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Designing in algolopes is generally very lenient, but we ask foremost that members are cooperative and cordial with admins as the group is still developing. Rules may change and we may decide something is allowed in the past but not in the future.
You can always ask for assistance in discord or get a design done by admins for free by visiting [Design Requests].
Colors: All colors for basecoats should be picked within reason from the base coat 'swatches' or 'sliders', these terms may be used interchangeably. We have both fullsize color swatches viewable and downloadable on the Coat Colors page, as well as minis in the hyperlinked information pages.
Markings: Each marking has it's own specific guidelines, you can review these guidlines by clicking the name of the marking. Some markings have variations depending on whether the gene is 'dominant' or homozygous, ex: RnRn , recessive or heterozygous, ex nRn.
Marking layering is also pretty lenient, most markings can be layed freely, however 'white marks' such as tobiano, pied, overo, etc must be on top of other markings. If a white mark is reversed via Reversal (-) then the reversal white mask sits under the normal white markings and above all other markings.
Some genes may specify layering.
Free Markings - Free to choose markings to add to your import. These markings do not pass genetically and thus are not listed on the genotype. Please only list freemarks when submitting in approvals. You can review Free Markings on it's respective page.
Accents and Extras - Information on how to choose colors for eyes, accents, skin, and other areas of the algolope. Review Accents for more information.
Alts - Free to choose customization options based on the 'Old Base', these options may require some editing to sit nicely on the base, such as erasing overflow lineart, color or shading. Please pay attention when adding alts so your design doesnt get booted for stray pixels!
Reading a genotype:
Reading a genotype:
All genos or algolopes start as a genotype and phenotype. The genetype is a genetic string of it's markings, often written shorthand, while phenotype is the physical expression of the genotype.
All genos have the following string: cc/ww/bb/dd, where C = chocolate, W = White, B = Black and d = dilution.
Depending on how this string is written determines what color of a base coat you use. After this you'll see the genes written out.
Mutations are not listed in the genotype unless the algolope is chimera, where the gene string will be differentiated with a double //, ex: cc/ww/bb/dd // CC/WW/BB/DD
Additionally, Aglolopes have various physical traits, depending on the traits you may have to download a resource pack to add that trait. Ex; Ears pack, or Mutation pack for any non-standard traits.
Breeding Example
Breeding Example
In the example on the left we have a standard breeding roll which resulted in 3 kits.
We will look at Kit 2 for this guide.
Kit 2 is a Male, so we will turn on the 'Male Horns' layer in the file. This is how we distinquish male or female import artwork.
Coat type is 'Common', on old genotypes prior to 2018 you will see this listed. This is the same as what we now consider 'Natural'. New genos will show one of the following coat types: Natural, Long, Bald, Royal or Wire. You can download bases on the templates page.
Ears are Flop, this is the standard ear and is included in the Common Base, so we don't need to download an ear pack.
The Body is common, this is the default bodytype so we can keep using the Common Base.
Genotype: cc/Ww/bb/DD/nPt/ZbZb/nDrpfd
Phenotype: White with Points, Zebra, and Droplet Fade
Mutations: Vestigial Wings (Small - Feathered)
We can see that this baby has no Chocolate gene or Black, denoted by the lowercase cc and bb, and carries one W gene, so it is White. Additionally Dilute is Dense, or DD meaning it's not diluted.
The baby has the following genes; Point, Zebra and Droplet Fade. Zebra is Dominant so we can review 'dominant expression' rules on the design page.
Note* Dominant expression rules are always optional but add a little variety to the design should you use them.
This baby also has a mutation! It's rolled Vestigial small feathered wings! You'll need to download the Mutation pack in templates and paste to the file to design the wings.
Generally any additions to the algolopes, such as ears, mutations or wings follow the overall design's colors and markings. There is not a specific guide for coloring these parts as long as they match overall.
Going to the Base Coat Colors page you can download the respective color swatch, choose 1 color from that swatch as the main body color and fill the 'Base' layer on the template.
I've chosen the light color on the swatches head area. Now we can add some 'Nuance' to the base by choosing an additional color to softly paint onto small areas of the base color. You can read about Nuances on the Accents and Eyes page.
For the nuance, I've chosen the darker color to add a dark patch to the shoulder and a soft gradient on the face, back feet and tail. Nuance should not look like another marking. In this case there is no marking like it for the face, and a small patch on the shoulder is too small to be Saddle or Shaded. Additionally a dark tailtip and toes does not fullfill the requirements to be mistaken for Point.
