao_pattern guards this. Current suite is 276/276.

• NPC visual baseline (0.9.4, 2026-11-02): src/test/capture_npc_baseline.gd is the neutral-studio 8-variant × 6-view baseline (front, three-quarter, profile, back, full body, crowd). It uses a fixed orbit camera, mid-grey studio backdrop, key/fill lights, no HUD/crowd/animation; raw frames stay in tmp/, and tools/npc_baseline.py sheet builds the committed sheet_npc_baseline.jpg. Criteria and measurements are in docs/npc-visual-review.md. The first ranked gaps were: tourist photo prop duplicates the backpack silhouette; shallow/faceted face; backpack straps read as rigid bars. The tourist prop now hides outside photo/film poses and the backpack straps were refit as flat forward bands (GLB + AO rebuilt); the face remains P1. Before/ after sheet: sheet_npc_baseline_compare.jpg.

• NPC proportion audit (0.9.4, 2026-11-02): tools/npc_proportions.py measures the exported GLBs (height, skin-head size, upper-chest shoulder silhouette, pants hip width, Spine-to-shoulder torso, Spine-to-ground leg, shoulder-to-hand arm, shoe foot length). All eight variants pass the stylized guide in docs/npc-proportion-audit.md; head ~0.190 (upper 0.22) and broad-build shoulders ~0.370/hip ~0.225 are near the upper bounds, not outliers. No skeleton/mesh rescale was needed; run the report after any body change.

• NPC 0.9.4 visual passes (2026-11-02, consolidated): the neck/shoulder, face-depth, torso/hip, footwear, face-detail and hand passes all landed and are baked into tools/npc_pipeline.py / NpcAvatar. The durable bits are the NpcAvatar.HAND_ITEM_FORWARD = Vector3(0,0,0.04) offset (hand gear is authored around the wrist proxy) and the zero-area-triangle cleanup after the neck branch (see the Blender-tooling note in Known Issues). Exact per-pass values, review sheets and current per-variant counts live in docs/3d-model-review.md and the code; the library cap is 8,000/8,000. Open: true finger curl/thumb contact and umbrella/sign grips.

• UI flow smoke (2026-11-02): smoke_ui_flows.gd boots the real scene and exercises inspection allow/deny, normal vs emergency radio, Help filtering, wand allow/deny and review return-to-menu. Keep this smoke in the 0.9.6 handoff; it complements the unit tests that only exercise panels.

• Destructive actions (2026-11-02): SettingsPanel._open_destructive_dialog() owns one confirmation instance for reset/replay; repeated presses focus the existing dialog, OK emits once, Cancel is inert. Emergency send remains the RadioPanel hold path; _holding clears before submit so button-up cannot double-send. Tests cover both.

• Font/layout limits (2026-11-02): HUD scale is clamped to 0.75–1.75 and only applies to HUD labels. Hud.set_target_label() measures the scaled font, widens the chip to 180–420 px and re-measures after a scale change; top labels clip. UiStyles.apply_button() sets clip_text + ellipsis so long localized labels cannot force a panel past the viewport. Do not replace these with Control.scale.

• Modal close (2026-11-02): GameManager._close_top_modal() is the single Esc/right-click path for radial, inspection, wand, radio, timeline, Help, Settings, Pause and review. Settings remembers whether it came from the menu and restores it on apply/cancel; _refresh_freeze() recaptures the mouse and _show_start_menu() keeps it visible. Do not add a new modal without adding it to this close path.

• UI focus (2026-11-02): src/game/ui/ui_focus.gd links visible/enabled controls into a wrapping ring; each modal sets default focus on open. Start menu uses its own focus-target list so Continue, venue rows and footer actions share one ring. GuardController._ensure_gamepad_bindings() adds A/B to ui_accept/ui_cancel so pad-only users can confirm/cancel; hidden Continue and disabled timeline buttons never enter the ring.

• Button states (2026-11-02): src/game/ui/ui_styles.gd owns the five action-button states and font colours for the dark session/UI shell. Use UiStyles.apply_button() for every new Button; CheckButton/OptionButton keep the engine theme. Timeline Previous/Next disable at the ends; F1 tutorial skip is keyboard-only by design.

• Version and roadmap renumber (2026-11-02): source was 0.9.3 at the UI polish milestone, 0.9.4 after the NPC pass, now 0.9.5 after the texture and material pass, and 0.9.6 as the integration checkpoint. Next work is the 0.10.0 minor release candidate. TODO.md plans only 0.x patch/minor increments; no major-version scope is defined yet. The v0.9.6 tag is the release trigger; no tag was created for 0.9.3.

• Priority change (2026-11-02): the map optimization, pre-build NPC revisit, 0.9.3 UI polish, 0.9.4 NPC visual optimization, 0.9.5 texture/material pass and 0.9.6 integration are complete and in DONE.md. 0.10.0 release-candidate work is next. The source version is 0.10.0-rc.1.

• 0.10.0-rc.1 build (2026-11-03): clean worktree a9658ec produced five artifacts (Linux 161.5 MB, Windows 197.2 MB, macOS 148.0 MB, Web 97.8 MB, HQ 241.6 MB); Web/HQ include player docs, SHA-256 manifests are local, Linux/HQ launch headless and Web files serve HTTP 200. Not published: external playtest, AI/legal approval, macOS signing and the Windows/macOS matrix are still open.

