@@ -1,13 +1,13 @@
 # SOUL-ALBUM — the universal album schema
 # Generic cross-game "Soul Album"; per-game bridges map native albums onto it
-# (e.g. The Sims Family Album). We uplift, we never co-opt game vocabulary.
+# (e.g. The Sims Family Album). Keep each game's existing feature names.
 #
-# Object model and metadata floor live upstream, in moollm skills/soul-city/SOUVENIRS.md:
+# Object model and metadata design live upstream, in moollm skills/soul-city/SOUVENIRS.md:
 # a card is a self-describing OBJECT whose type is an interpretation of its properties, an album
-# is a polymorphic ordered array of them, and metadata uses Dublin Core names where they exist
-# (`coverage` carrying BOTH geographies, real-world and in-game; `relation` carrying the pointers
-# to souls, objects, and places in frame). Unknown types pass through whole — never dropped.
-# This file implements that; it does not redefine it.
+# is a graph of reusable pages with linear editions, and metadata uses Dublin Core names where they exist
+# Game coordinates and depicted entity references use documented extensions.
+# Preserve unknown fields; do not execute behavior described by untrusted metadata.
+# This file specifies planned behavior; it is not implementation evidence.
 
 meta:
   id: soul-album
@@ -16,22 +16,26 @@ meta:
 
 model:
   album:
-    what: "Ordered sequence of story cards; per-game or cross-game; local-first, publishable"
+    what: "Graph of reusable media pages; per-game, cross-game, or authored without a game"
     storage: "Local SQLite + media dir; publish = push to Soul City federation (CARD dirs, git-native)"
+  route:
+    selection: "Start page, length with explicit units, branch choices or selection rules, and cycle/dead-end policy"
+    edition: "Resolved ordered page IDs and revisions, timing and layout; pin for reproducible output"
+    graph_preservation: "Linear native exports cannot preserve all branches; retain the graph separately"
   card:
     image: "Still from live frame, DVR scrub timestamp, or imported file"
-    clip: "Optional — cards can hold video clips; album order = machinima sequence"
+    clip: "Optional video or audio; a selected route determines playback order"
     caption: "Typed, voice-narrated via STT, or assistant-drafted and human-edited (never auto-published)"
     audio: "Optional narration track per card — radio channel source"
     provenance:
       game: "app id / process fingerprint"
       save: "save file id + mtime when a bridge is available"
       souls: "character ids in frame when the bridge can enumerate them"
       dvr_timestamp: "the moment in the ring buffer this card cites"
-    like_thoughtful_commitment: "Card = commit; DVR = transcript; provenance = trace link"
+    metadata: "Dublin Core terms plus documented game extensions; capture provenance does not establish publication rights"
 
 editing:
-  operations: [capture, caption, narrate, reorder, sequence, split_album, merge_albums, import, export]
+  operations: [capture, author, caption, narrate, link_pages, select_route, pin_edition, reorder, sequence, split_album, merge_albums, import, export]
   time_shifted: |
     Production happens AFTER play: replay the DVR, narrate calmly, caption with voice, let STT
     transcribe, edit text by hand. Live capture is one hotkey; storytelling is post.
@@ -43,33 +47,41 @@ editing:
 # ── GAME ALBUM BRIDGING ───────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 game_albums:
   principle: |
-    Where a game has its own album/photo feature, the Soul Bridge round-trips it:
-    import native pages as Soul Album cards, export cards back into the native format.
-    The game's own name for the feature stays the game's — the bridge translates vocabulary
-    and format both ways.
+    For each supported album format, document import and export capabilities separately.
+    Preserve the graph externally when a native linear format cannot carry it.
+    Round-trip support requires fixtures and tests, not just a readable directory.
   sims1_family_album:
-    status: first_bridge_showcase
-    read_write_while_running: |
-      The Sims stores Family Album pages on disk as paired image + caption files, and rescans
-      that directory when the album UI opens. So SoulAngel can read AND write the album while
-      the game runs, pauses, or is stopped — external edits appear on next album open.
-      No injection, no save surgery. (On-disk behavior, observable in any installed copy.)
-    exchange: "Exported family files carry album pages; import/export supported (VitaMoo file inventory already detects them)"
+    status: proposed_showcase
+    verification_required: |
+      Establish page/caption formats and reopen behavior with fixtures for supported versions.
+      Test whether external edits while running are safe before enabling writes.
+      Album-directory updates, family export, and object/save editing are separate capabilities.
+    exchange: "Verify preservation through family export/import; file detection alone is not round-trip support"
     demo: |
       Launch showcase: freeze a DVR frame, narrate it, and the card lands INSIDE the game's own
       Family Album. Then export the whole album to Soul City as a magazine story.
-  no_bridge: "Universal album still works — capture + caption + publish; provenance = game + timestamp only"
-  photo_mode_games: "Games with photo/replay modes get bridges that round-trip their formats"
+  no_bridge: "Capture where available and permitted; caption and publish with known provenance and rights checks"
+  photo_mode_games: "Inspect formats individually; do not assume export or round-trip support"
 
