Weapon design can be a tricky art.
From a subjective standpoint, you’re putting a lot of effort into designing an object which is intended for taking life, which is a topic for a different day.
But objectively, you‘re designing an object that may require a bit of discipline in order to execute correctly. For instance, there’s quite a bit of science to a simple spear. Despite popular belief, there’s far more too it than sharpening a long stick. There are other factors.
I know when it comes to things like “weapon design” in my projects, I have a predisposition to give these objects special attention. I could write five books on why that is so. In short; I grew up with a fascination for the aesthetic qualities of swords, knives, axes, etc., I love narrative design and I believe a character’s weapon should have development significance, and I love the challenge of designing something new and interesting.
Within the principles of weapon design, there are some rules. I may make a stand-alone article about this later, but let’s keep it short and sweet: I call these the “Three Basic F’s of Good Weapon Design”. They are “basic” for a reason and should only be defied with conceptual intent.
Form — Does the weapon have a unique and/or beautiful aesthetic? Does it need to stand out? Suppose the weapon you’re designing is for a primary character. That person’s weapon should be allowed to have some unique flair. Let it show their personality a bit. Alternatively, imagine you’re designing weapons for an entire army. In that case, I would encourage you to keep it simple and practical.
Function — Does the weapon appear to be built correctly? Does it make practical sense to use? The weapon being designed should be reasonably functional in appearance. It should appear to be built with sturdy materials and, when wielded, be capable of actually providing use. An obvious example of what not to do; there was an image floating around the internet of this “thing” which appears to be a sort of “fist weapon” that is shaped like a shark. One look at it and you’ll know for sure that you will rip your own guts out trying to fight with it. Don’t design a gun that shoots bullets backwards.
Fable — Does the weapon have or need a name or an associated story? Is it narratively significant or symbolic? This can be the “next level nuanced” or the “blaringly obvious problem”, depending on the weapon’s context. A good example is the Master Sword, from the Legend of Zelda series. Most Legend of Zelda games have the Master sword in it somewhere, and it’s usually at an important change of the story’s arc. The arc change is usually about halfway through the game, when the protagonist, “Link”, has overcome a “rite of passage”. Acquiring the “Master” sword is narratively symbolic of Link being awarded evil-slaying might through his demonstration of exhibiting a trifecta of heroic virtues (courage, wisdom, power). Is it a flashy name? Not really. Does the name reflect it’s symbolic purpose? Most definitely.
Okay, so by now you may be wondering what my fricking point is.
In this project, I obsess over details like this—
I am also highly selective of those details. World-building and character development requires a lot of thought and rationale. Depending on the “detail in question”, some details may just not be worth the time and energy. If some kind of item in the story is used often, it is probably important. In order to strengthen the “literature quality” of a story, this item probably should mean something, or communicate something, in addition to its practical function.
For example, the splash image of this post is of my main character’s weapon; “Sleeper”. Sleeper is an important object for Augustine. It is a valuable tool and an unspoken companion, as well as important to her duality of character.
But, I obsessed over the design of this weapon. It was important to me to give Augustine something unique but modestly stated. In her known world, which is a video game called Virtue and Strife, or VS! for short, all of the other players and entities she encounters are armed, same as she. The weapons these characters carry often are reflective of who/what they are supposed to represent without necessarily explicit statement.
As my main character, Augustine should have a weapon that follows that parameter.
Obsessing over this weapon’s design. A retrospective—
Behold, the college desk of a total loser.
The Form —
When I was first designing Augustine (and “Sleeper”) I knew I didn’t want to just give my main character a sword and call it good. I thought a sword was a little too common for my taste, at least for this character. I wanted to give this character something interesting to play with, but not something with conceptual baggage or an amateurish reputation (I’m looking at you, people who give their main character a scythe. Come on, man...)
In my first version of what is now Annex:Anima, originally titled The Symbiote, each character possessed a sort of “vapor blade” that engulfed their forearm when “invoked”. That design persisted for quite a while, even as I transitioned the story out of the previous version’s world and into the current one. Even when I was first writing The Symbiote back in 2012, I kind of figured I would be changing the final design of the “vapor blade”.
It wasn’t the worst version, but it was definitely the first version.
Fast forward to 2022, I finally settle on what I would call “the final version” of “Sleeper” (not pictured above). I don’t want to imply that it takes 10 years to sharpen the perfect pencil, but I would like to conclude from this experience that if I decided to long ago to stick with a prior design for “Sleeper”, I would have regretted it. I really feel like it was worth the effort. Return to the design if it didn’t feel right, scrutinize the subtle elements, make it appear functional, and refine it’s “spirit”. For the first time, I’m happy with it.
