Difference between revisions of "User:Acetyl"

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Hi! My name is Jack. I'm 31 and I live in California, in the northeastern SF Bay Araa. I'm the human behind the following Flexible Survival characters. All of my characters are Nanite Adepts in addition to whatever other dedications they may have.
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Hi! My name is Jack. I'm 31 and I live in California, in the northeastern SF Bay Area. I'm the human behind the following Flexible Survival characters. All of my characters are Nanite Adepts in addition to whatever other dedications they may have. I was made staff on 9/26/16! I was hired specifically to work on forms, though I hope to do some building in the future as well. My staff username is '''Lurhstaap'''. Please contact me there if you're contacting me for 'official' reasons (as opposed to wanting to RP with one of my characters or just talk to me OOCly on a casual basis). I am less likely to miss PMs sent to the Lurhstaap name since I won't be playing on it.  
  
 
'''Acetyl''' is my primary character. Neuter. Native Storm Dragon. Necromantic Acolyte. Head of Xanadu R&D and caretaker of the hunting territory known as Xanadu Gardens. Uses male pronouns most of the time despite being neuter. Dimensionally Touched and a bit off in the head. About half "SCIENCE!" and half ravening feral. Does his best not to descend into his more wild side. Does not always succeed. Other than science, learning, and knowledge, Acetyl loves reading books and whatever other forms of the written word he can get his hands on, surfing, hiking, camping, hunting and fishing (of normal wild animals, mainly for food), crafting, and hunting for salvage. He is driven by strong impulses that are both creative and destructive, leading to a lot of internal conflict and guilt feelings for him. Acetyl is my "Zephyr alt".
 
'''Acetyl''' is my primary character. Neuter. Native Storm Dragon. Necromantic Acolyte. Head of Xanadu R&D and caretaker of the hunting territory known as Xanadu Gardens. Uses male pronouns most of the time despite being neuter. Dimensionally Touched and a bit off in the head. About half "SCIENCE!" and half ravening feral. Does his best not to descend into his more wild side. Does not always succeed. Other than science, learning, and knowledge, Acetyl loves reading books and whatever other forms of the written word he can get his hands on, surfing, hiking, camping, hunting and fishing (of normal wild animals, mainly for food), crafting, and hunting for salvage. He is driven by strong impulses that are both creative and destructive, leading to a lot of internal conflict and guilt feelings for him. Acetyl is my "Zephyr alt".
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'''Xolotl''' is a Quetzalcoatl dedicant who strongly favors her supernatural dedi form, but tends to mutate a lot and so may not always be seen as a feathered serpent. Technically a Promethean, but in reality she functions as a feral. Tends to use female or neuter pronouns, but is a herm as often as not. However, like her form, her sex changes constantly. She has fully embraced the nanite plague and revels in her changing body. Unlike Acetyl, Xolotl barely comprehends even the concept of guilt and doesn't feel bad about anything she does. She can be kind of scary. She's not invariably malicious though, just extremely self-absorbed. Xolotl is technically my original "Promethean alt", but she's more of a straight up feral in practice.
 
'''Xolotl''' is a Quetzalcoatl dedicant who strongly favors her supernatural dedi form, but tends to mutate a lot and so may not always be seen as a feathered serpent. Technically a Promethean, but in reality she functions as a feral. Tends to use female or neuter pronouns, but is a herm as often as not. However, like her form, her sex changes constantly. She has fully embraced the nanite plague and revels in her changing body. Unlike Acetyl, Xolotl barely comprehends even the concept of guilt and doesn't feel bad about anything she does. She can be kind of scary. She's not invariably malicious though, just extremely self-absorbed. Xolotl is technically my original "Promethean alt", but she's more of a straight up feral in practice.
  
'''Delve''' is a xenobiologist working for RSX. She is one of their rarer mutant agents, being an anthro coyote, though she has had the Advanced Inoculation and does not mutate uncontrollably. Despite being a mutant, Delve is much more reliant on technology and civilized ways than on mutant powers. She prefers high-tech weaponry and, if necessary, her booted feet and fists in combat, resorting to such methods as claws or biting only if desperate, and in general still sees herself as basically human in spite of her outer form. She feels an attraction to Coyote but has so far resisted this draw.
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'''Delve''' is a xenobiologist working for RSX. She is one of their rarer mutant agents, being an anthro coyote, though she has had the Advanced Inoculation and does not mutate uncontrollably. Despite being a mutant, Delve is much more reliant on technology and civilized ways than on mutant powers. She prefers high-tech weaponry and, if necessary, her booted feet and fists in combat, resorting to such methods as claws or biting only if desperate, and in general still sees herself as basically human in spite of her outer form. She feels an attraction to Coyote but has so far resisted this draw. She is, naturally, my 'RSX alt'.
  
 
'''Hailey''' is a feral Egyptian Mau born after P-Day. She belongs to [[Trace]] as his pet/breeder/slutkitten. She's pregnant with her first cub by Trace and is very much looking forward to being a mother. A little odd in the head, but a sweet girl who is genuinely grateful to Trace for giving her a home and a purpose in life - such as it is. It's more than she had before, though. As with Xolotl, Hailey is technically a Promethean but in practice is a feral. Life with Trace may uplift her to some degree in certain ways, even as it devolves her to a pet in others - this remains to be seen.
 
'''Hailey''' is a feral Egyptian Mau born after P-Day. She belongs to [[Trace]] as his pet/breeder/slutkitten. She's pregnant with her first cub by Trace and is very much looking forward to being a mother. A little odd in the head, but a sweet girl who is genuinely grateful to Trace for giving her a home and a purpose in life - such as it is. It's more than she had before, though. As with Xolotl, Hailey is technically a Promethean but in practice is a feral. Life with Trace may uplift her to some degree in certain ways, even as it devolves her to a pet in others - this remains to be seen.
  
'''Saxon''' is a relatively new character who I have yet to RP. I plan to eventually make him a Lunar Touched wolf type. He is male and was an adult when P-Day happened. Music is very important to Saxon. He has Survivalist and anarchist leanings and will probably end up as a Survivor although he is a Promethean at this time. Saxon tends to be a loner, both attracted to and repelled by people in all their fascinating contradictions, their goods and their evils.   
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'''Saxon''' is a relatively new character who I have yet to RP. I plan to eventually make him a Lunar Touched wolf type. He is male and was an adult when P-Day happened. Music is very important to Saxon. He has Survivalist and anarchist leanings and will probably end up as a Survivor although he is a Promethean at this time. Saxon tends to be a loner, both attracted to and repelled by people in all their fascinating contradictions, their goods and their evils.   
  
I currently have two (2) empty alt slots. I may or may not ever use them. We'll see what happens. I feel like I have my hands full with alts at the moment, but you never know, I might come up with some new personality I want to RP.  
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'''Ourothrax''' is my newest character, also has yet to see RP, but he will. He may become Lunar Touched dragon, or something else... unsure yet. Nanite Adept for now. He is Male Preferred and was alive for P-Day. He's based a lot on the stereotypical western dragon concept - haughty, arrogant, self-important, sadistic, greedy. He's with the Prometheans for now, playing nice in public, but he's probably going to end up a Survivor.  
  
I enjoy writing forms! The following forms were all written by me. (An asterisk * means the form is approved but not currently on grid for one reason or another, whether needing some revision or, more commonly, just never having made it to the grid yet.)
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I currently have one empty alt slot. I may or may not ever use it. We'll see what happens. I feel like I have my hands full with alts at the moment, but you never know, I might come up with some new personality I want to RP.  
  