 outputs:
   - published_album_page   # magazine channel
   - machinima_video        # TV channel — cards sequenced with narration
   - stream_vod_chapters    # DVR timestamps -> chapter markers
   - podcast_episode        # radio channel — narration tracks stitched
 
+content_generation:
+  status: design
+  inputs: "Pages or resolved routes, target template, build settings, and input revisions"
+  examples: ["slide projector and slides", "jukebox and recordings", "book and pages"]
+  identity: "Persist source IDs and allocated object GUIDs; reuse on updates, allocate new IDs for intentional forks"
+  multi_object_templates: "Retain every allocated GUID and its role within the template"
+  placement: "User-selected or automated instances in chosen house saves; track save/instance IDs separately"
+  update: "Definition rebuild and placed-instance migration are separate, validated operations"
+  safety: "Collision checks, backups, safe retries, explicit partial failures, and rights checks before distribution"
+
 see_also:
   - DVR.yml
   - SOUL-BRIDGE-SDK.yml
   - ARCHITECTURE.yml
-  - moollm skills/soul-city/SOUVENIRS.md   # souvenir object model, album shape, Dublin Core floor
+  - https://github.com/SimHacker/moollm/blob/main/skills/soul-city/SOUVENIRS.md
   - moollm skills/soul-city/SOUL-BRIDGES.md  # who may cross, and what the destination owes them
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ the linked documents.
 
 | Area | Next concrete action | Priority |
 |------|----------------------|----------|
+| Album content authoring (design only) | [Page graphs → editions → game objects](designs/family-album-as-storymaker.md#pages-routes-and-generated-objects): specify route manifests, stable GUID mappings, and separate save-instance updates | Future |
+| Editing tools (design only) | [Predictive cursor + God zone editor](designs/predictive-cursor-and-god-zone-editor.md): audit snapshot determinism, zone states/footprints, and population units before implementation | Future |
 | [Playable Micropolis game](#playable-micropolis-game) | Phase A: auto-start sim + HUD bound to `micropolisReactive` | **High** |
 | [Playable Micropolis game](#playable-micropolis-game) | Phase B: `ToolState` + click-to-build + minimal `Toolbar` | **High** |
 | [Playable Micropolis game](#playable-micropolis-game) | Phase B: `CursorLayer` DOM/SVG tool cursor (same clip math as future WebGPU) | **High** |
 
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ Read these alongside:
 
 ### Platform and integration
 
+- [Predictive cursor and God zone editor](predictive-cursor-and-god-zone-editor.md) — paired edited/unedited futures; query-derived footprints; population/value configuration pies; shared housing-injection operations (design only).
 - `platform-lineage-index.md` — Platform eras (NeWS, X11, OLPC, OpenLaszlo, Wasm) and where each layer’s docs live; maps **`documentation/`** (reference + archive) to **`documentation/designs/`** (forward-looking specs).
 - `collaborative-microworld-lineage.md` — Engelbart, Kay, Papert, Piaget, SimCityNet, and constructionist multiplayer.
 - `multiplayer-browser-lessons.md` — Lessons from Sail/Muddy and the Hacker News discussion for Soul City.
 
@@ -9,7 +9,10 @@
 
 > **Trademark notice.** *Micropolis* is used under license from Micropolis GmbH. *SimCity*, *The Sims*, and *Maxis* are EA Inc. trademarks; references are nominative use only. No affiliation with or endorsement by any listed studio is implied.
 