That leads me to an important point about obsessing over those important details: once you find yourself genuinely happy with a result, the ability to move on to the next thing becomes an obvious move, not a forced move. There is a big difference there and sadly I can’t say I’ve scored a lot of those wins.
It took a log time to get here with “Sleeper” and a lot of tinkering with elements. I had to ask myself a lot of questions. An important one that sparked a string of inner dialogue: How does Augustine fight? Is she composed and sophisticated? Brutal and aggressive? How about both? What would that look like? What kind of weapon would someone use if they were composed, but also aggressive? Am I thinking of some kind of assassin-like weapon? My guess is something which requires expertise, but you need to be forced to “get in there”, so to speak. Something single-edged and curved to promote an idea of “deadly”*, but at the same time is compact, dexterous, and irregularly handled, as if sleight-of-hand is key to proper performance.
*I know what you’re thinking, but NO. NO SCYTHES.
“Sleeper” has been through a few phases. This is one page of many.
I’d be a liar if I didn’t declare a “final version” or two in the past. I think the current one is clearly a bit more resolved then those ones, but I am a little wary of myself in that regard. Regardless, after many many many phases I settled on a “design path”. Key elements were set in stone, such as the blade/handle relation. I thought securing the blade on a salient jutting upwards from handle the was interesting and irregular and offered a new way to manipulate its momentum.
The “final” result (the splash image) is what my brother described to me as a “kama*/kukri/crab-picker”. Taking my aesthetic design goals into account; he is spot on with his kama/kukri assessment. And I’m sure it would be a fine crab-picker to boot.
*Sickles and kamas are fine, in my book. NO SCYTHES.
The Function —
“Paramnesia” was a previous name for a version of “Sleeper” that’s pretty close to the final one.
“Sleeper” has a few ways to function as a weapon: slashing, chopping, ripping, piercing, hooking, effective forehand and backhand use, practical when using one or two, and you can throw it. Some forms of attack are more effective than others, but overall I think it has a lot to offer.
It is intended to have the appearance of being made of one unified piece of “light”. Narratively, it is semi-metaphysical weapon (bear with me), so having it be made out of a physical material would not make a whole lot of sense, not that “semi-metaphysical” makes too much on it’s own. That being said, it’s material properties are congruent with a lot of other “light-made” objects and entities in the story.
A mock-up of an early version of “Sleeper” made out of MDF to test if its even remotely practical to swing.
I actually made a version of it out of MDF to see if it even makes sense to use as a weapon. It’s actually pretty fun to swing around. Holding it forehand seems to be a fairly effective way to defend, but it’s a little clumsy. It does feel like it would do a lot of damage if it were made of metal and sharpened. Holding it backhanded is really quite fun. I cannot say it’s particularly effective for any downward stabbing, but backhanded sweeps either upwards or to the side prove to at least feel aerodynamically capable of being deadly. I’m not sure it’s actually a practical weapon in a hypothetical “real world knife fight scenario”, but I would certainly not want to be on the receiving end of it.
The Fable —
Early concept art for Augustine.
I think there is a lot more to the symbolic aspect of “Sleeper” than I’m going to put here, and honestly I feel like these things are best left up to the interpretation of the viewer. Let’s keep it short.
I decided on the name “Sleeper” for a couple of reasons, but I’ll state just one for now, mostly because it’s personally sourced and therefore not obvious (it’s also not necessarily important to the story). A while back, I wrote an article about five words I associate with myself in some important way. It was just supposed to be a light-hearted exercise for whomever may read it. One word I chose was “Sleeper”.
Basically, my rationale for choosing that word is in relation to “sleeper waves”, which are waves that crash onto a beach with unexpected power and speed after one or two docile waves before it. To me, the concept is kind of synonymous of the idea of patiently gathering strength to become a surprise force of nature.
The weapon “Sleeper” is supposed to reflect something about Augustine as a character. There are several times in the story where Augustine is underestimated, but proves to be an unexpected force. She is visually unassuming. She doesn’t often exhibit smug or overconfident behavior. She is intentionally difficult to read, as her emotions tend to be impulsive and often manifest quickly. She is very fast.
There are a couple of other reasons for the naming rationale, but I already feel like I’m blabbering a lot more than I should.
I have been meaning to write about “Sleeper” for a while, but I still wasn’t comfortable saying it’s in a “final” state. I’m a lot more comfortable with the idea of not changing its design any further, and I feel like that’s a huge checkmark on the big list of “stuff to do”. What can I say? This weapon was important for me to obsess over for a while (a long while).
Onto the next important detail worth obsessing over!
❤ Casey