• Release/legal blockers (0.10.0 work, 2026-11-03): macOS remains unsigned (quarantine instructions only); AI image provider terms/commercial rights and external storefront/rating approval are not cleared; external playtests and the full hardware matrix are pending. CREDITS.md, PRIVACY.md, docs/accessibility.md and docs/known-limitations.md record these explicitly rather than claiming approval. Do not tag 0.10.0 as final until these are accepted or cleared.

• Save migration (0.10.0 work, 2026-11-03): fixtures in src/test/fixtures/saves/ cover 0.8 settings/campaign/history and a 0.9.0 checkpoint. _load_json uses JSON.new().parse() so corrupt player files fall back silently instead of logging a parse error; atomic writes leave the old file intact when the temp path cannot be written. The migration suite is 9 tests; total 276.

• 0.9.6 integration (2026-11-03): no gameplay/content changes. A clean detached worktree at f5b8ef2 rebuilt Linux/Windows/macOS/Web/HQ without the dirty tree's ignored tmp//build/ payload; the in-repo build was 1.6–3.1 GB per artifact because those folders were packed, so always build release artifacts from a clean checkout/worktree. Verification: 263/263 tests, 101/101 Python, 14 smokes, 24-NPC 6.90 ms / 168 meshes / 131,616 triangles, gallery 21/0, screen judge 21/21, realism judge overall 2.1 / gap 0.291.

• Release v0.9.4/v0.9.5/v0.9.6 (2026-11-02/03): tags v0.9.4 (a57b86c), v0.9.5 (4bc6390) and v0.9.6 (4bb2896, the 0.10.0 integration checkpoint) each published seven assets (Linux, Windows, macOS, NSIS setup, AppImage, Web, Desktop HQ) with full CI runs; release pages live under releases/tag/. Never reuse a tag — future fixes need a new patch tag. Full per-version records stay in CHANGELOG.md.

• Hollywood landmark map (2026-11-02): the default venue is the real El Capitan Entertainment Centre block at 6840 Hollywood Blvd, not a generic brick entrance. Its reference/mapping notes live in docs/hollywood-boulevard-map.md; the map-budget test (test_hollywood_geometry_stays_inside_the_map_budget) currently measures 58,884 triangles across 409 meshes. The facade uses the shared smooth limestone (stone_steps) texture; the noisier granite pick was removed.

• Light falloff gotcha (2026-11-02): in Godot 4.7 omni_attenuation = 0.0 is constant falloff, not physical falloff. It made the night facade a flat yellow wall and the street lamps wash the set. All local lights now use 1.0; the Hollywood facade was retuned with 0.50/0.28 washes, 1.3 sconces and 2.2 street lamps; the Joke Shop uses 1.8 sconces, 2.8 canopy downlights, 3.0 entrance, 1.35 ground uplights and 2.2 sign. Flashlight spot attenuation is also 1.0. Do not reintroduce 0.0 as a "modern" branch.

• Joke Shop map (2026-11-02): the venue is now a 27 m Sunset Strip club based on The Comedy Store at 8433 Sunset Blvd, not the old brick alley. docs/joke-shop-map.md carries the OSM/Commons references and simplifications; docs/screens/concepts/joke_shop/ holds the new day/night/across-street frames. The map-budget test measures 22,680 triangles / 454 meshes. The hill behind the club is a custom hand-built ramp with an unshaded, fog-disabled shader: a rotated PlaneMesh was edge-on and scene fog erased it from the street camera. Local light names are JokeSign, JokeCanopy_*, JokeEntrance, JokeSconce_*, JokeGround_*; set_night_mode() owns their energies and the hill tint. The latest local realism judge reports a 0.454 reference gap on the night entrance; the concept is photoreal while the map keeps stylized materials, so texture/foliage detail stays with the 0.9.5 texture pass rather than the map milestone.

• Docs validation (2026-11-02): python3 tools/check_docs.py requires a README only in directories containing tracked files, verifies local links and requires every tracked image in a folder to be linked from its README. Gitignored generated files (notably docs/screens/realism/) are exempt; the tool also has unit tests in tools/test_check_docs.py.

• Documentation ownership (2026-11-01): docs/architecture.md §12 defines the source-of-truth map and consolidation rules. Obsolete/historical plan documents are removed rather than kept; current work belongs in TODO.md. README/development-status/Blender AO/Forward+ stale claims were corrected. The 0.x gap register and roadmap live in TODO.md.

• Vision judge (v0.7.2): tools/openrouter_judge.py reads /api/v1/models, filters image-input models with response_format, and ranks by advertised prompt/image/completion prices. --model auto (default) uses the cheapest (z-ai/glm-5.3-flash on 2026-11-01) with fallbacks; explicit --model/GIG_LINE_JUDGE_MODEL wins. Auth errors abort, provider/model errors fall through. Full screen judge 13/13 match, 0 diff; A/B judge ~$0.006.

• Desktop HQ preset (v0.7.1): packaging/desktop_hq/override.cfg switches a copied executable to Forward+; Materials.forward_plus_active() gates volumetric fog/SDFGI and light_volumetric_fog_energy, and Materials.modern_light_falloff() compensates for Godot 4.7's much harsher local-light falloff. LATE volumetric density is 0.020 with flashlight volumetric energy 3.0. tools/build_releases.sh packages the Linux/Windows binaries + override into gig-line-desktop-hq-<version>.zip; publish_release.sh uploads it when present. A/B report: docs/screens/realism/2026-11-01-forward-plus/ (entrance gap 1.568→1.187).

