/RETRIEVING CAPSULE [Design]...
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Helpful Terminology:
- MYO: Stands for "Make-Your-Own," a common phrase in species communities meaning a design you create yourself using a "MYO slot." For Vidosphere, Relics are equivalent to these slots. You do not need a Relic to make a Vido for personal use, only to register one on-site.
- Redesign: Giving an existing design a new coat of paint or additions.
- Trait: A specific, named feature of a design. Many traits may require something like ES to add to your Vido.
- Custom: A custom-made design, often commissioned from another artist. Users may offer or seek out customs in return for currency or other things.
Designing a Vido
Want to make your own Vido? You can design one for personal use any time you’d like, though to put it on the site, you will need to activate a Relic first! Once a relic is activated and on the masterlist, you can add ES to it at any time.
What is ES?
Certain features on a Vido, or Traits, require Energy Slots (ES) to use. ES is applied to your Activated Relic or Vido through ES Potions. Keep track of how much ES you’ll need to register your Vido with the traits it has if you’re planning on putting it on the masterlist! You can use a handy calculator here to see how much it'd all need.
≥ Minimum Requirements:
- Tear lines coming from the eyes and connecting to the mouth in some degree.
- If teeth are showing, at least four flat teeth.
- Both a blank eye (no pupil) and normal eye (pupil) visible on the ref.
- At least four digits on the front feet and four toes on the back feet, not counting missing from injury.
- Clothed or humanoid designs must illustrate all traits you want the Vido to have on the image.
Vido may be depicted in quad or bipedal stances, or a humanoid form. Along with these, designs must follow the site's content guide.
Tear Lines
Vido always have a tear stripe leading from their eye to somewhere on the lip. These can be shaped, thickened, or interrupted somewhat but should follow the general flow. Tearlines can deviate from the usual curve as long as they connect to the mouth.
Recommendations:
[image detailing inner and outer flesh + how notes can work]Depending on the design, these recommendations may make it less likely for a design to be rejected!
- Make the inner and outer flesh clearly different colors, textures, or patterning! Keeping the inner and outer flesh distinct makes it easier to tell what’s skin and what’s flesh when it comes to traits like Breach or Inkskin.
- If your Vido has drip-like attachments that aren’t actually fluid or gooey, please make a note that they’re solid!
- If something seems visually ambiguous, labeling it with text helps!
- Vido have an open, gill-like gap that connects from under their jaw up to a set of holes on the top of their head. This gap isn’t required especially in simpler styles (for example, people don’t often draw ears on lizards) but it is a species feature that you’re allowed to stylize!
- Soft spikes often don’t have harsh color differences between the base and body, but if they do, write a note saying they're soft so that they aren't interpreted as hard!
Common Features
Multiple types of skin textures can be present on one Vido.
Vido can have a variety of differences without the use of ES, such as:
- Smooth, wrinkled, bumpy or amphibian-like skin (may have a wattle of loose skin on the neck, but exaggerated examples may require the use of the Ruffled trait)
- Varying proportions, face shapes, and body types. Vido may vary from "cartoon-like" bodies to a closer mimicry of realistic anatomy.
- Any palette or patterning. Colors and patterns will never be traited, only properties such as glow or sheen.
- Any shape of horns or "ears" on the head (as long as they don't resemble other bodyparts). These can grow out of the interface with the same color as the inner flesh or grow from the outer flesh (will be soft without the use of Bony Protrusion).
- Tongues can be any shape as long as they don't resemble existing bodyparts or objects (such as hands, flowers, etc)
- Tailtips may have a flexible spade or be split near the tip (a hard, bony spade will require Bony Protrusion)
TEXTURE:
A vido's skin can vary from matte to lightly glossy, and may feel like skin, plastic, silicone, or even lightly flocked or soft and smooth as if dusted with baking powder.
Vido with the Gleam trait may display High-gloss or metallic surfaces.
Frills are soft and covered with the same skin as the body. Vido are partially inspired by rubber toys, and therefore most of their bodies are bendable or have give in some way.
Frills can be a myriad of simple shapes. For more ornate complex shapes such as filigree, the Artisan (wip) trait is required.
Frills are entirely cosmetic, and can bend to the touch -- even ones that mimick sharp points are not rigid. An exception to this is a Vido's teeth and parts of its "skeleton", and any with the Bony Protrusion trait may have hard, superdense gel making up parts for a sharp, rigid spike or horn.
To better visually communicate this, most frills and spines should seamlessly attach to the body. If a seam is given, a note on its softness should be added.
Variants
Some relics come with special features known as Variants. Be sure to check the requirements on the relic's encyclopedia page, every Variant has a set of special traits it can use at the cost of no ES!
Can I base my Vido off of another character?
Vido that are registered on-site must not heavily reference the visual design of characters you have not designed, and inspiration must be pushed enough that they can stand distinctly on their own.
There is more leniency for Vido based off characters that you have both designed yourself and are yours, which may resemble them more closely.
Personal Vido that are not planned to be registered may resemble characters from other media!
Once you’re done
When you are done designing your Vido, you can update your activated relic with its design at the reception area if you are planning on registering it on the Masterlist. Please give at least a week for approval!
If you aren't, please enjoy your new character as you would your others and have fun, whether using the setting of Ichus or your own!
Altering your Vido (wip)
If you'd like to change up an existing Vido, you may as long as the design stays true to the original. Recognizability is subjective, but think of it as preserving the Vido's identity on the masterlist! (examples and cases TBA)