Next I'll color in the markings, we have Points, Zebra, and Droplet Fade. Points can cover our Nuance area or we can put the Nuance over the Points to keep the variety!
I've colored in points, leaving the edges soft and the marking darker and less saturated than the basecoat. With Nuance on top it looks a little washed out, so I'll come back later to adjust!
Point will also affect the ears, so when I get to doing the 'extra' areas, I'll have to add a soft gradient from the eartip up.
Now we'll work on Zebra. I like to keep all my markings on separate layers in case any changes need to be made. This allows adjusting and editing to be fast and easy.
With Dominant Zebra the stripes can cover at least 75% of the algo. Stripes must be solid or hard edged without tapering points like tiger. Using a real world zebra as an example I've drawn some stripes on this baby!
Zebra looks best when you follow the form or shape of the algo, avoid straight lines and rigidity.
Dominant Zebra also allows a bit darker shading on the ankles, face and tail, so I added a few more gradients, and added gradients to the stripes. The stripes also fade out (softly erased) at the bottom of the body.
I've changed Nuance at this point to be near white to add some difference. It still sits on top of the current markings, making some stripes fade out. This is totally fine to do!
Now for the ears and extras!
The ears are following the general design by having a soft gradient from light to dark, with Zebra stripes on top. I've also added in a slight fur texture, this can be done on the body as well if desired!
The horns are colored a natural color with a soft gradient, but they could also be striped since the body is striped!
For example one dark stipe on the face intersects with the horns so that stripe could continue up!
For the eyes I'll color them a orange color. This color should be the same color that you color any 'Accent' layers. Such as the mouth. The 'whites' of the eyes can be gray, a blackish color, white or tinted white (think pale pastels of a color, matching the eye color choice). I think the dark gray looks good so I'll leave it as is.
I've colored the accents for the claw sheath's naturally to match the pawpads. I've kept the bright accents under the nails and on the stinger. The stinger I kept a solid color, but it can have patterns or markings to mimic the algo's coat, or have bright stripes and gradients to it overall.
Front and back pawpads can also be different colors, but I felt the dark liver color looked nice.
I've colored the eye dots the same color as the dark brown on the coat and skin, and the eyerings have two different colors for top and bottom.
Next we can look at 'Additions'!
Note* If using 'black', the lineart should always be visible! See the tail stinger accent area and the eye 'whites' as an example.
With all additions turned on, we have Nose Scales, Eyering Scales, Neck Scales, Belly Scales (Also covers the underside of the tail), and two leg scales, "Classic Leg Scales' and Small Scales. You can use any or all of these Additions. For this design I'll use: Nose Scales and Classic Leg Scales.
These additions can be the same color or different. I'll color the nose dark like the skin patches, and the scales on the legs light for some nice contrast. As long as the color matches the overall design, or is natural you have freedom of color choice here.
Now that I've got the basics done, I have one more marking left to add, Droplet Fade, and coloring the lineart! Most markings allow you to put them in hotspots, or locations they're commonly found. As long as a marking is present somewhere on the design, even if small it will generally pass design approvals. For droplet fade, the marking is listed as covering 50% of the body on average. We can keep this in mind when designing but it is not a hard cap, as long as we don't cover more than 50% of the body with droplets. It does not have a hotspot, so we can place droplets anywhere. Fade modifies the droplet to let us erase or softly gradient the marking into the base coat. I duplicate my original droplet layer and erase using a soft brush.
For linework, the lines should always be darker than what they sit on. I set my 'Lines' layers to multiply and color over them. The border or outside lines should remain black, but for areas of overlap like the back leg, forelegs, you can choose to color these areas. I leave them black for depth. I also don't color the outside linework of the ears so they stand out, as well as where the jaw connects to the neck.
All that's left is to download the Mutations pack to copy the 'Wings' layer and then color it similar to the ears. Will all resource packs you should be able to copy the entire layer and it sits correctly on the main base. If you experience issues please contact staff.
You can optionally add a small glow or border around the algolope to make it pop from the background, or color the front facing headshot. If you don't want to use the headshot, such as for showing asymmetrical face markings or the eyes if different colors, you can simply hide that folder.
You can add any alternative background item you own by pasting that png into the BG folder, using a background will consume that item from your bank.
Glows around the design should not distract from the design and should be either offwhite or black. We will decline saturated colors or 'aura' colors. You can earn 'Aura Decorations' via gameplay. Glow size should be max 1-2 pixels thick and semi-transparent.