• Godot toolchain (updated 2026-11-01): local ~/.local/bin/godot, CI and project.godot now use Godot 4.7.2; 4.3 remains only as a local backup binary. Export templates for 4.7.2 are installed under ~/.local/share/godot/export_templates/4.7.2.stable. Godot 4.7 writes *.gd.uid files; they are kept out of this clone's status via .git/info/exclude. CI downloads the binary/templates directly; Gitea Actions cache is currently unreliable (see CI cache evaluation below).

• Blender invocation (v0.6.0): flatpak run org.blender.Blender --background --python /run/media/system/DATA/Documents/06-games/security-game/tools/npc_pipeline.py -- build. The flatpak cannot read /tmp; use absolute repo paths. assets/models/npc/.gdignore is required, otherwise Godot's editor tries to import the committed .blend and hangs during --import (also add .gdignore to local build/squashfs folders when scanning is slow).

• Skinned NPC integration (v0.6.0): NpcAvatar._build_skinned_body() loads npc_base.glb and keeps _build_body() as fallback (use_skinned_model=false in tests). Bone pose rotation is the absolute local orientation, not an offset from rest: compose with get_bone_rest(i).basis or the whole body snaps to a broken pose. Proxies named Hip/Knee/ Shoulder/Elbow/Hand + Head marker preserve the old animation math; Rig/Head is the marker. Five material slots are tinted via SurfaceMaterials.npc_slot(); keep _rig.scale uniform on the skinned path. Budget: 16 avatars = 144 meshes, ~6.9 ms headless.

• NPC facing (fixed after v0.5.0): the avatar's visual front is +Z (procedural eyes and the Blender model's face). Godot look_at() aims -Z, which made every NPC walk backwards. Use NpcAvatar.yaw_towards(dir) and set rotation.y; do not call look_at() on avatars. Head-turn offsets use +basis.z for the same reason. Covered by test_yaw_faces_the_movement_direction.

• Image root (ADR-0014, 2026-11-01): assets/images/ is the runtime root for composed interface/scene art (ui/, scenes/); tiled PBR textures stay under assets/textures/; docs/screens/designs/ and docs/screens/concepts/ stay reference-only; QA captures stay in docs/screenshots/. When a mockup becomes runtime art, copy/process it into assets/images/ with a new name (no overwrites) and keep a fallback in code. Mockup copies: 21 design references live in assets/images/ui/; docs/screens/designs/ remains the reference-only copy. tools/screen_designs.py reads/writes the runtime root.

UI / Presentation Decisions

• Runtime UI/scene art is loaded through src/game/ui/art.gd (assets/images/ui/ then scenes/); missing files return null so panels keep procedural fallbacks.
• Screen mockups with baked-in controls are used as backdrops plus an opaque ArtPanel cover, not as clickable full-screen skins.
• Radio, wand, inspection, and body-camera timeline panels use their reference art as backdrops; forms sit on transparent, padded panels over the covered mockup controls.
• HUD target names use a boxed chip under the crosshair; escalation has a five-segment bar below the text label. The body-camera REC/clock block starts at y=92 on the right so it clears the shift/rep/crowd text.
• Staged captures in docs/screenshots/ are committed and were regenerated on 2026-11-03 with the full tools/check_screenshots.sh run (21 good / 0 bad, 13 PNGs changed). Re-run the whole script, never a partial capture, before replacing them. The README, docs/README.md quick preview, docs/screenshots/README.md and docs/blender_previews/README.md now carry captioned galleries; the previews README is curated by hand (all tracked sheets linked, local per-asset PNGs described as untracked).
• tools/check_screenshots.sh is the repeatable capture+compare smoke; both capture scripts accept --out=res://docs/screenshots. Judge verdicts on the staged set were 7 match / 4 review / 0 diff.
• Venue selection used to leave guard.input_locked true and the mouse visible; _start_shift() must call _refresh_freeze() after starting the clock.

Current State

• v0.3.0 pass (2026-10-31, historical; shipped): rendering, generated prop models, screen catalogue, aim-free selection. See ADR-0011 (selection) and ADR-0012 (materials/props).