Anery Stripe Cornsnake
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-Form Stuff!-
Balaur Taur*
 
Bookwyrm
 
Cativa
 
Gryphoenix
 
Indicat
 
Psilocybe Dragon
 
Redwood Unicorn*
 
Sandfire Dragon
 
Social Butterfly*
 
Storm Dragon
 
Stygian Hound
 
Vampiric Wolf
 
Wild Cannibal
 
Xanadu Bird
 
  
For those who have been asking, here's a list of the forms I am currently in the process of working on and their rough progress as of the last time I updated this (9/18/2016). I am far from the game's best form writer (in fact I'm kind of over-wordy and clumsy with my descriptions...) but if you like my work regardless, I'm happy to try to write a form that you'd like to see in the game. I have no control over what gets accepted and put on grid by staff so I make no promises, but I am happy to take requests and have in the past (Bookwyrm was a request, for example, and it's on grid now!)
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I enjoy writing forms! I mean, a lot. I write a lot of forms. In fact, I'm on staff to write forms, because I write forms a lot. XD The following forms were all written by me originally, though some have since had kemo or splitter compatibility added by other writers - I didn't write the kemo descs for Storm Dragon, for instance. I do hope to update many of these to give them kemo and other compats.
  
''Ready For Review''
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In fact, as of 9/22/16, that work has begun! I'm going in alphabetical order, but if you particularly want to see something for a certain form of mine - say, Color Chooser on Gryphoenix, just as a random example - let me know and I'll move it up the list!<br>Also note that I DO take requests and commissions! Bookwyrm and my planty forms were written on request. Page-mail or PM me, or catch me in the channels on the MUCK, to ask about form stuff! I really need both positive and negative feedback and heartily encourage both! Positive feedback tells me what people like and enjoy, so I know what I've done right and what is popular. Negative feedback tells me what I've done wrong, so I can fix my current work and improve my future work. Both are extremely important, indeed essential, to me as a writer, so if you feel the urge to praise or criticize anything I've written, PLEASE tell me about it, in as much detail and specificity as you can. It will be hugely appreciated, even if you're telling me everything you hate about everything I've ever done! I can't emphasize that enough! This is especially important now that I'm a staffer whose job is specifically to write forms on an official basis! <br><br> Anyway, here's that list of forms. (An asterisk * means the form is approved but not currently on grid for one reason or another, whether needing some revision or, more commonly, just never having made it to the grid yet.)<br><br>
Gulotaur - Hard vore-y, eternally hungry wolverine taur. Has been critiqued by Glitch and edited by me in response. Awaiting final approval. May not hit the grid for a long while, of course, but it's getting close to approval!
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''My Approved Forms:''<br><br>
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Anery Stripe Cornsnake<br>
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Balaur Taur*<br>
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Bookwyrm<br>
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Cativa<br>
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Friendly Fossa*<br>
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Gryphoenix<br>
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Gulotaur*<br>
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Indicat<br>
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Psilocybe Dragon<br>
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Redwood Unicorn*<br>
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Sandfire Dragon<br>
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Siamese Seer*<br>
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Social Butterfly*<br>
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Storm Dragon<br>
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Stygian Hound<br>
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Vampiric Wolf<br>
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Wild Cannibal<br>
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Xanadu Bird<br>
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Zombified<br><br> All my old forms are being updated with improved descs/TFs, kemonomimi, and as many of the choosers/splitters as possible for the given form. As of 11/2/16, I have finished writing updates for Anery Stripe Cornsnake and Balaur Taur, and have done at least some work on most of the others, including adding scents to most of them, and kemonomimi compatibility to Vampiric Wolf, Stygian Hound, and Wild Cannibal.<br><br>
  
And there's a second one, but that's for something special... you guys will see if/when it makes it into the game. ;p
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For those who have been asking, here's a list of the forms I am currently in the process of working on and their rough progress as of the last time I updated this (9/18/2016). I am far from the game's best form writer (in fact I'm kind of over-wordy and clumsy with my descriptions...) but if you like my work regardless, I'm happy to try to write a form that you'd like to see in the game. I have no control over what gets accepted and put on grid by staff so I make no promises, but I am happy to take requests and have in the past (Bookwyrm was a request, for example, and it's on grid now!)
  
''Requires Revision''
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''Ready For Review''<br>
All of these have been critiqued by Glitch and are just waiting for me to have time to repair them. Some need only slight changes, others need significant work.
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Nothing right now.
  
Bullygoat - A four-armed, monstrous goat-thing that eats anything, and I do mean anything, that crosses its path. The Gulotaur will turn its nose up at inorganics, seeking meat and blood alone, but the Bullygoat is happy to chew up whatever it encounters. The Bullygoat, unlike the Gulotaur, can also be appeased - if you submit to it, it will accept sexual favors from you instead of attacking you, giving a special scene specifically for if you submitted to it.
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''Requires Revision''<br>
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All of these have been critiqued by Glitch and are just waiting for me to have time to repair them. Some need only slight changes, others need significant work.<br>
  
Friendly Fossa - A fairly simple anthro fossa form with a cheerful inclination.
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Bullygoat - A four-armed, monstrous goat-thing that eats anything, and I do mean anything, that crosses its path. The Gulotaur will turn its nose up at inorganics, seeking meat and blood alone, but the Bullygoat is happy to chew up whatever it encounters. The Bullygoat, unlike the Gulotaur, can also be appeased - if you submit to it, it will accept sexual favors from you instead of attacking you, giving a special scene specifically for if you submitted to it.<br>
  
 
Graveyard Thing and Hungry Horror - Two related bestial undead-ish forms. Both need significant revision.
 
Graveyard Thing and Hungry Horror - Two related bestial undead-ish forms. Both need significant revision.
 
Siamese Seer - An anthro Siamese cat with three eyes, three tails, and some weird superstitions.
 
  
 
Submissive Stallion - The first in a series of leather kink forms I'm writing. It's a man blended with a leather equine-themed bondage suit, producing a sort of anthro horse with the leather horse hood/mask and other stuff become part of their body.
 
Submissive Stallion - The first in a series of leather kink forms I'm writing. It's a man blended with a leather equine-themed bondage suit, producing a sort of anthro horse with the leather horse hood/mask and other stuff become part of their body.
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Wolrat - It's a creature that resembles a blend of wolf and rat, but with some unique features and a distinctive bent toward rape and a kind of violence that would have lead to murder in the pre-P-Day world but is now merely kinky, rapey, and disturbing.
 
Wolrat - It's a creature that resembles a blend of wolf and rat, but with some unique features and a distinctive bent toward rape and a kind of violence that would have lead to murder in the pre-P-Day world but is now merely kinky, rapey, and disturbing.
  
''In Progress''
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''In Progress''<br>
 
These range from just having one or two sentences to hold the idea to being almost fully written and ready to submit.  
 
These range from just having one or two sentences to hold the idea to being almost fully written and ready to submit.  
  
 
Alpha and Omega Leatherwolf - A pair of related forms from the same set as the Submissive Stallion, this time with lupine-themed hoods/masks and gear rather than equine. The Alpha is a sadistic Dominant/Master who exemplifies leather as a symbol of power and control, while the Omega Leatherwolf is a submissive/slave who exemplifies leather as a symbol of ownership and domestication - the pet's collar and the workbeast's tack are made of leather. (I know we have a LOT of canine forms already, but I've seen very few of these leather "fursuits/animal themed bondage suits", and all of them were either wolf based or horse based with a small handful of exceptions, most of which were some other kind of canine. Plus, I just found my mental image of these guys too compelling to pass up. We'll see if they actually make it into the game, though.)
 