For best results you should make a 'glow' layer underneath all elements of the design, I recommend putting it above the BG or background layer, and below the 'back ears' folder.
You'll have to add to this glow layer with the seperate ear folders and male horns if applicable.
Once I have a full outline of the character, I go to filter -> Blur -> Gaussian Blur
This method may vary depending on your program of choice, I use Clip Studio Paint.
Once I've blurred the layer, I change the opacity and blending mode. For the example I've set the opacity to 40% and the blending mode to screen. I've also color shifted the 'glow' color to slightly purple white.
For the example below I've colored in the front-facing headshot. This headshot can be used to represent the front view of the algo, asymmetrical markings or to showcase simply the white marks. It does not have to be 100% accurate to the design as far as marking placements, and can be a simplified view of the markings for color picking as well.
Outside of the Mutation, this design is considered complete. You can then move on to the Import Info.
Note* Be sure you upload you design to stash and select 'Original Size'. The file should be 2700px x 1500px. Any size differences will go to corrections.
Now that I've got my design uploaded to Sta.sh, I want to add the information. Deviantart has changed how to add information, and you don't want to submit to your personal gallery, so please follow this tutorial for adding info without submitting. Example Stash.
Look for the Edit/Submit button
First change display size, DA defaults to smaller than original.
Choose Original (2700 x 1500 px)
Paste in the form from Import info or copy from Stash. Be sure to change [Insert Horizontal Rule] to the actual bars on deviantart, or leave the placeholder if you're having trouble. All bolding and formatting should otherwise not be changed.
Add in the information provided in the genotype, and fill in the optional information like personality, Height, Weight, etc.
Once you've got the Description, don't worry about the rest of the form. Select 'Save and Exit'.
Do not select Submit.
You may have to navigate back to your stash to grab the link for approvals.
When posting the Sta.sh link, Deviantart sometimes show a thumbnail in the comments. Click on the thumbnail picture and select the chain icon to link the stash to the picture. Otherwise we won't be able to view the full design or comment!
You're nearly complete with the Design Process! The last step is to grab the link to your origin comment, you can optionally post this to sta.sh for safekeeping, and head over to Design Approvals!
Design approvals is where you submit geno designs for approval and upload to the masterlist account, or to get import artwork or information changes made!
You can also submit design updates here, such as import updates via items, information change requests, or import transfers to another user.
Only 1 design per comment, be sure to complete the entire form or you submission will be declined!
Make sure you have the Import Info completed and added to the description of your link!
Include this form for new imports:
Link to Design:
Proof:
Link the origin of the geno, such as adoption center, breeding, etc. This should be an official admin comment and not someones sale journal.
Example:
Link to Design: example Stash
Proof: Origin
----
If you want to link to text instead of an image preview, type out your desired text, highlight it and you should see a quick menu which has the chain icon. You can link your stash that way as well!
Once you've got it all linked, hit comment and then wait for staff. If any changes are needed you'll receive a 'Commented' response. Otherwise you'll see either, 'Approved', which means the design is approved but not yet uploaded, or 'Approved and Uploaded' which means your design is now on the masterlist and you can use that algo in the game. For designs waiting on upload, you'll later receive a comment 'Uploaded' when they are added to the masterlist.
Note* Our team is small and we manually go through designs, while we try to keep ques under 2 weeks, this may not always be possible. Please exercise patience when waiting for design approvals. Designs are not skipped even if you see a design after yours with a comment, we may just be discussing. Should a design be in que for longer than 1 month you may notify staff via discord or note the group.
Helpful Tips*
Lineage should have working text links to the parents! Be sure to check parents for grandparents and further lineage. In the example, both the parents, Rien 095 and Loopy 075 are lineageless. So we don't have to add any ancestors past their names.
Rien gets linked for the Sire and Loopy for the Dam.
It helps to fill out one half of the lineage first, for example I start with the 'Sire's side, starting with the father and filling that all in. Then I move past the '====' divider and fill in the dam or mother's information.
Lineage:
------------------------------------------ SSS: Unknown
----------------- SS: Unknown
------------------------------------------ SSD: Unknown
Sire: Rien 095
------------------------------------------ SDS: Unknown
----------------- SD: Unknown
------------------------------------------ SDD: Unknown
========================================
------------------------------------------ DSS: Unknown
----------------- DS: Unknown
------------------------------------------ DSD: Unknown
Dam: Loopy 075
------------------------------------------ DSS: Unknown
----------------- DD: Unknown
------------------------------------------ DDD: Unknown
Happy Designing!
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