Difference between revisions of "Creating A Monster"

Revision as of 19:30, 12 January 2012

See those critters running around, attempting to ravage your poor defenseless self? Those were made by someone. You could be that someone.

Guidelines

Submissions that don't follow these guidelines will be returned.

1. Copyrighted characters or approximations of copyrighted characters are *NOT* allowed. So, no blue hedgehogs that run really fast, ducks named Donald, beautiful plant girls named Ivy, or similar items. Yes, 'parody' is covered under fair use, but Nuku has better things than legal battles to spend his money on (like food and shelter).
2. Creatures should not be minor variations on existing forms. Check the Monster List. If there's a Blue Platypus already in the game, chances are your Red Platypus isn't needed. Nor do we need a Blue Platypus with a larger/smaller cup size.
3. Creatures must be fully completed. That means all required fields are filled out, including Victory for Male, Female, Neuter, and Herm. You don't need a separate message for each one, but something should display for each of those cases.
4. Submissions should be spell-checked and grammar-checked. Make a good effort at this. No one is perfect, but spell-checking is built into almost every web browser and text editor these days. Don't ignore the wiggly red underlining.
5. Use String Parsing. It's easy to learn, and makes for more interesting creatures. Ask if you need help. Editors are there to edit, not to do all of your heavy lifting.
6. Don't mention features the player might not have. Don't mention their furry skin, breasts, legs, etc without a test. "The fur on your legs bristles as your body changes shape." Not all players have fur, breasts, or even legs.
7. Avoid double quotes (") and other crazy characters (&^#...). The webform will eat them and anything after them.

Recommendations

(You don't need to do this, but these things will make your life easier

• Use a text editor like Notepad or Notepad++ (Windows), TextEdit or Fraise (Mac), or VI,eMacs,Etc (Linux). Browsers crash, things are lost. Work on a local copy first. Don't use Word or Wordpad, since they're known for messing up code.
• Use the built in description preview and defeat/victory tester. It will check your String Parsing. You can more easily check the final output of your description and victory messages. Copy and paste the output into Word and do a spell- and grammar-check on that.
• Show, don't tell. Describe, don't catalogue. Aim for the middle ground. Don't merely state the form's overall look. ("Shi has a platypus-like head.") Avoid going into clinical detail. ("Hir head is round retaining the overall features of a human with a forehead, eyes, nose and mouth. Except that the eyes are slighly lower than normal, and fully black like the deep abyss found in the Batcave. Hir mouth is a rubbery bill, like what is found on a duck, except they are not a duck. Hir ears....") There is a happy medium between the two.
• Human is the default Monsters in FS are humans with animal/strange features, so describing something as "human-like" is meaningless and bland. Humans have an amazing assortment of variety in forms: Tall, thin, thick, fat, thin, skinny, lean, scrawny, etc.
• Nature is weird. Embrace it. A platypus is a furry egg-laying mammal with a beaver-tail and webbed feet, and the males have venomous spurs on the hind legs. Squids have ink sacs, tentacles, and three hearts. Things like these make creatures interesting, and make the game a much more dynamic place.
• Put some effort into it. Spell-check. Think of crazy things. If there's something you want to do, but aren't sure if it's allowed or how to pull it off, ask.
• Have Fun. Be bold Is it better to be 'elegant looking', 'somewhat elegant' or just flat out 'elegant'? Does your creature give mere kisses, or does it kiss passionately, holding it's victims in a tight embrace? Don't hold back. Go for it, especially in your victories and defeats. You can always trim it later if it's too much.

Body Template

This is the template that all characters (NPCs and PCs) use. Everything between {}s will be replaced with the mutation. Items in [brackets] are generated by the system, and do not need to be included in your description. Gender pronouns (He/She/Shi) in the template will change based on the gender of the character.