Alpha and Omega Leatherwolf - A pair of related forms from the same set as the Submissive Stallion, this time with lupine-themed hoods/masks and gear rather than equine. The Alpha is a sadistic Dominant/Master who exemplifies leather as a symbol of power and control, while the Omega Leatherwolf is a submissive/slave who exemplifies leather as a symbol of ownership and domestication - the pet's collar and the workbeast's tack are made of leather. (I know we have a LOT of canine forms already, but I've seen very few of these leather "fursuits/animal themed bondage suits", and all of them were either wolf based or horse based with a small handful of exceptions, most of which were some other kind of canine. Plus, I just found my mental image of these guys too compelling to pass up. We'll see if they actually make it into the game, though.)
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Almanac Faestag - One of my two contributions to the Seasonals Set started by Hiirome, to be placed in a Hunting Territory she and I will be splitting the cost of and hopefully the ownership of (though if the code doesn't allow for dual ownership I will be ceding the HT to Hiirome since it was her idea originally, with her Weasonal form.) The Almanac Faestag is similar to the Cativa in that both are faestags, but instead of being half cannabis plant, the Almanac Faestag is a 'pure' example of its kind and is rather more deerlike than the Cativa, which emphasized the feline aspects of the faestag concept. It also will use the 'seasonal' code Hiirome developed for the Weasonal form, allowing it to look different in different in-game seasons. 
  
 
Barneycle - It's a barnacle. That surfs. But not very well. (Barney Barnacle? Get it? :p) Part of the surfer/beach set.
 
Barneycle - It's a barnacle. That surfs. But not very well. (Barney Barnacle? Get it? :p) Part of the surfer/beach set.
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Boar Baron - The fourth form in the leather beasts set, this one a Dominant wild boar to counter the Submissive Stallion. (Have never seen a boar version of one of these suits, but it would look damn awesome and we have no wild boar forms, so why not?)
 
Boar Baron - The fourth form in the leather beasts set, this one a Dominant wild boar to counter the Submissive Stallion. (Have never seen a boar version of one of these suits, but it would look damn awesome and we have no wild boar forms, so why not?)
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Calendar Pheasant - My other 'seasonal' form. A non-anthro/bestial bird, or possibly a gryphon-like four-limbed avian like the Xanadu Bird. Will have very distinctive, colorful plumage which changes with the seasons, as with the other forms in this set. May use the seasonal motif in other forms, too, but this and the Almanac Faestag will be my contributions to this specific project with Hiirome.
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Chemical Firebird - A phoenix or firebird-like form contaminated by pollution, resulting in a dark bird of nightmare which seems to be swathed in green, poisonous flames (and which can also project such flames at foes). It desires less to inflict raw violence, and more to corrupt and consume. It likes nothing better than turning other people into Chemical Firebirds, or, failing that, to poison or at least bedevil them, and watch their suffering.
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Clockwork Panther and Clockwork Wolf - These are not exactly like the existing clockwork forms, but aren't entirely different either. By coincidence, in my teens and early 20s I used to draw these creatures a lot. Decided it might be fun to make them into forms, since even though they're a little different they still kind of fit in with the existing Clockwork Foxes and stuff.
  
 
Coca Cobra - Intended for the Xanadu Gardens expansion. Not developed much yet beyond the idea of 'cocaine snake' with a possible secondary theme of 'soda/cola snake'.
 
Coca Cobra - Intended for the Xanadu Gardens expansion. Not developed much yet beyond the idea of 'cocaine snake' with a possible secondary theme of 'soda/cola snake'.
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Xenophobic Xiuhcoatl - Another of the South American critters, this one is a sort of plated, fiery, feathery serpent-beast with no wings. Its eyes are mirrored and constantly ooze smoke.  It has four clawed limbs, too. Unlike the Xolotl, the Xiuhcoatl is anthropomorphic or at least therian-like. And it doesn't like you. It really, really doesn't like anyone, actually.
 