  • src/game/materials.gd (SurfaceMaterials) is now the single source of surface recipes + configure_environment(). GameManager.PHASE_LIGHTING gained exposure/glow/fog_color/fog_density/fog_energy/contrast/saturation/ambient_energy. Renderer is GL Compatibility, so SSAO/SSIL are unavailable; glow+fog+ACES are used instead and unsupported settings are ignored rather than gated in code.
  • World: scaled brick (uv 22,10), framed windows with per-window night emission (i % 3 != 2 lit), stone base course, door trim/handles, curb, lane dashes (the old loop had Vector3(i * 0.0, …) and stacked every dash at x=0), street lamps use the metal profile. The two flat planters that clipped the steps were removed.
  • tools/model_pipeline.py builds assets/models/generated/*.glb (bollard, bench, trash_bin, planter_box, newspaper_box, fire_hydrant) from box/cylinder specs; WorldBuilder._add_prop_model() loads them with a procedural fallback and records loaded_models / fallback_props. Gotcha: glTF baseColorFactor is LINEAR — writing sRGB made every prop pastel; srgb_to_linear() is applied in build_glb. Gotcha: a new/changed .glb needs godot --headless --path . --import before ResourceLoader.exists() / load() sees it (test_generated_props fails otherwise).
  • model_pipeline.py concept (OpenRouter, reads repo .env) writes per-prop concept sheets to assets/models/concepts/; dominant_colors() centre-crops and weights by saturation (a grey studio backdrop otherwise wins), assign_roles() maps colours by hue/value. Delete a concept file to fall back to the catalogue palette.
  • NPC avatars: outfit_for(type, seed) (pure) gives shirt/trousers/hair/skin + accessory (cap, hood, backpack, sunglasses, lanyard) and height scale; _arms and _legs now swing (limb_swing) while walking. Keep Rig/Head named for focus.
  • Selection: NpcFocus.rank_indices (angle then distance) — pick_index = first. GuardController.cycle_target(direction) walks nearest-first nearby_candidates() and sets target_pinned, which makes _update_target() skip the cone. clear_target() sets focus_suppress_s = 0.75 so the cone does not instantly re-acquire the person. New input actions walk_slow (Shift), cycle_target_next / cycle_target_prev (wheel down / up). Right click with nothing open clears focus (Esc still pauses).
  • HUD: nearby_label + set_nearby_hint(count) show hud.nearby; hud.controls and hud.targeting mention the wheel and Shift.
  • tools/screen_designs.py: catalogue now 19 screens (added wand_screening, joke_shop_queue, studio_arrival, crowd_panic, responder_arrival, body_camera_timeline, escalation_hud), new list command, generate --only/--force (existing designs are kept by default so a draft run cannot clobber AI mockups), and judge --dry-run no longer raises KeyError: 'class'.
  • Screenshot tool leak: capture_screenshots.gd intermittently prints ObjectDB instances leaked at exit. Verified against a git worktree of HEAD~ — the baseline leaks more often (3/3 vs 1/3), so it is a pre-existing quit-timing artifact, not a regression. Normal boots are clean.

• Access artifacts: src/core/access_loadout.gd builds from event override_access + venue policy. Spawn signal is now (profile, intent, npc_id, event). Recognition is not auto-attached to every guest. AccessVerifier.verify(..., already_screened=false) so Joke Shop scoring uses controller.screened. Joke Shop/Studio gained sidewalk/steps_end waypoints. Wand venues roll carried_items per spawn (seeded). Tests in src/test/tests/test_access_loadout.gd.

• Wand shortcut is C, not W (W is walk). radio_emergency input map no longer includes W. hud.controls / hud.screen_first updated.

• Control pass (historical; smoke-tested): cone focus via src/game/npc_focus.gd, accel/decel, gravity only airborne, input_locked freeze, Esc no longer on the guard. NpcAvatar in group npc; neck/hair/eyes/shoes; blue focus circle + Label3D name; set_focus_visual. src/game/ui/action_radial.gd doughnut (LMB/Space open, A/D/arrows, Space/click confirm, Esc/RMB cancel). Crosshair CanvasLayer. Emergency still R only. Number keys 1–6 when the wheel is closed.

• Named input actions now exist and are used: action_menu, confirm, cancel (Esc + RMB), inspect (E), wand (C). The old unused interact action was removed.

• Runtime fixes from the smoke: Head is +1.6 above the guard root (root sits on the floor); guard spawns in front of the door facing the street; building volume moved to z ∈ [-8,-4] so the door, awning, and marquee are visible; step treads rise toward the door; ShiftCoordinator pulls the event scheduler once per simulated second (was every physics frame → >1200 NPCs in seconds); GameManager.MAX_LIVE_NPCS = 16 caps live avatars.

• Session shell (2026-10-31, historical): the game boots into StartMenu (src/game/ui/start_menu.gd, layer 20) instead of a live shift. GameManager._on_venue_selected() builds the scenario and calls _start_shift(); _shift_running gates input and _refresh_freeze(). Esc with nothing open now pauses (PauseOverlay, layer 18) → resume / restart / settings / quit-to-menu. SettingsPanel (layer 22) writes look_sensitivity + hud_font_scale through Save.save_settings() → user://settings.json; Save.load_settings() merges over Save.DEFAULT_SETTINGS on boot and GameManager._apply_settings() pushes them into the guard/HUD. Shift review "Run another shift" now calls _show_start_menu() (not a silent restart). V stays a debug venue bind. Smoke: src/test/smoke_session_shell.gd (menu → shift → pause → settings → menu).

• World follow-ups closed (2026-10-31): skyline backdrop restored with T_SKYLINE (assets/textures/skyline.png, regenerated RGBA with a transparent sky) and an TRANSPARENCY_ALPHA_SCISSOR unshaded material (_skyline_mat); steps + landing are a StaticBody3D with per-tread BoxShape3D colliders; marquee font_size 160 / outline 24; focus circle (blue disc in front of the face) + name tag 48px; NpcAvatar.ephemeral/lifetime_s despawns routine traffic (authored events stay). Guard spawn height verified on the landing (guard_y=0.84).

• PLAN verbs (2026-10-31, historical): the radial has 12 slices (Stop, Look, Point, No, Ask, Inspect, Wand, Warn, Block, Reason, Recognize, Radio). eye_contact reuses the Level 1 reaction table via _apply_interaction. Recognition is a player decision: NPCController.player_recognized + IncidentRecorder.add_access_evidence, and GameManager._artifacts_for() prepends a RECOGNITION artifact only after the player declares it. The body camera is a real flag (GameManager.body_camera_on, Hud.set_body_camera), off by default, B toggles it, and a formal warning arms it and writes a body_camera incident event. Blocking also calls _station_between() to physically place the guard 0.9 m from the NPC toward the entrance. _request_reason() uses the authored reason context (falling back to seeded dialogue_lines) and stores the pick for the timeline.