-> **Scope.** A companion-side extension of the user-authored Sims Family Album. The Sims engine remains the runtime; album pages compile back to documented `.iff` book/album objects. See [soul-city.md → Scope and intent](soul-city.md#scope-and-intent).
+> **Scope.** A proposed companion-side extension of the user-authored Sims Family Album.
+> Native album export and generated `.iff` book/album objects are separate targets;
+> each needs a documented, tested adapter. The Sims engine remains the game runtime.
+> See [soul-city.md → Scope and intent](soul-city.md#scope-and-intent).
 
 > **Lineage.** This design draws on a thread of prior work (HyperLook SimCity, SimCityNet, DreamScape, MediaGraph, iLoci, Bar Karma's StoryMaker, Urban Safari) that is documented elsewhere in the design suite — see the *Lineage* section in [designing-inward-miyamoto-principles.md](designing-inward-miyamoto-principles.md), [maxis-ea-shutdown-hn-2015.md](maxis-ea-shutdown-hn-2015.md) (SFC / Bar Karma / HiveMind), [storymaker/architectural-overview.md](storymaker/architectural-overview.md) (SFC slides + diagram), and the SimCity-to-Bar-Karma chronology referenced from [characters-as-hydrogen.md](characters-as-hydrogen.md). This doc focuses on the design itself; the lineage is not re-litigated here.
 
@@ -26,7 +29,49 @@ The natural next shape is a **branching, merging, geo-tagged graph of scenes**,
 - Storylines are author-curated paths through the shared scene pool.
 - Characters and lots travel inside scenes as content snippets; when reused, the [Bifrost protocol](moollm-microworld-os.md#the-bifrost-the-bridge-as-a-structured-ontological-transition) handles identity sync and provenance.
 
-The graph lives in git, federates by `git remote`, and round-trips through the [Adventure Compiler](moollm-microworld-os.md#the-adventure-compiler-is-a-coherence-engine-partner-not-a-one-shot-compiler) to a pageable Family Album book IFF object that the EA-published Sims 1 displays normally.
+The proposed graph can be versioned in git. Storage and export adapters must
+preserve node identity and disclose information lost in a linear target.
+The compiler and game-object output described here remain design work,
+not evidence of a working native round trip.
+
+## Pages, routes, and generated objects
+
+A page may contain images, captions, audio, or other media. It may be imported
+from any supported game's album, captured with little game metadata, or
+authored entirely by the user. Use
+[Dublin Core terms](https://www.dublincore.org/specifications/dublin-core/dcmi-terms/)
+for common metadata and documented extensions for game/build information.
+
+A linear family album, slideshow, playlist, or coffee-table book is a trip
+through the graph from a chosen start for a chosen length. Specify whether
+length counts pages or duration, how branches are chosen, and how cycles
+and dead ends terminate. Publish a resolved list of page IDs and revisions
+so the edition remains reproducible when the graph changes.
+
+Content tools can take that edition as input to a template: slides for a
+projector, recordings for a jukebox, or pages for a book. Store source IDs,
+route and recipe revisions, target format, and allocated game object GUIDs.
+Adding slides or recordings should rebuild the same object using its existing
+GUIDs. A fork is an explicit new identity, not an accidental consequence of
+every build. Multi-object templates retain their complete GUID mapping.
+
+Users can place one or several instances in chosen house saves, manually or
+through an automated placement plan. Definition updates and updates to
+saved instance state are separate operations. Preview affected saves, check
+compatibility, back them up, and report partial failures; do not assume an
+installed asset update migrates every saved copy.
+
+Detailed shared model:
+[media pages and object generation](https://github.com/SimHacker/moollm/blob/main/skills/soul-city/SOUVENIRS.md).
+Related plans: [GUID registry](https://github.com/SimHacker/WillWrightShowForFood/blob/main/catalogs/soul-city/guid-registry.md)
+and [object shops](https://github.com/SimHacker/WillWrightShowForFood/blob/main/catalogs/soul-city/object-shops.md).
+For the earlier scene-graph work, see
+[StoryMaker's architectural overview](storymaker/architectural-overview.md).
+
+Acceptance checks: reproduce a pinned route after shared-page edits; preserve
+unknown metadata; disclose branch loss in linear exports; retain object GUIDs
+on rebuild; distinguish forks; account for every placed instance; validate
+rights before publication. These are requirements, not completed tests.
 
 ---