Xenophobic Xiuhcoatl - Another of the South American critters, this one is a sort of plated, fiery, feathery serpent-beast with no wings. Its eyes are mirrored and constantly ooze smoke.  It has four clawed limbs, too. Unlike the Xolotl, the Xiuhcoatl is anthropomorphic or at least therian-like. And it doesn't like you. It really, really doesn't like anyone, actually.
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-Form Writing Advice-
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This is a haphazard spot where I write down anything I think of that I think might be helpful to other formwriters. Not officially as a staffer, mind, just my own thoughts as a fellow player. All this stuff is my own opinion and shouldn't be taken as formal staff advice until and unless I edit this to say otherwise, or it appears in a more official context than my own personal userpage. :p
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Item one - form ideas. It's often said that it's difficult to come up with forms that aren't already done. That's not true. There's a huge realm  of unexplored viable form concepts - everything from normal animals we don't have any version of, or which we may have a generic example (say, Spider) but few or no more specific or nuanced variants (say, Tarantula), to creatures from historical mythology and legend or heraldry or art, to novel hybrids and blends or chimeras of multiple things and other purely imaginary critters and beasties. My problem as a form writer is always an excess of ideas rather than a lack of them.
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The thing is, the more popular or more likely to be thought of ideas are the ones that are already done, which naturally gives people an initial impression that there's nothing left to do. It's true that the game does cover a lot of ground. We have hundreds of forms and more in the making all the time. But there's still plenty more you can do.
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So I decided it might be helpful to make a list of what I personally think are the species and ideas that are more or less creatively 'fertile' for new FS forms. I don't want to use the phrase 'overused' because I don't want to discourage you from pursuing something you're really passionate about, but I do want to warn people that it's more difficult to come up with a sufficiently different concept for some things than others, either because we already have a lot of them, or because it's a relatively limited idea and we've already covered it. Again, it's not impossible that the staffers who approve forms (I'm not one of them, yet - for now, I just write content and do odd jobs for the most part) will accept, say, a fox-based form. It's just very difficult to come up with a fox form that's different enough from the many foxes we already have to not feel redundant or same-y. By the same token, we have very few mushroom or fungus-inspired forms, so it's relatively easy to come up with something we don't already have.
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Pro Tip: You can sometimes create an interesting, useable idea by combining a very common one (say, dragon) with a rare one (say, fungus). Result: Psilocybe Dragon, a form that, despite being a dragon, is very, very different from any other dragon form on the game, so it doesn't feel redundant or same-y. You get the idea. That doesn't always work (and with the most common ideas, like foxes, it may have even already been done - that's how popular foxes and the like are!) But it can be a source of inspiration. Hybridization can work this way, too, but be cautious because it's more likely to be already done unless it's really a wild combination (wolf-tiger is done, but octopus-unicorn is not).
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Pro Tip II: Specificity, bleeding, and blending are all very useful for coming up with new ideas based on a common or already-used concept you really adore.
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Specificity: We already had snake forms, but most of them had naga-like serpent lower bodies and no legs. There were lots of real-life species with interesting, stand-out traits that would be distinct from what we already had. Result - Anery Stripe Cornsnake, a fully anthro snake form, and so far the game's sole corn snake form. As a more general example, is we already have a generic Spider, try a Tarantula or a Black Widow. Caveat! The more popular/common (or narrow/limited) the base idea is, the less useful specificity becomes. At some point, same-y-ness becomes a real issue. If we already have a Rattlesnake, we probably don't need a Western Diamondback. With that said, it is still sometimes possible to find viable options even with very popular concepts. For example, we have spotted hyenas, but no aardwolves. We have many skunks, but only a few of the many other mustelids, leaving lots of room for variants.
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Blending: This is where you take a basic idea (say, a pegasus) and work in concepts and traits that make it very different from what we already have. For example, we have the Crimson Pegasus. But it's an anthro. So there's room for a non-anthro/bestial pegasus. But to make your concept even stronger and less likely to feel like an overlap with the Crimson Pegasus, you could blend in kinks or other things that you like or are interested in or just think the game could use more of. Let's say you enjoy macros. You could make a pegasus that's not just non-anthro, but it's an enormous beast, based on a draft-type horse with big fuzzy hooves to stomp on things. (Note this also takes advantage of specificity. Someone else could come along and make a tiny, lightly built non-anthro pegasus that likes to hide inside flowers, and it would be very different from your big-enough-to-trample-cars pegasus, even though they're both non-anthro pegasi.)
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Bleeding: Bleeding involves mutating or changing part of the idea a bit until a new, more useful idea results. For example, we may already have a 'Blue Gryphon', but we didn't have a phoenix-gryphon (until I wrote Gryphoenix). This is also hybridization, in a way, but it's an example of bleeding too because it starts with the basic idea of a gryphon, then considers one of the components (the bird part) and then begins shuffling through related ideas (other species or kinds of birds that could make the form really distinct from the existing Blue Gryphons, in this case). The pegasus examples in Blending also contain a minor example of bleeding - we have an anthro pegasus, but no bestial/non-anthro pegasus.
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This list is not comprehensive and will probably be added to. I intend to modify it over time to account for new forms being added.
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-Very Challenging-<br>
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Things on this list are either form types we have a whole lot of, or they're relatively limited or narrow concepts for which we already have representative forms. The number of forms may be small, but the concept itself is such that it'd be difficult to come up with variations that are sufficiently different from what we already have to be likely to be approved. <br><br>
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Foxes. Probably the number one most common form type in the game. I would honestly recommend not writing fox-based forms unless they are significantly different from what we already have. <br>
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Wolves. Also very common, though not quite as much.<br>
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Coyotes. We don't have bunches and bunches of coyote forms, but there's not much to cover that isn't already done by the existing forms. You'd have to get pretty out there with hybridizing or other weirdness to make a coyote form that had a good chance of acceptance, I think.<br>
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Domestic dogs. Although there are many breeds for which we don't have specific forms to represent them, many are similar enough that they'd feel very same-y. You would have to choose a breed which is quite unlike the breeds already represented, or else have a very unusual concept that involves one or more of the above-noted design techniques such as hybridizing and concept blending.<br>
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Felines in general, although there is slightly more room to work here as there are many breeds of domestic cat. Still, ultimately, the group as a whole is as popular as the three canine species noted above.<br>
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Western Dragons. Although dragons in general don't fall on this list, of our many dragon forms, the majority are Western types, making it more difficult to come up with a viable Western dragon form than it is for other types of dragon. (Still, a dragon form is generally easier to do than anything else on this top list.)<br><br>
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-Challenging-
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Things on this list are common, but not as difficult to come up with viably different variations on as the things in the first list. Either that, or they're common but not as overwhelmingly so as those on the first list, thus leaving a slightly larger amount of viable new form ideas.<br><br>
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Dragons. Although we have a lot of dragons, the concept of 'dragon' is so incredibly diverse that it is much easier to come up with a viable, unique dragon form than it is, say, a fox. For example, most of our dragons are more or less Western-style. We have a couple of wyverns, and one thing that claims to be a wyvern but has arms, which IMO makes it not a wyvern, but nevermind that. Personal quibble. :p There's even room for more Western-type designs if you're creative, but it's even easier to come up with a viable draconic form if you stray into the more exotic dragon subtypes. Even Asian-type dragons are relatively underrepresented.<br>
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Bovines. This is a relatively narrow concept and we have it pretty well covered. But I don't think it would be as difficult to come up with a solidly unique bovine concept as it would a fox or wolf, so it goes in this list. Cows to be milked, though, are pretty much covered, unless you go into really weird territory. Stuff like buffalos, bison, aurochs, and extinct bovines are more fertile ground in terms of avoiding redundancy.<br>
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Latex. We have a large number of latex things. Of course, there's plenty of stuff unrepresented, but latex forms get kind of same-y if you're not careful, hence their inclusion in this list. (To be honest, I tend to think the best solution for this is simply to use the latex template form, so you can be a latex any-other-form, rather than making new specifically latex forms. But that's just me.)<br>
 +
Gryphons. With the Blue Gryphon as such a basic form, any gryphon concept is going to have to be pretty significantly different to be viable. Just changing the colors won't do it. <br><br>
 +
 +
-Moderate-
 +
Things on this list are well-represented, but there are still plenty of gaps that could be covered. Either that, or there's already an example of a relatively narrow idea, but there's still room for at least a few variations, at least in my personal opinion.<br><br>
 +
 +
Equines. While we have a reasonable number of equines in general, there's a lot of conceptual ground not yet covered. For example, there's only one pegasus form, as noted, and it's an anthro. There's a lot of room for original takes on pegasi, therefore. To a somewhat lesser degree, the same is true of unicorns (especially if you take them in a hybrid direction and give them more goatish and/or cervine traits rather than just putting a horn on a horse). You might be able to get away with a well-written form based on a real horse breed, presuming it's significantly different than any existing equine form. (I don't think we have many fully non-anthro horses, for instance, and the one zebra form I can think of is anthro.)<br>
 +
Dinosaurs. There are a reasonable number of dinosaur-based forms, but they're mostly based on the most popular and well-known species. There's a huge amount of room for other stuff. Some very unique and interesting ones are not represented. (Can you believe that, as of when I'm typing this, we have no Archaeopteryx??) <br>
 +
Sharks. We have a handful, but there's a lot of room for variations too, especially specific species with very distinctive traits that would set them off from the existing shark forms, and quirky hybrids or concept bleeds akin to the Card Shark.<br>
 +
Cetaceans. It'd be hard to do anything new with orcas, I think, and beyond river dolphins the dolphins are pretty well covered. But other cetaceans are much less well-represented. Some fertile ground here.<br>
 +
Humanoids. By which I mean both stuff like elves, orcs, et cetera, and 'themed more-or-less human' forms like the Visceral Surgeon or the Genetically Enhanced Human. Glitch, in particular, has written quite a few of these, but on the whole, they're less common than anthros and taurs.<br>
 +
Reptiles as a whole. As a group, reptiles are reasonably well represented, even if you don't count dragons and dinosaurs as reptiles. Still, though, there's a lot of room for expansion, most especially for non-snake reptiles. <br>
 +
Birds. If you look at them in general, we have a reasonable number of bird forms. Examining the actual forms available, though, you'll observe that there are still plenty of new avian forms possible. Part-avian hybrids are one of the most common types, but pure bestial avians are rarer. I don't think we have any avian taurs (although I can see why not!) <br><br>
 +
 +
-Uncommon-
 +
Things on this list are present as more than a handful of forms, but are still relatively under-represented and present a lot of opportunity for new forms.<br><br>
 +
 +
Plants. We have a number of plant forms, but there's still quite a few things that are completely undone.<br>
 +
Mustelids that aren't skunks. Badgers, wolverines, ferrets, weasels, and their ilk are uncommon compared to skunks and to other form types on the whole. We have a handful of mustelids, but there's plenty of room for more.<br>
 +
Insects and Arachnids. Insects, in particular, are not very well-covered.<br>
 +
Candy. While we have several existing candy forms, there's a lot of conceptual ground left uncovered here. For example, there's only one or two chocolate forms, and they handle the idea of chocolate in very specific ways. So there's still room for more specific, detailed, and/or unusual candy form concepts.<br>
 +
Bestials. Meaning forms that are 'naturally' shaped. A wolf that looks like an actual, real wolf, for example. I've noticed that anthros, taurs, and humanoids are much better represented than bestials. Taurs are helped by the fact that anthro forms can become taurs using the Leg Divider, of course, but even if you only count the 'natural' taurs like Fox Taur and Wolven Predator, there are far more of those than bestials (sometimes confusingly known as ferals, as in Feral Dragon, a term I prefer to avoid in order to prevent confusion with the term 'feral' meaning a nanite-crazed, socially devolved mutant.) So if an idea you like already exists, but as an anthro, you could try something along the same lines, only bestial (and ideally with something else to make it stand out beyond that, so it doesn't feel like you literally just made a bestial version of some other form). <br><br>
 +
 +
 +
-Rare-
 +
Things on this list are highly under-represented. This is very fertile ground for new forms.<br><br>
 +
 +
Fungi. We have barely any mushroom or fungus-based forms. The possibilities here are endless.<br>
 +
Inorganics that aren't goo or latex or a robot/clockwork. Bookwyrm is an example of what I'm talking about here. The world is full of weird stuff that people could have gotten mixed up with by the nanites on P-Day to create new forms. We're not allowed to make new vehicle forms anymore, but there's SO much else that could be done. Not all forms have to be sexy or arousing, after all. Forms are allowed to be whimsical or horrifying or whatever appeals to you so long as it doesn't violate the game's canon or create other problems. <br>
 +
Food that isn't candy, or more specific types of candy. Again, a huge universe of possibilities here.<br>
 +
Personified Concepts. Remember that the nanites on P-Day were evidently capable of making forms based on ideas and thoughts, or data of artwork stored in computers. That's part of why we can have forms based on mythical and imaginary beings, and stuff like the Anime Girl form. What would a person become if the nanites tried to transform them based on an angry fantasy they were having, becoming a beast literally representing anger and wrath? A lot of forms are highly sexualized, but this isn't the only primal instinct that nanites can push into overdrive. Many forms have conceptual aspects, but not many people explore this idea more broadly. Blade Beast and Wild Cannibal kind of fit this notion, but more could be done with this.<br>
 +
Nanotubes, transparent fluids, living glass, et cetera. The Spectral is the only one I know of. There's a lot of potential here for forms that resemble ghosts and so on. We can't have actual gaseous or immaterial forms, but you could definitely do a glowy one made of a semi-fluid, glass-like material.<br>
 +
Non-avian-dinosaur extinct species. We have a pterosaur, and a mammoth, and a sabertooth. And some 'dire' stuff, but it's not meant in the sense of an actual, real-life dire wolf. I don't think we even have one of those. And I think that's about it for non-avian-dinosaur extinct-species forms. I might be overlooking something. Point is, there's LOTS of interesting extinct mammals and birds (aka avian dinosaurs) and non-dinosaur reptiles. (I have a soft spot for therapsids for some odd reason.) <br>
 +
Fish. We just don't have a lot of forms based on non-shark fish. Very few. <br>
 +
Amphibians. There's only a handful of amphibian forms. There's lots of room for specificity and the other design tools mentioned above to create viable new amphibian form concepts.<br>
 +
Porcines. We have exactly one pig form that I can think of, and it's basically the Three Little Pigs turned evil (Hotdoggers). It's an Elite Shop form, too. We have no wild boars. I don't think we have a warthog. So yeah. Lots of room for new porcine forms.<br>
 +
Elephants and rhinos. Again, we have these on a basic level, but there's plenty of room for unusual/unique variants.<br>
 +
Cervines. There's lots of room for new deer forms. They're surprisingly under-represented.<br>

