Chapter 1: Before / After Storytelling

Created by Sarah Choi (prompt writer using ChatGPT)

Before / After Storytelling (Repairs, Heirlooms) — Advanced Narrative Prop Design

Why Before/After Beats Matter

Narrative props are time machines. They compress years of use, care, and conflict into a single read that players decode in a heartbeat. “Before/after” thinking turns a prop from a static object into a character with a past and a future: the pristine intent of its maker versus the lived reality of its owner. When you design and document those temporal beats clearly, both concept and production teams can articulate believable repair logic, heirloom provenance, and cultural voice—without performance or pipeline friction.

The Time‑Layer Model (Make Time Visible)

Treat every narrative prop as layered strata. First is Manufacture: the original materials, finish, tolerances, logos, and assembly logic. Second is Use: wear patterns, oils, micro‑scratches, and thermal discoloration where hands, feet, or heat touch. Third is Repair: patches, weld seams, stitches, glues, mismatched screws, and swapped sub‑components. Fourth is Ritual: charms, inlays, trophies, paint marks, and inscriptions added for identity, faith, pride, or warning. Fifth is Event: singular damage or commemoration—cracks from a fall, scorch from a battle, a date scratched in the chassis. Map these layers explicitly in your sheet, then declare which survive or recede at distance (Band A/B/C). The clarity of these layers is the difference between visual noise and legible history.

Culture and Voice (The Owner as Co‑Designer)

Props speak with the accent of their culture. A med‑tech culture might fix with sterile clamps and color‑coded tapes; a frontier workshop may favor safety wire and brazed patches; a ceremonial guild might hide repairs under engraved plates. Decide the repair ideology (hide vs. celebrate), the material preference (like‑with‑like vs. visible kintsugi), and the tool availability (precision spares vs. scavenged fits). Voice also emerges in typographic choices, numerals, measurement systems, and symbolic motifs. Document three vocabulary tiers—formal, casual, improvised—so downstream artists can decorate and repair in character without overstepping the world’s rules.

Heirlooms: Continuity Across Generations

Heirlooms are props with custodianship. Their story arc is not linear; it’s episodic. Build a lineage map that names prior owners and the interventions each made: a grip re‑wrapped by a parent, a blade re‑tempered by a mentor, a charm added after a rite of passage. Visually, layer protected zones (carved inscriptions, lacquered signatures), sacrificial zones (replaceable wrappings, straps), and forbidden zones (sacred glyphs never overpainted). Include an ownership ledger—small marks, knots, or tally cuts that scale with time. Heirlooms should feel paradoxical: maintained to remain useful, yet curated as a memory archive.

Repair Taxonomy (Readable at a Glance)

Repairs are storytelling verbs. Categorize them by mechanism and material so they’re predictable in sheets and performant in production. Mechanical joins include screws, bolts, rivets, and safety wire; adhesive joins include epoxies, cyanoacrylates, mastics, and resin fills; thermal joins include welds, brazes, and solder with heat tint reads; textile joins include stitches, patches, darning, and sashiko‑like reinforcement; composite joins include splints, plates, and clamps. For each category, show a 1:1 paintover example, then a Band B simplification and a Band C decal/trim conversion. This gives outsourcing a consistent palette of fixes without inventing off‑brand solutions.

Forensic Reads: Make the Cause Plausible

Damage must point back to plausible causes. Heat blooms radiate from vents and welds; corrosion traces follow water paths and galvanic couples; fatigue cracks emanate from holes and corners; grime accumulates on leeward surfaces; paint chips align to leading edges and contact points. Write short “forensic captions” on your callout sheet: “impact from right‑hand drop; lacquer spider‑cracked,” “salt fog corrosion under fasteners; starburst halos,” “fabric frayed at belt contact; replaced with mismatched strap.” These captions make the art direction defendable and keep multiple artists consistent.

Materials: Aging, Mending, and Shader Logic

Aging isn’t just albedo. Metals shift roughness, develop oxide hues, and show directional micro‑scratches; plastics craze, yellow, and polish on high‑touch zones; glass blooms, pits, and fogs; woods dent, bruise, and darken with oils; ceramics chip with sharp, light unders; fabric pills, fades, and darns. Document material age envelopes (new → serviceable → worn → end‑of‑life) and the legal repair strategies per envelope. Pair this with shader guidance: mask channels for dirt, edge wear, paint peel; use a repair mask for overlays; preserve shared atlases for common mends (duct‑tape, weld bead, stitch rows), and cap unique materials to keep batching tight.

Affordance vs. Patina (Function First)

Repairs must not obscure how to use the prop. Handles still shadow; buttons remain framed; safety covers still hinge. Where a repair conflicts with affordance, design a repair workaround: an added finger notch, a re‑labeled button with a crisp decal, a contrasting cord wrap that reads as a grip. At Band B, affordance beats patina. Author a visibility hierarchy so VFX, audio, and UI can reinforce the correct cues (e.g., soft servo hum after a makeshift latch closes).

