Design Guidelines

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 guidelines 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, or when combined with other markings.

Marking layering is also pretty lenient, most markings can be layered freely as long as we can tell where something is, 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 more specific layering, such as mealy generally sitting under all other markings. Ex: Mealy, Lynx, Soot, Pangare.

Note*
For genobomb or complicated designs we may require a marking breakdown guide or the PSD with individual markings on their own layers for review.
If you do not have the PSD, then a visual image breakdown should be created.
Genobombs are either multiple Uncommon and Rare marks or 8+ markings, and we may request breakdowns if markings are concealed or if its hard to determine the marking 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.

Shine Layers - The 'Shine' Layer should remain at 30-40% opacity, visible and set to Color Dodge. The Design Guide is done in Clip Studio Paint, some programs may remove the layer effect.

Procreate - The closest option is Color Dodge 30-40% or Overlay 30%, the shine should look like a lighter version of the belly color and not overly white or gray tinted. 

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 doesn't get booted for stray pixels!

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 fowarard slash, '//', 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.

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. The Inside of the ear is also fur and not skin, and should be colored like the coat with the exception of bald coats.

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!

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.

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 or darker than what they sit over, 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.

Lines should not be overly saturated or bright and should relate to the color they sit over.

All that's left is to download the Mutations pack to copy the 'Wings' layer and then color it similar to the ears. With 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.  If using the headshot, be sure to color accurately to match the main body and depict all markings. The headshot should not be shaded.

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 1-3 pixels thick and semi-transparent. The border should not be heavilly feathered or blended like a drop shadow.

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.

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 (stat tokens), 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.
Notes: Any notes on the design, layering or interactions.

Example:
Link to Design: example Stash
Proof: Origin
Notes: Nuance on top of Point, Droplet fade above Zebra.

----

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

RNG genos from the adoption center or lost kits often list Sire's Dam's Sire or Dam's DS, in this case you'd put those listed starters in the SDS slot and the DSD slot. 

Happy Designing!