Latest revision as of 16:39, 2 November 2016

Hi! My name is Jack. I'm 31 and I live in California, in the northeastern SF Bay Area. I'm the human behind the following Flexible Survival characters. All of my characters are Nanite Adepts in addition to whatever other dedications they may have. I was made staff on 9/26/16! I was hired specifically to work on forms, though I hope to do some building in the future as well. My staff username is Lurhstaap. Please contact me there if you're contacting me for 'official' reasons (as opposed to wanting to RP with one of my characters or just talk to me OOCly on a casual basis). I am less likely to miss PMs sent to the Lurhstaap name since I won't be playing on it.

Acetyl is my primary character. Neuter. Native Storm Dragon. Necromantic Acolyte. Head of Xanadu R&D and caretaker of the hunting territory known as Xanadu Gardens. Uses male pronouns most of the time despite being neuter. Dimensionally Touched and a bit off in the head. About half "SCIENCE!" and half ravening feral. Does his best not to descend into his more wild side. Does not always succeed. Other than science, learning, and knowledge, Acetyl loves reading books and whatever other forms of the written word he can get his hands on, surfing, hiking, camping, hunting and fishing (of normal wild animals, mainly for food), crafting, and hunting for salvage. He is driven by strong impulses that are both creative and destructive, leading to a lot of internal conflict and guilt feelings for him. Acetyl is my "Zephyr alt".

Xolotl is a Quetzalcoatl dedicant who strongly favors her supernatural dedi form, but tends to mutate a lot and so may not always be seen as a feathered serpent. Technically a Promethean, but in reality she functions as a feral. Tends to use female or neuter pronouns, but is a herm as often as not. However, like her form, her sex changes constantly. She has fully embraced the nanite plague and revels in her changing body. Unlike Acetyl, Xolotl barely comprehends even the concept of guilt and doesn't feel bad about anything she does. She can be kind of scary. She's not invariably malicious though, just extremely self-absorbed. Xolotl is technically my original "Promethean alt", but she's more of a straight up feral in practice.

Delve is a xenobiologist working for RSX. She is one of their rarer mutant agents, being an anthro coyote, though she has had the Advanced Inoculation and does not mutate uncontrollably. Despite being a mutant, Delve is much more reliant on technology and civilized ways than on mutant powers. She prefers high-tech weaponry and, if necessary, her booted feet and fists in combat, resorting to such methods as claws or biting only if desperate, and in general still sees herself as basically human in spite of her outer form. She feels an attraction to Coyote but has so far resisted this draw. She is, naturally, my 'RSX alt'.

Hailey is a feral Egyptian Mau born after P-Day. She belongs to Trace as his pet/breeder/slutkitten. She's pregnant with her first cub by Trace and is very much looking forward to being a mother. A little odd in the head, but a sweet girl who is genuinely grateful to Trace for giving her a home and a purpose in life - such as it is. It's more than she had before, though. As with Xolotl, Hailey is technically a Promethean but in practice is a feral. Life with Trace may uplift her to some degree in certain ways, even as it devolves her to a pet in others - this remains to be seen.

Saxon is a relatively new character who I have yet to RP. I plan to eventually make him a Lunar Touched wolf type. He is male and was an adult when P-Day happened. Music is very important to Saxon. He has Survivalist and anarchist leanings and will probably end up as a Survivor although he is a Promethean at this time. Saxon tends to be a loner, both attracted to and repelled by people in all their fascinating contradictions, their goods and their evils.

Ourothrax is my newest character, also has yet to see RP, but he will. He may become Lunar Touched dragon, or something else... unsure yet. Nanite Adept for now. He is Male Preferred and was alive for P-Day. He's based a lot on the stereotypical western dragon concept - haughty, arrogant, self-important, sadistic, greedy. He's with the Prometheans for now, playing nice in public, but he's probably going to end up a Survivor.

I currently have one empty alt slot. I may or may not ever use it. We'll see what happens. I feel like I have my hands full with alts at the moment, but you never know, I might come up with some new personality I want to RP.

-Form Stuff!-

I enjoy writing forms! I mean, a lot. I write a lot of forms. In fact, I'm on staff to write forms, because I write forms a lot. XD The following forms were all written by me originally, though some have since had kemo or splitter compatibility added by other writers - I didn't write the kemo descs for Storm Dragon, for instance. I do hope to update many of these to give them kemo and other compats.

In fact, as of 9/22/16, that work has begun! I'm going in alphabetical order, but if you particularly want to see something for a certain form of mine - say, Color Chooser on Gryphoenix, just as a random example - let me know and I'll move it up the list!
Also note that I DO take requests and commissions! Bookwyrm and my planty forms were written on request. Page-mail or PM me, or catch me in the channels on the MUCK, to ask about form stuff! I really need both positive and negative feedback and heartily encourage both! Positive feedback tells me what people like and enjoy, so I know what I've done right and what is popular. Negative feedback tells me what I've done wrong, so I can fix my current work and improve my future work. Both are extremely important, indeed essential, to me as a writer, so if you feel the urge to praise or criticize anything I've written, PLEASE tell me about it, in as much detail and specificity as you can. It will be hugely appreciated, even if you're telling me everything you hate about everything I've ever done! I can't emphasize that enough! This is especially important now that I'm a staffer whose job is specifically to write forms on an official basis!

Anyway, here's that list of forms. (An asterisk * means the form is approved but not currently on grid for one reason or another, whether needing some revision or, more commonly, just never having made it to the grid yet.)