Looking over {name}, hir body is covered in {skin desc} flesh. Hir head is {head desc}. Hir body is {torso desc}. Sie has [generated breast descriptions]. Hir arms are {arm desc}. . Hir legs are {leg desc}. {ass Desc} A private peek would reveal that sie has: Sie has [cock #] [generated cock size] {cock desc} cock, measuring [cock Size] inches. Sie has [generated ball desc = cock width]. Sie has a [generated cunt desc] vagina. With mild effort, it can stretch to [cunt depth] inches long and [cunt width] inches around.

There are 7 parts to each creature: skin, head, arms, torso, ass, cock (groin), and legs. Each part requires a description and a transformation message.

String Parsing works in both descriptions and transformation messages.

Part Descriptions

Name = Name of the Creature

Skin = A short 2-3 word description. This will have "flesh" appended to it.

Long Skin (optional) = A longer description of the skin. This will not have anything added to the end.

Head Desc = Begins with "Hir head is". Needs to end with a period '.' .

Torso Desc = Begins with "Hir body is". Needs to end with a period '.' . You do not need to describe the breasts. These will be added by the system based on the stats of the character.

Arm Desc = Begins with "Hir arms are". Needs to end with a period '.' .

Legs Desc = Begins with "Hir legs are". Needs to end with a period '.' .

Ass Desc = This is a full and complete sentence. Maybe even more than one. This is the *only* descriptive line that is not prompted with "Hir part is."

Cock Desc = This is a short (2-3 word) description of the creatures penis. The size is already described by the template based on the cock size attribute of the character. It is followed by one of "Shaft", "maleness", "penis", or "cock" at random. So, if your description reads "giant lumpy penis", on a 2-inch endowed character it will end up looking like "Sie has a puny giant lumpy penis cock, measuring 2 inches." If you have an incredibly descriptive and complex cock in mind, consider splitting the description up using the 'at random' feature of String Parsing. You need a cock desc on your character, even if the character is female or neuter.

Transformation messages.

Do not assume anything about your target's current state. They might be human, they might not be. They might go one-way. They might not have breasts, or might have eight.

Transformation messages can also set attributes. See String Parsing for details.

Victory Messages

How to create a victory message. Use String Parsing!

-Victories-

-Victories MUST be full and unique scenes. The only exception is oVictory, which may be a slightly altered version of Victory. Not just sex! Not everything mutates via sex, sometimes a cuddle is better, or even just some more violence!

@set $rpsystem=infection/Creature Name/victory: -what you see when you win- @set $rpsystem=infection/Creature Name/ovictory: -what others see when you win- @set $rpsystem=infection/Creature Name/defeat: -what you see when you lose-

You may split up Victory/Defeat messages into multiple parts.

-Victory# and Defeat# must end with an [end] inside each # statement. This should be after the text inside an [if] statement and before the [endif]

Other details

Other stuff, like say/osay, powers, extra description text.

Legal Stuff

Include this text in your submission and answer the questions.

Are we allowed to freely change Code? Are we allowed to freely change descriptions/phrases? Are we allowed to freely change your submission with regards to Gender, Abilities, and Name? Is your creation Copyrighted by you? If your creation is Copyrighted by you, is Flexible Survival Allowed to make a profit from it without providing financial compensation?

By submitting this creature, you are releasing it for use, modified or unmodified within the Fleixble Survival game and any successive games in the same world. You agree that your creature may be modified to suit the game (note all care will be taken to contact the author in regards to 'major' changes, but small ones, wording of transforms or desc, will be corrected by staff).

Submitting

First, spellcheck your creature. Then read it again. Aloud. (Or at least mouth the words.) If your monster is littered with typos and 'and and's, it will just frustrate the devs.

Good, now wait an hour, come back, and spellcheck and proofread it again. See the missing "then" on line 3? The "theyre" in the male victory scene? That's why you wait and come back.

Now, visit, http://flexiblesurvival.com/index?Monsters

Log in if needed, and fill out the form, using your template. Check the preview. Read it again.

Before you hit that submit button, head on over to http://web.flexiblesurvival.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=332 and make sure you didn't make any of the common mistakes listed under the list of Do Not's.

Click "Submit".

Done.