LOD Survival for Narrative Layers

Not every story layer survives distance. At Band C (20m+), heirlooms keep only silhouette anomalies and signature color blocking; repairs compress to broad value shifts and a few decal cards; inscriptions vanish. At Band B (5–20m), keep major repair geometry (weld plates, splints) and one or two high‑contrast motifs; convert micro‑stitches and small cracks to normals/decals. At Band A (0–5m), show full texture richness and micro‑details like thread fuzz, resin meniscus, and heat tint. Publish a proxy table so reducers know exactly what to drop or bake.

Documentation Packet: From Brief to Build

Package each narrative prop as if someone else will finish it (because they will). Include orthos with dimensions; exploded views showing original assembly vs. repair overlay; material IDs with age envelopes; a callout sheet for damage causes and repair types; and a small variant matrix that toggles fix choices (stitch vs. plate vs. tape) while preserving silhouette. Add a do/don’t strip: when visible kintsugi is allowed, when it’s off‑brand; where religious motifs belong, where they never do. This reduces revisions and protects cultural intent.

Voice Through Typography, Motifs, and Counting Systems

Small marks carry big culture. Numerals (Arabic, runic, tally), date formats, unit abbreviations, and shorthand all communicate place and time. Motifs—edge inlays, bead strings, prayer knots, maker’s stamps—should obey a grammar of placement (near grips, away from exhausts, aligned to seams). Typography needs hierarchy: maker’s mark (subtle), safety warnings (legible at Band B), personal notes (Band A only). If the prop travels across factions, convert text to iconography or number codes to minimize localization and preserve voice.

Heirloom Upgrades: Keeping History While Improving Function

Heirlooms can evolve. Show upgrade plates that add modern rails, a battery pack, or a sensor without erasing the original. Design reversible joins—clamps, straps, and sleeves—that respect sacred surfaces. Your sheet should illustrate how a high‑tech module docks to a low‑tech body with believable sockets and cable management. This invites systems and animation teams to add meaningful interactions without betraying the heirloom’s dignity.

Interaction, VFX, and Audio Hooks (Subtle but Specific)

Narrative beats land when motion and sound agree. A repaired hinge creaks then settles into a clean click; a taped handle squeaks; a kintsugi seam glints once when catching light. Document micro‑cues: a 250 ms green blink when a patched module boots, a low hiss after a brazed cap vents. Bind cues to visible sources and cap emissive/noise budgets so storytelling doesn’t become neon clutter.

Building Repair & Heirloom Kits (Reuse the Story)

Scale your storytelling with kits. Author a shared Repair Kit Library—tape strips, stitch rows, weld beads, patch plates, clamps—each with socket logic, legal scales, and UV packing for common atlases. Pair it with a Motif Kit Library—charms, tassels, badges, token cords—that slot into defined attach points. This lets production add variation without inventing new materials or breaking faction voice. Provide a randomization envelope for grime and placement jitter so repetition looks natural.

Ethical & Safety Considerations

Some repairs are dangerous in reality—taping over vents, bypassing guards, or defeating safety interlocks. If depicted, signal risk clearly and avoid glamorizing reckless behavior. Similarly, cultural motifs require respect: research symbolism, avoid sacred misuse, and provide alternatives when themes echo real‑world grief or trauma. Put the cultural review gate in your checklist so the studio protects players and communities.

Collaboration Across Departments

Coordinate early with systems, UI, and level design. If a repair introduces a new function (lower performance, extra steps, new interaction), ensure UI and audio reflect that state change clearly. With animation, define pivot corrections and clearance gaps created by patches or straps. With VFX, bind spark/steam leaks to the same story logic as damage. Document all beats tool‑agnostically so any engine can implement them.

Outsourcing‑Ready Checklist

Provide a single page that lists unit system; texel density targets; legal materials and shared atlases; repair kit IDs; motif kit IDs; allowed inscriptions and typeface; LOD survival map; and naming conventions for nodes (e.g., root > grip_wrap_A > plate_patch_B > charm_socket_C). Include 3 reference thumbnails per repair type with a license note so vendors ship consistent, safe choices.

Review Gates and Measures of Success

At greenlight, run five checks: Band Read (silhouette identity persists), Affordance (use remains obvious), Forensics (damage is plausible), Performance (materials and animated nodes within cap), and Cultural Voice (motifs consistent with rules). Post‑integration, track fewer clarification pings, fewer QA notes on readability, and faster reuse of repair kits across families. A successful narrative prop becomes a template others copy.

Final Thought

Before/after storytelling is disciplined empathy: respect the maker, respect the user, and respect the time in between. If your sheets separate those voices into clear, reusable layers—manufacture, use, repair, ritual, event—then downstream teams can build, vary, and scale your narrative props with confidence. The world feels older, kinder, and more believable—not because you added noise, but because you made time visible.