My Approved Forms:

Anery Stripe Cornsnake
Balaur Taur*
Bookwyrm
Cativa
Friendly Fossa*
Gryphoenix
Gulotaur*
Indicat
Psilocybe Dragon
Redwood Unicorn*
Sandfire Dragon
Siamese Seer*
Social Butterfly*
Storm Dragon
Stygian Hound
Vampiric Wolf
Wild Cannibal
Xanadu Bird
Zombified

All my old forms are being updated with improved descs/TFs, kemonomimi, and as many of the choosers/splitters as possible for the given form. As of 11/2/16, I have finished writing updates for Anery Stripe Cornsnake and Balaur Taur, and have done at least some work on most of the others, including adding scents to most of them, and kemonomimi compatibility to Vampiric Wolf, Stygian Hound, and Wild Cannibal.

For those who have been asking, here's a list of the forms I am currently in the process of working on and their rough progress as of the last time I updated this (9/18/2016). I am far from the game's best form writer (in fact I'm kind of over-wordy and clumsy with my descriptions...) but if you like my work regardless, I'm happy to try to write a form that you'd like to see in the game. I have no control over what gets accepted and put on grid by staff so I make no promises, but I am happy to take requests and have in the past (Bookwyrm was a request, for example, and it's on grid now!)

Ready For Review
Nothing right now.

Requires Revision
All of these have been critiqued by Glitch and are just waiting for me to have time to repair them. Some need only slight changes, others need significant work.

Bullygoat - A four-armed, monstrous goat-thing that eats anything, and I do mean anything, that crosses its path. The Gulotaur will turn its nose up at inorganics, seeking meat and blood alone, but the Bullygoat is happy to chew up whatever it encounters. The Bullygoat, unlike the Gulotaur, can also be appeased - if you submit to it, it will accept sexual favors from you instead of attacking you, giving a special scene specifically for if you submitted to it.

Graveyard Thing and Hungry Horror - Two related bestial undead-ish forms. Both need significant revision.

Submissive Stallion - The first in a series of leather kink forms I'm writing. It's a man blended with a leather equine-themed bondage suit, producing a sort of anthro horse with the leather horse hood/mask and other stuff become part of their body.

Wolrat - It's a creature that resembles a blend of wolf and rat, but with some unique features and a distinctive bent toward rape and a kind of violence that would have lead to murder in the pre-P-Day world but is now merely kinky, rapey, and disturbing.

In Progress
These range from just having one or two sentences to hold the idea to being almost fully written and ready to submit.

Alpha and Omega Leatherwolf - A pair of related forms from the same set as the Submissive Stallion, this time with lupine-themed hoods/masks and gear rather than equine. The Alpha is a sadistic Dominant/Master who exemplifies leather as a symbol of power and control, while the Omega Leatherwolf is a submissive/slave who exemplifies leather as a symbol of ownership and domestication - the pet's collar and the workbeast's tack are made of leather. (I know we have a LOT of canine forms already, but I've seen very few of these leather "fursuits/animal themed bondage suits", and all of them were either wolf based or horse based with a small handful of exceptions, most of which were some other kind of canine. Plus, I just found my mental image of these guys too compelling to pass up. We'll see if they actually make it into the game, though.)

Almanac Faestag - One of my two contributions to the Seasonals Set started by Hiirome, to be placed in a Hunting Territory she and I will be splitting the cost of and hopefully the ownership of (though if the code doesn't allow for dual ownership I will be ceding the HT to Hiirome since it was her idea originally, with her Weasonal form.) The Almanac Faestag is similar to the Cativa in that both are faestags, but instead of being half cannabis plant, the Almanac Faestag is a 'pure' example of its kind and is rather more deerlike than the Cativa, which emphasized the feline aspects of the faestag concept. It also will use the 'seasonal' code Hiirome developed for the Weasonal form, allowing it to look different in different in-game seasons.

Barneycle - It's a barnacle. That surfs. But not very well. (Barney Barnacle? Get it? :p) Part of the surfer/beach set.

Baying Shambler - Sort of a zombie werewolf, but with some kind of specific habits that distinguish it from a generic zombie werewolf.

Blood Gargoyle - Big ugly winged beastie with green glowing eyes and a bare chest/belly. Probably will be another hard vore form.

Boar Baron - The fourth form in the leather beasts set, this one a Dominant wild boar to counter the Submissive Stallion. (Have never seen a boar version of one of these suits, but it would look damn awesome and we have no wild boar forms, so why not?)

Calendar Pheasant - My other 'seasonal' form. A non-anthro/bestial bird, or possibly a gryphon-like four-limbed avian like the Xanadu Bird. Will have very distinctive, colorful plumage which changes with the seasons, as with the other forms in this set. May use the seasonal motif in other forms, too, but this and the Almanac Faestag will be my contributions to this specific project with Hiirome.

Chemical Firebird - A phoenix or firebird-like form contaminated by pollution, resulting in a dark bird of nightmare which seems to be swathed in green, poisonous flames (and which can also project such flames at foes). It desires less to inflict raw violence, and more to corrupt and consume. It likes nothing better than turning other people into Chemical Firebirds, or, failing that, to poison or at least bedevil them, and watch their suffering.

Clockwork Panther and Clockwork Wolf - These are not exactly like the existing clockwork forms, but aren't entirely different either. By coincidence, in my teens and early 20s I used to draw these creatures a lot. Decided it might be fun to make them into forms, since even though they're a little different they still kind of fit in with the existing Clockwork Foxes and stuff.

Coca Cobra - Intended for the Xanadu Gardens expansion. Not developed much yet beyond the idea of 'cocaine snake' with a possible secondary theme of 'soda/cola snake'.

Eldritch Tentacletaur - It's... um. It's an eldritch tentacletaur. Not... sure what else to say about this. It's like Ursula from the Little Mermaid meets a D&D illithid meets a real-life cuttlefish.

Feral Akhlut - An arctic beastie that resembles a mix of wolf and orca that can hunt both on land and in the water. Intended as a possible companion form for Gulotaur if a new cold zone were to be made. (They could also both be thrown into the existing ice zone.)

Feral Xolotl - A bizarre critter from South American lore. (Name of the beast not related to my character's name except in that they're both inspired by the same deity). Sort of a weird lightning dog with the head of a harpy eagle on the end of its tail, but more/different.

Hungry Plush Dragon - A soft cuddly vore form meant for those who prefer gentle, friendly vore to more realistic or sexualized depictions. Also just meant to increase the number of plushie forms in the game.

Karma Chameleon - Another one for the expansion of Xanadu Gardens. A chameleon with hippie-ish tendencies.

Knivesnake - A bald-headed reptilian form with weaponized hands and small, billowing wings useless for flight but which act like a cape, swirling around it to confuse its outline and also helping it to jump better and even glide short distances.

Kooky Kelpie - A bit similar to the Redwood Unicorn, except it's a seaweed-maned water horse anthro that thinks it's a better surfer than it really is, and is also a bit silly in general despite its potential dangerousness. (A Kelpie who is a Kook!) Part of the surf/beach set.

Lizard King - A regal, gently dominant lizard-ish form. Gives off a subtle yet unmistakable aroma of Mr. Mojo Risin. (May not make it into the game because of this, but I had to give it a try. XD) If it makes it, it's destined for the Xanadu Gardens expansion along with Coca Cobra, Karma Chameleon, and Opium Drake.

Opium Drake - A beautiful non-anthro, mostly Asian-style dragon form. Her bodily fluids are all infused with opium. She has as much destructive potential as any dragon form, but her main goal is to seduce and infect rather than violence. Soft vore form that swallows the loser as a prelude to rebirthing them from her womb (victory/loss scenes include contingencies for non-vagina-having victors, of course.)