• NPC navigation was dead (fixed 2026-10-31): avatars never moved in the live game, for three stacked reasons. (1) agent.target_position was re-assigned every physics frame, which invalidates the path so get_next_path_position() keeps returning the current point — only set it when the target changes. (2) Nav path points sit on the navmesh plane (y=0) while bodies stand at y≈0.5, so a 3D "are we there" test always looked 0.5 m away and the horizontal direction was zero — compare horizontally. (3) path[0] is the old start point, so picking any point "far enough away" can pick the point behind you and oscillate — pick the first point that is closer to the goal than the current position. _nav_try_frames/_move_direct fallback is still there.

• Crowd reactions listen on the EventBus: CrowdSystem.apply_event() emits event_bus.crowd_changed; its own changed signal is never emitted. GameManager._connect_crowd() therefore connects to coordinator.event_bus.crowd_changed (reconnect after every coordinator.setup(), which recreates both crowd and event bus).

• Crowd presentation: NpcAvatar.start_rubberneck(at) (idle bystanders away from the door stop and face the incident for 12 s) and start_flee(from) (panic: walk away at 2.4 m/s, then free themselves). Someone awaiting_interaction within 3 m of the door is "engaged" and does not rubberneck. Use position (not global_position) for that distance check so it also works in headless tests outside the tree.

• Perf: a busy 16-NPC entrance measured ~1.2 ms/frame (824 fps with vsync off, 800 samples), so LOD/culling is not warranted at MAX_LIVE_NPCS = 16. Re-measure before raising the cap.

• Incident recording was dead: IncidentRecorder.start_incident() was never called, so every add_event/add_access_evidence silently no-opped and the review always showed 0 incidents. _begin_incident() now starts one per focused NPC (has_open_incident() guard), verbs call _ensure_incident(), and ShiftCoordinator._finish_shift() closes leftovers as unresolved before building the review.

• Editor-ready venues (2026-10-31): tools/export_venues.gd (a SceneTree script) saves the three factory scenarios to content/venues/<id>.tres with ResourceSaver; the .tres files round-trip through ResourceLoader (events, profiles, policy, shift phases, door lines, locations). test_venue_resources.gd also fails if the exported files are missing or stale relative to the factory, so re-run the export after changing ScenarioFactory.

• Vision judge (2026-10-31): python3 tools/screen_designs.py judge sends the capture plus its concept mockup to a vision model (DEFAULT_JUDGE_MODEL = google/gemini-2.5-flash-lite, override with --model; openai/gpt-4o-mini also works). Reads the repo .env via _load_env_file() (never overrides real env). Verdicts are classed match / review (mismatch below --fail-confidence, default 0.6) / diff (confident mismatch → exit 1) / unknown. --dry-run, --json, --only supported. The prompt explicitly ignores art style, because the references are stylised mockups; the live run gave 3 match, 3 review, 0 diff. Python tests: cd tools && python3 -m unittest test_asset_pipeline test_screen_designs.

• String newlines (2026-11-02): content/strings.en.json needs one escaped newline (\n), not two. Two backslashes reached the HUD as literal \n in the shift status and wand panel; test_strings_format now guards this.

• String formatting safety (2026-10-31): Strings.placeholder_count() counts % specs (ignoring %%), fmt() warns and returns the template when the arg count does not match (instead of raising an engine error), and validate() lints the table for trailing %, unsupported conversions, and mixed positional/sequential placeholders. Tests cover all three plus a formatting pass over every placeholder key with type-correct dummy args.

• Authored scenario content (2026-10-31): events can now carry hint (a string key logged when the avatar spawns), extra_spawns (celebrity arrivals pull in tourists/influencers via _spawn_npc with kind: routine), and refuses_screening (copied to NPCController.refuses_screening; _toggle_wand_screening logs wand.refused, records a wand_refused event, applies a small prop hit, and does not open the panel). film_boundary is a new intent that maps to steps_end so the influencer stands past the posted line.

• Accessibility (2026-10-31): escalation text is "<name> [###--] L3/5" via Hud.escalation_meter(level) (pure, tested) so the cue survives grayscale. HUD font scale uses add_theme_font_size_override on the core labels (set_font_scale), not Control.scale, which pushed the right-anchored clock label off-screen. Settings load before _build_ui(), so _ready() re-applies player settings after the HUD exists.

• Audio (2026-10-31): AudioFeedback.start_crowd_bed() builds a 4 s looping AudioStreamWAV (one-pole-filtered noise + 68/103 Hz drone, seeded) and set_crowd_level(mood) maps 0..1 to -34..-12 dB. play_radio_open/close push short filtered-noise bursts. All procedural; with a dummy (headless) audio server the calls are no-ops. _free_player() returns null when _ready has not run (tests), and callers handle null.

• NPC theater (2026-10-31): NpcAvatar.theater_pose() maps intent + arrived to idle/sit/photo/film/perform. Pure helpers crouch_for_pose, prop_lift_for_pose, sway_for_pose keep the math testable. Sit lowers the rig by 0.34 and swings the legs forward (negative X pitch; positive looked like kneeling). _photo_prop is set for influencer/tourist cameras, _sign_prop for protester/performer boards; their base Y values are captured at build time so the animation offsets from rest.

• Body-camera timeline (2026-10-31): src/game/ui/event_timeline.gd flattens review.incidents.incidents[].events into one time-ordered list (flatten), formats each row with describe, and steps with Left/Right or the buttons. ShiftCoordinator.started_at_ms gives the review an absolute start for mm:ss stamps. GameManager._open_timeline hides the review dim (two stacked overlays made the screen nearly black) and _timeline_from_review restores it on close. Smoke: src/test/smoke_timeline.gd.

• Radio dispatch was dead after the first shift: coordinator.setup() builds a new RadioSystem, so the responder_arrived connection made in _ready was lost on every venue switch/restart (responders never resolved anything). _connect_radio() now re-wires it next to _connect_crowd() after every setup. Same class of bug as the crowd signal.

• Emergency aftermath: ShiftCoordinator.responder_outcomes / investigations feed the review. evacuation (emergency call, low danger, no weapon) locks the door, makes every NPC flee, marks them leave_requested, and applies a security_failure hit. An emergency placed while current_npc_truth has no weapon and danger_level <= 1 appends an investigation note, records investigation_opened, and applies false_report -6.

• Skyline backdrop (2026-10-31): PlaneMesh defaults to a horizontal XZ plane — set mesh.orientation = PlaneMesh.FACE_Z or the "backdrop" renders as a band overhead. The skyline is now a ring of four 400x60 planes at 200 m (center y=30, so building bases meet the ground), TEXTURE_FILTER default, TRANSPARENCY_ALPHA_SCISSOR with threshold 0.5 (0.3 left faint mip dashes across the sky), unshaded with a lifted albedo (Color(2.6,2.7,3.0)) so it is not pure black. Ground is 500x500 so no sky gap shows under the buildings. The skyline.png import needs mipmaps/generate=true.

• Asset gotcha: assets/textures/game_ready/ is not imported (no .import). Use the imported assets/textures/skyline.png path. Untracked duplicate folder should not be referenced.

• Host sign-in follow-up is done: REQUIRE_SIGNIN_VIEW = false in /etc/gitea/app.ini (backup app.ini.bak-* alongside), Gitea restarted; anonymous repo page/API return 200 and release assets download in full. Reverse by setting it back to true and restarting.

• Release publishing (fixed 2026-10-31): publish_release.sh falls back to the local git extraheader that actions/checkout writes (git config --local --get-regexp '^http\..*\.extraheader$') because this Gitea/act runner provides no GITEA_TOKEN. Always build release artifacts from a clean checkout/worktree (the dirty tree's ignored tmp//build/ payload blew artifact size to 1.6–3.1 GB once). Per-version records live in CHANGELOG.md.

• NSIS gotchas (validated in a local ubuntu:24.04 docker repro): makensis uses -D defines (never /D), resolves relative -DICON/-DARTIFACT against the script directory so CI passes $PWD-absolute paths; installed exe must be space-free (gig-line.exe); ICO must be classic BMP entries (ImageMagick icon:auto-resize=48,32,16; PIL emits PNG-compressed ICOs NSIS cannot load).

• appimagetool runs system appstreamcli if present (strict, exit 3 on warnings) — project metadata now passes --pedantic.

• ~/.git-credentials holds the Gitea creds (basic-auth usable); .env only holds OPENROUTER_API_KEY.

• NPC avatars now walk to per-intent waypoints (VenueScenario.waypoint_for_intent): enter/trespass/deliver/arrive → entrance, photo/film/perform/wander/roam → sidewalk, sit → steps_end. NpcAvatar.setup takes an explicit door_position.

• Returning-trespasser behavior: NpcProfile.return_probability (trespasser 0.6, mental-crisis 0.4, others 0). NPCController._maybe_schedule_return() moves a directed-away NPC to LOITERING_DISTANT; tick_return(delta) fires after 20-60s and transitions back to APPROACH. NpcAvatar._advance_fsm re-targets the door on return.

• Perception pass: NPCController.perceive_guard(distance) returns {noticed, band, reaction} with bands unaware (>6m), aware (2-6m), near (<2m). Near + temperament ≥0.6 → ARGUE, else COMPLY. GameManager._perception_pass() feeds real guard distance each physics tick and logs first-time notice.

• Responder dispatch: RadioSystem tracks pending_calls and decrements arrival_delay_s in tick; emits responder_arrived when a call's delay elapses. RadioSystem.responder_outcome(call) maps danger/weapons → command/restraint/evacuation/arrest. GameManager._on_responder_arrived spawns a RESPONDER avatar at the entrance and logs the outcome. HUD shows an emergency-radio cooldown label via _update_radio_cooldown.

• Wand screening (Joke Shop): WandScreener classifies carried items as prohibited vs false-alarm vs clear. NpcProfile.carried_items is filled at spawn on wand venues. GameManager binds C to _toggle_wand_screening and A/D to decide_wand while inspect/wand is open. decide_access still blocks admission until controller.screened is true, and verify now takes that flag. Door-staff lines log through GameManager.

• Design change (2026-10-31): the selectable dialogue tone-of-voice system was removed. Rules.Tone/TONE_NAMES, NpcProfile.tone_modifiers, and the tone param on NPCController.roll_reaction/apply_player_action no longer exist; NpcProfile.dialogue_lines is a flat Array[String]; GameManager uses _apply_interaction(level, action_name); the T key is gone. HUD tone_label removed and hud.tone_prefix string deleted from JSON.