Scarlet Damseldragon - A dragonfly dragon. Specifically, it's a blend of an Asian type dragon with the Scarlet Damselfly. Gorgeous looking thing. This one is being written with aesthetic beauty in mind rather than sex or violence. Still have to come up with plausible win-lose scenes. May end up veering into the horrific to give them a sharper edge or may keep them a relatively 'soft'/gentle form.

Sea Dog - Part dog, part shark, all grouch. A salty, snappy sort who lives for the ocean, whether surfing, boating, fishing, or what have you, and doesn't like having his seaside solitude interrupted. Part of the surfer/beach set.

Serpentaur - A snake taur. Not like a naga, with a legless snake body, but a creature with the upper body of an anthro snake attached to a taur body that resembles a snake's body that's been shortened and grown legs, for a four-legged reptile taur.

Stygian Grimalkin and Stygian Pard - New forms related to the Stygian Hound, based on small cats (grimalkin) and big ones (pard). Will be very distinct from existing feline forms in similarly demonic ways as to how the Stygian Hound varies from a typical canine form.

Surf Rat - The beach bum cousin of the Mall Rat. Not entirely dissimilar, except they laze around and eat junk food on the beach and surf instead of skateboarding. Though they'll gladly consume anything their Mall Rat cousins would in a pinch, Surf Rats have a distinctive preference for certain types of junk food, such as fish tacos, beer, and other things that were once considered 'beach food' in the pre-P-Day world.

Tyrannotaur - It's a Tyrannosaur taur. Not sure what else to say about it. A thing that should not be. It will give you nightmares with its bizarre anatomy and sheer horrific improbability.

Xenophobic Xiuhcoatl - Another of the South American critters, this one is a sort of plated, fiery, feathery serpent-beast with no wings. Its eyes are mirrored and constantly ooze smoke. It has four clawed limbs, too. Unlike the Xolotl, the Xiuhcoatl is anthropomorphic or at least therian-like. And it doesn't like you. It really, really doesn't like anyone, actually.

-Form Writing Advice-

This is a haphazard spot where I write down anything I think of that I think might be helpful to other formwriters. Not officially as a staffer, mind, just my own thoughts as a fellow player. All this stuff is my own opinion and shouldn't be taken as formal staff advice until and unless I edit this to say otherwise, or it appears in a more official context than my own personal userpage. :p

Item one - form ideas. It's often said that it's difficult to come up with forms that aren't already done. That's not true. There's a huge realm of unexplored viable form concepts - everything from normal animals we don't have any version of, or which we may have a generic example (say, Spider) but few or no more specific or nuanced variants (say, Tarantula), to creatures from historical mythology and legend or heraldry or art, to novel hybrids and blends or chimeras of multiple things and other purely imaginary critters and beasties. My problem as a form writer is always an excess of ideas rather than a lack of them.

The thing is, the more popular or more likely to be thought of ideas are the ones that are already done, which naturally gives people an initial impression that there's nothing left to do. It's true that the game does cover a lot of ground. We have hundreds of forms and more in the making all the time. But there's still plenty more you can do.

So I decided it might be helpful to make a list of what I personally think are the species and ideas that are more or less creatively 'fertile' for new FS forms. I don't want to use the phrase 'overused' because I don't want to discourage you from pursuing something you're really passionate about, but I do want to warn people that it's more difficult to come up with a sufficiently different concept for some things than others, either because we already have a lot of them, or because it's a relatively limited idea and we've already covered it. Again, it's not impossible that the staffers who approve forms (I'm not one of them, yet - for now, I just write content and do odd jobs for the most part) will accept, say, a fox-based form. It's just very difficult to come up with a fox form that's different enough from the many foxes we already have to not feel redundant or same-y. By the same token, we have very few mushroom or fungus-inspired forms, so it's relatively easy to come up with something we don't already have.

Pro Tip: You can sometimes create an interesting, useable idea by combining a very common one (say, dragon) with a rare one (say, fungus). Result: Psilocybe Dragon, a form that, despite being a dragon, is very, very different from any other dragon form on the game, so it doesn't feel redundant or same-y. You get the idea. That doesn't always work (and with the most common ideas, like foxes, it may have even already been done - that's how popular foxes and the like are!) But it can be a source of inspiration. Hybridization can work this way, too, but be cautious because it's more likely to be already done unless it's really a wild combination (wolf-tiger is done, but octopus-unicorn is not).

Pro Tip II: Specificity, bleeding, and blending are all very useful for coming up with new ideas based on a common or already-used concept you really adore.

Specificity: We already had snake forms, but most of them had naga-like serpent lower bodies and no legs. There were lots of real-life species with interesting, stand-out traits that would be distinct from what we already had. Result - Anery Stripe Cornsnake, a fully anthro snake form, and so far the game's sole corn snake form. As a more general example, is we already have a generic Spider, try a Tarantula or a Black Widow. Caveat! The more popular/common (or narrow/limited) the base idea is, the less useful specificity becomes. At some point, same-y-ness becomes a real issue. If we already have a Rattlesnake, we probably don't need a Western Diamondback. With that said, it is still sometimes possible to find viable options even with very popular concepts. For example, we have spotted hyenas, but no aardwolves. We have many skunks, but only a few of the many other mustelids, leaving lots of room for variants.

Blending: This is where you take a basic idea (say, a pegasus) and work in concepts and traits that make it very different from what we already have. For example, we have the Crimson Pegasus. But it's an anthro. So there's room for a non-anthro/bestial pegasus. But to make your concept even stronger and less likely to feel like an overlap with the Crimson Pegasus, you could blend in kinks or other things that you like or are interested in or just think the game could use more of. Let's say you enjoy macros. You could make a pegasus that's not just non-anthro, but it's an enormous beast, based on a draft-type horse with big fuzzy hooves to stomp on things. (Note this also takes advantage of specificity. Someone else could come along and make a tiny, lightly built non-anthro pegasus that likes to hide inside flowers, and it would be very different from your big-enough-to-trample-cars pegasus, even though they're both non-anthro pegasi.)

Bleeding: Bleeding involves mutating or changing part of the idea a bit until a new, more useful idea results. For example, we may already have a 'Blue Gryphon', but we didn't have a phoenix-gryphon (until I wrote Gryphoenix). This is also hybridization, in a way, but it's an example of bleeding too because it starts with the basic idea of a gryphon, then considers one of the components (the bird part) and then begins shuffling through related ideas (other species or kinds of birds that could make the form really distinct from the existing Blue Gryphons, in this case). The pegasus examples in Blending also contain a minor example of bleeding - we have an anthro pegasus, but no bestial/non-anthro pegasus.

This list is not comprehensive and will probably be added to. I intend to modify it over time to account for new forms being added.

-Very Challenging-
Things on this list are either form types we have a whole lot of, or they're relatively limited or narrow concepts for which we already have representative forms. The number of forms may be small, but the concept itself is such that it'd be difficult to come up with variations that are sufficiently different from what we already have to be likely to be approved.

Foxes. Probably the number one most common form type in the game. I would honestly recommend not writing fox-based forms unless they are significantly different from what we already have.
Wolves. Also very common, though not quite as much.
Coyotes. We don't have bunches and bunches of coyote forms, but there's not much to cover that isn't already done by the existing forms. You'd have to get pretty out there with hybridizing or other weirdness to make a coyote form that had a good chance of acceptance, I think.
Domestic dogs. Although there are many breeds for which we don't have specific forms to represent them, many are similar enough that they'd feel very same-y. You would have to choose a breed which is quite unlike the breeds already represented, or else have a very unusual concept that involves one or more of the above-noted design techniques such as hybridizing and concept blending.
Felines in general, although there is slightly more room to work here as there are many breeds of domestic cat. Still, ultimately, the group as a whole is as popular as the three canine species noted above.
Western Dragons. Although dragons in general don't fall on this list, of our many dragon forms, the majority are Western types, making it more difficult to come up with a viable Western dragon form than it is for other types of dragon. (Still, a dragon form is generally easier to do than anything else on this top list.)