• Polish/accessibility: venue cycling (V cycles VENUE_ORDER and restarts the shift), aim-free targeting (Tab cycles nearby NPCs within NEARBY_RADIUS), color-coded escalation indicator (Hud.set_escalation), procedural audio (AudioFeedback node generates sine tones for confirm/radio/escalation/deny), and a centralized Strings table (src/core/strings.gd, lookup/fmt) backed by content/strings.en.json. NOTE: Strings.get was renamed to Strings.lookup because get collides with Object.get.

• Newly added: LATE shift phase (start 700s) with a reachability test; PROTESTER archetype + events + colors; CALL_SOMEONE reaction; DoorState core class + L binding + visual indicator; flashlight (G, SpotLight3D, perception bonus at evening/late); persistence wired (Save.save_shift_result on shift end, history + best score on the review screen); NavigationRegion3D flat navmesh + NavigationAgent3D NPC paths (steps now visual-only); strings moved to res://content/strings.en.json (41 keys, loader keeps lookup/fmt); export_presets.cfg (Linux/Windows/macOS) + tools/build_releases.sh + docs/RELEASING.md; README Downloads section.

• Run tests: godot --headless --path . --script res://src/test/test_runner.gd

• Boot check: godot --headless --path . --quit-after 120

• Screenshot tools: godot --path . -s res://src/test/take_screenshot.gd (single shot to user://screenshot.png); godot --path . -s res://src/test/capture_screenshots.gd (staged README gallery shots to user://screenshots/, copied to docs/screenshots/).

• Release build verified locally: export templates for 4.3 installed at ~/.local/share/godot/export_templates/4.3.stable/; ./tools/build_releases.sh produced Linux/Windows/macOS artifacts for 0.1.0 in build/ and the Linux binary passed a headless smoke test. Publishing to Gitea still needs a token (see tools/publish_release.sh, docs/RELEASING.md).

• CI: the repo now carries a Gitea Actions workflow at .gitea/workflows/build.yml (checks on push/PR; full export + artifact upload + optional release publish on tags and workflow_dispatch). A repo secret GITEA_TOKEN is required for tag releases. The old .github/workflows/ci.yml was removed so hosts scanning both paths do not double-run.

• Venue cycling: V switches Hollywood Blvd → The Joke Shop → TV Studio and restarts the shift.

• Venue door-staff dialogue: VenueScenario.door_staff_line(context, rng) and GameManager logging (wristband, ID/ticket, wand-check, refusal, prohibited-item). Hollywood uses a wristband line, the Joke Shop uses ID/ticket/wand lines, and the Studio uses ticket/credential/guest-list lines.

• CI cache evaluation: Gitea Actions cache was tested for the Godot binary and trimmed 4.7.2 templates. Restores were inconsistent and saves timed out in CreateCacheEntry or were rejected as reserved by another job. The cache steps are disabled until the host cache service is healthy; keep direct downloads. GODOT_SILENCE_ROOT_WARNING=1 is set on jobs. Logs live in .gitea/logs/ after each run.

• Visual polish (v0.2.0): phase lighting (GameManager.PHASE_LIGHTING + ProceduralSkyMaterial), street lamps + night mode in WorldBuilder.set_night_mode, marquee Label3D, crosswalk/planters/ trees, NPC per-seed variation. capture_screenshots.gd shoots day + fast-forwarded LATE night (6 shots in docs/screenshots/). Version bumped to 0.2.0; binaries rebuilt.

• Assets pipeline: python3 tools/generate_textures.py produces all authored PNGs under assets/textures/ (≤1024px, pow2); regenerate after changing the script, then run godot --headless --import before tests. 57 headless tests guard the pipeline.

• General image pipeline: python3 tools/asset_pipeline.py defaults to openai/gpt-5-image-mini, requests supported 1:1/3:2 sources, then fits each role's target. It provides crop, resize, tile edge blending, alpha-glyph recoloring, and role-aware audits. Screenshot auditing checks 1280x720 minimum, 16:9 aspect, and contrast; visual composition remains a manual check. Python tools require Pillow from requirements-tools.txt.

• AI texture mode: python3 tools/generate_textures.py --ai generates textures via the OpenRouter image API (POST https://openrouter.ai/api/v1/images, model bytedance-seed/seedream-4.5 by default, base64 PNG in data[].b64_json). Requires OPENROUTER_API_KEY (a gitignored .env in the repo root holds it locally; source it with set -a && . ./.env && set +a). --prompt/--name/--model/--size override the default batch. Output is downscaled to ≤1024px. NOTE: seedream rejects sizes below 3,686,400 px (1920×1920), so the script requests GEN_SIZE=2048 and downscales — do not lower GEN_SIZE below 1920. Verified end-to-end 2026-10-31 (3 textures generated). Legacy --ai remains on Seedream 4.5 and still ignores background: transparent; do not use it for alpha-dependent assets. Gemini 3.1 Flash Image advertised broad ratios but the current provider rejected authentication. The validated role-aware model is GPT-5 Image Mini.

• Runtime assets: all 15 loaded world/HUD/card textures now live in assets/textures/ai/game_ready/; each passes role audit. Generated tile edges are blended, icon alpha masks are recolored white where needed, and the vignette uses the existing deterministic generator because the API returned an empty transparent image. The six docs/screenshots/ captures were regenerated after wiring and pass screenshot audit.

• Detailed graphics: textured facade/awning/skyline, humanoid NPC rigs + props + walk bob + attention head-turn, inspection artifact cards, mode icons, escalation vignette, body-cam overlay (REC + shift clock). Screenshot set regenerated (docs/screenshots/, day + night).

• Polish: wand scan cooldown (WAND_COOLDOWN_S + wand.recharge message).

• NOTE: collaborators occasionally add uncommitted work to this shared tree (e.g. the radio easter egg); check git status before committing and leave foreign changes untouched unless asked.

• Screen-design references (tools/screen_designs.py, tests in tools/test_screen_designs.py): generate turns the screen descriptions in docs/ (README captions, ADRs 0007–0010, PLAN, architecture) into reference images under docs/screens/designs/ — --draft draws offline Pillow wireframes, --ai generates realistic 3D scenes / in-game UI via OpenRouter (default model openai/gpt-5-image-mini). Screens are tagged scene or ui; prompts get a shared art-direction suffix, and requests use a 3:2 landscape source cropped to 16:9 (not a square centre-crop). compare checks docs/screenshots/*.png for aspect/size/ blank-frame and coarse layout/palette/detail drift. Drift distances are warnings, not failures: a mockup never matches a real render, so semantic composition is a follow-up vision-model judge (tracked in TODO).

Known Issues / Notes

• Capture/pose harness gotchas: scripts that read captured-mouse input must run windowed (smoke_props.gd); the NPC FSM re-writes rotation.y every physics tick, so pose/portrait captures set the yaw after set_physics_process(false); and visible = false does not keep the crowd out of a portrait frame (park the rest of the crowd away instead).

• Blender tooling: bisect_plane and thin bevels leave zero-area triangles (Godot warns "non-finite normal in LOD generation"); _clean() + a weld after bisect fix them and the audit rejects them.

• Image models have per-model size floors/caps (Seedream needs 1920+, gpt-5-image-mini caps lower); generate_image applies model-specific sizing, and concept generation defaults to --request-size 1536. Do not hand-set a single size for every model.

• Frozen decisions: do not re-open override_access. Do not bind wand to W. Do not remove the radio easter egg.

• Reference cycles are fixed: FSM holds its owner via WeakRef, ShiftCoordinator is RefCounted, and persistence tests free the Save node — the suite exits with no "resources still in use" warnings (was ~13). If a future subsystem introduces a cycle, repeat the WeakRef pattern.

• Shift length: GameManager uses the scenario's shift_duration_s (900s ≈ 10-15 min); tests and the screenshot tool override elapsed time directly.

• Headless (dummy renderer) logs "Parameter m is null" from mesh_get_surface_count; it does not occur with a real GL driver and does not affect logic.

• Steps have per-tread colliders (_build_steps() adds a StaticBody3D with one BoxShape3D per tread), so the guard and NPCs walk up the entrance; the guard spawns on the landing.

• Persistence tests write into the real user://shift_results.json (harmless local pollution of the demo history).

• macOS export required rendering/textures/vram_compression/import_etc2_astc=true in project.godot (universal build demands ETC2 ASTC enabled).

• Venue door_staff_lines are logged through GameManager (inspect / wand / refuse). They are not a separate dialogue UI.

• Access loadout is implemented; do not re-fix override_access as if it were still unread.

• Save.SETTINGS_FILE is declared and unused; settings persistence goes through Save.load_settings() / save_settings().

• Headless suite is 276/276; Python tooling is 143/143; screenshot compare is 21 good / 0 bad and the automatic judge is 21/21 match, 0 diff. Remaining visual follow-ups are in TODO.md.

• Typed spawn signal extra args: handlers must accept the 4th event: Dictionary or Godot will not call them (test_shift_coordinator_runs_a_shift failed until _on_spawn took four args).

• GDScript inference trap that broke the main scene: a var typed as a base class (radial: CanvasLayer) exposes script members as Variant, so var x := radial.is_open is a parse error. Type it as the script type (ActionRadial) or annotate the local explicitly. --check-only --script cannot see the Save autoload; use a real boot (--quit-after 180) to verify a full-scene compile.

• Do not snapshot right after changing a transform in the same frame: capture_screenshots.gd needs a state/frame gap or the capture uses the old camera orientation.

• EventScheduler probabilities are per simulated second, not per call. Never poll it per frame.

• Screenshot staging lives in src/test/capture_screenshots.gd (guard at z≈10.5 facing the door) and src/test/capture_ui_states.gd (UI states 14–21). tools/check_screenshots.sh renders all captures into docs/screenshots/; do not regenerate them by hand.

Open Questions

• Whether the responder avatar should be playable/controllable or purely scripted.
• Localization target languages beyond English.
• macOS notarization approach for broad distribution.

Plan vs code

PLAN.md describes intended design; README.md and DONE.md describe what shipped. As of 2026-11-03 the playable build covers the three venues, tutorials/campaign/checkpoints, the 0.9.3 UI/accessibility pass, the 0.9.4 NPC visual optimization, the 0.9.5 texture/material pass, the 0.9.6 integration checkpoint, and the Blender + realism asset pipeline. TODO.md holds the remaining 0.9.6–0.10.0 work. The project uses a custom headless runner, not GUT, and Gitea Actions, not GitHub Actions.

Uncommitted Workstreams

• None (2026-11-03). The 0.9.6 integration checkpoint is committed, tagged v0.9.6 and published with seven assets; the workspace is clean apart from local/gitignored realism and capture output. Keep the rule from AGENTS.md: check git status before committing, and never revert another contributor's in-flight files.