-Challenging- Things on this list are common, but not as difficult to come up with viably different variations on as the things in the first list. Either that, or they're common but not as overwhelmingly so as those on the first list, thus leaving a slightly larger amount of viable new form ideas.

Dragons. Although we have a lot of dragons, the concept of 'dragon' is so incredibly diverse that it is much easier to come up with a viable, unique dragon form than it is, say, a fox. For example, most of our dragons are more or less Western-style. We have a couple of wyverns, and one thing that claims to be a wyvern but has arms, which IMO makes it not a wyvern, but nevermind that. Personal quibble. :p There's even room for more Western-type designs if you're creative, but it's even easier to come up with a viable draconic form if you stray into the more exotic dragon subtypes. Even Asian-type dragons are relatively underrepresented.
Bovines. This is a relatively narrow concept and we have it pretty well covered. But I don't think it would be as difficult to come up with a solidly unique bovine concept as it would a fox or wolf, so it goes in this list. Cows to be milked, though, are pretty much covered, unless you go into really weird territory. Stuff like buffalos, bison, aurochs, and extinct bovines are more fertile ground in terms of avoiding redundancy.
Latex. We have a large number of latex things. Of course, there's plenty of stuff unrepresented, but latex forms get kind of same-y if you're not careful, hence their inclusion in this list. (To be honest, I tend to think the best solution for this is simply to use the latex template form, so you can be a latex any-other-form, rather than making new specifically latex forms. But that's just me.)
Gryphons. With the Blue Gryphon as such a basic form, any gryphon concept is going to have to be pretty significantly different to be viable. Just changing the colors won't do it.

-Moderate- Things on this list are well-represented, but there are still plenty of gaps that could be covered. Either that, or there's already an example of a relatively narrow idea, but there's still room for at least a few variations, at least in my personal opinion.

Equines. While we have a reasonable number of equines in general, there's a lot of conceptual ground not yet covered. For example, there's only one pegasus form, as noted, and it's an anthro. There's a lot of room for original takes on pegasi, therefore. To a somewhat lesser degree, the same is true of unicorns (especially if you take them in a hybrid direction and give them more goatish and/or cervine traits rather than just putting a horn on a horse). You might be able to get away with a well-written form based on a real horse breed, presuming it's significantly different than any existing equine form. (I don't think we have many fully non-anthro horses, for instance, and the one zebra form I can think of is anthro.)
Dinosaurs. There are a reasonable number of dinosaur-based forms, but they're mostly based on the most popular and well-known species. There's a huge amount of room for other stuff. Some very unique and interesting ones are not represented. (Can you believe that, as of when I'm typing this, we have no Archaeopteryx??)
Sharks. We have a handful, but there's a lot of room for variations too, especially specific species with very distinctive traits that would set them off from the existing shark forms, and quirky hybrids or concept bleeds akin to the Card Shark.
Cetaceans. It'd be hard to do anything new with orcas, I think, and beyond river dolphins the dolphins are pretty well covered. But other cetaceans are much less well-represented. Some fertile ground here.
Humanoids. By which I mean both stuff like elves, orcs, et cetera, and 'themed more-or-less human' forms like the Visceral Surgeon or the Genetically Enhanced Human. Glitch, in particular, has written quite a few of these, but on the whole, they're less common than anthros and taurs.
Reptiles as a whole. As a group, reptiles are reasonably well represented, even if you don't count dragons and dinosaurs as reptiles. Still, though, there's a lot of room for expansion, most especially for non-snake reptiles.
Birds. If you look at them in general, we have a reasonable number of bird forms. Examining the actual forms available, though, you'll observe that there are still plenty of new avian forms possible. Part-avian hybrids are one of the most common types, but pure bestial avians are rarer. I don't think we have any avian taurs (although I can see why not!)

-Uncommon- Things on this list are present as more than a handful of forms, but are still relatively under-represented and present a lot of opportunity for new forms.

Plants. We have a number of plant forms, but there's still quite a few things that are completely undone.
Mustelids that aren't skunks. Badgers, wolverines, ferrets, weasels, and their ilk are uncommon compared to skunks and to other form types on the whole. We have a handful of mustelids, but there's plenty of room for more.
Insects and Arachnids. Insects, in particular, are not very well-covered.
Candy. While we have several existing candy forms, there's a lot of conceptual ground left uncovered here. For example, there's only one or two chocolate forms, and they handle the idea of chocolate in very specific ways. So there's still room for more specific, detailed, and/or unusual candy form concepts.
Bestials. Meaning forms that are 'naturally' shaped. A wolf that looks like an actual, real wolf, for example. I've noticed that anthros, taurs, and humanoids are much better represented than bestials. Taurs are helped by the fact that anthro forms can become taurs using the Leg Divider, of course, but even if you only count the 'natural' taurs like Fox Taur and Wolven Predator, there are far more of those than bestials (sometimes confusingly known as ferals, as in Feral Dragon, a term I prefer to avoid in order to prevent confusion with the term 'feral' meaning a nanite-crazed, socially devolved mutant.) So if an idea you like already exists, but as an anthro, you could try something along the same lines, only bestial (and ideally with something else to make it stand out beyond that, so it doesn't feel like you literally just made a bestial version of some other form).


-Rare- Things on this list are highly under-represented. This is very fertile ground for new forms.

Fungi. We have barely any mushroom or fungus-based forms. The possibilities here are endless.
Inorganics that aren't goo or latex or a robot/clockwork. Bookwyrm is an example of what I'm talking about here. The world is full of weird stuff that people could have gotten mixed up with by the nanites on P-Day to create new forms. We're not allowed to make new vehicle forms anymore, but there's SO much else that could be done. Not all forms have to be sexy or arousing, after all. Forms are allowed to be whimsical or horrifying or whatever appeals to you so long as it doesn't violate the game's canon or create other problems.
Food that isn't candy, or more specific types of candy. Again, a huge universe of possibilities here.
Personified Concepts. Remember that the nanites on P-Day were evidently capable of making forms based on ideas and thoughts, or data of artwork stored in computers. That's part of why we can have forms based on mythical and imaginary beings, and stuff like the Anime Girl form. What would a person become if the nanites tried to transform them based on an angry fantasy they were having, becoming a beast literally representing anger and wrath? A lot of forms are highly sexualized, but this isn't the only primal instinct that nanites can push into overdrive. Many forms have conceptual aspects, but not many people explore this idea more broadly. Blade Beast and Wild Cannibal kind of fit this notion, but more could be done with this.
Nanotubes, transparent fluids, living glass, et cetera. The Spectral is the only one I know of. There's a lot of potential here for forms that resemble ghosts and so on. We can't have actual gaseous or immaterial forms, but you could definitely do a glowy one made of a semi-fluid, glass-like material.
Non-avian-dinosaur extinct species. We have a pterosaur, and a mammoth, and a sabertooth. And some 'dire' stuff, but it's not meant in the sense of an actual, real-life dire wolf. I don't think we even have one of those. And I think that's about it for non-avian-dinosaur extinct-species forms. I might be overlooking something. Point is, there's LOTS of interesting extinct mammals and birds (aka avian dinosaurs) and non-dinosaur reptiles. (I have a soft spot for therapsids for some odd reason.)
Fish. We just don't have a lot of forms based on non-shark fish. Very few.
Amphibians. There's only a handful of amphibian forms. There's lots of room for specificity and the other design tools mentioned above to create viable new amphibian form concepts.
Porcines. We have exactly one pig form that I can think of, and it's basically the Three Little Pigs turned evil (Hotdoggers). It's an Elite Shop form, too. We have no wild boars. I don't think we have a warthog. So yeah. Lots of room for new porcine forms.
Elephants and rhinos. Again, we have these on a basic level, but there's plenty of room for unusual/unique variants.
Cervines. There's lots of room for new deer forms. They're surprisingly under-represented.