Design guide - Walk-through

Understanding your "geno" and where to find it

Previously, before our move to our own website, we kept all genos on a google sheet, which you can find a link below for those that still have genos there. All NEW genos (MYO's) after the site opening will be attached to your account via MYO slots!
Geno Tracking Sheet

Understanding your geno (genetic information) may seem a little confusing but I promise its super easy to understand! Here, lets take a look at this random geno for a character already designed and in the game, named Rowen!

Class - Our game does not use this section. Ignore this.
Species - This is the species of your dragon!
Rarity - Dragons will always be listed as standard, this is for site back end reasons. Ignore this.
Sex - This is the sex of your dragon. Its there for breeding and lineage reasons only. The chosen gender of your dragon lore wise may be different if you so choose!
Color - This is the color your dragon will take, and the color most of its markings will be based off of.
Traits:
Species Traits - Each species has a different "trait" that is randomized from a list for that species. Some species may have different shaped horns between the characters, or maybe different kinds of whiskers, ect. In this case its listed as "Dweller - Species: Point". Its listed dweller since Rowen is a dweller and the point is the specific species trait he gets.
Base Color - Will tell you what color slider you use.
Markings - This is the list of all markings your dragon has in their genetic information!
Mutation - It will say hidden in brackets if its hidden, if it does not say hidden its visible, if its PAINTED, it will list your painted's color in brackets instead. This particular dragon does not have mutations.

Getting the correct "import" file for your species

Now let's get to making your dragon! First you are going to need to get the correct import file (PSD file/artwork) of your species to color in! Whatever "Type" your dragon is, is the PSD file you need to download from the following page.
Import Files

Working with basecoat sliders

Now that you have the right file for your dragons species, opened in your art program, its time to grab the base coat slider (color swatch) to color in your dragon! You can find the list of color sliders on our colors page below.
Base Colors

Looking at the slider, you may see there are 3 different sections, I will show you in this image the main slider, and the "accent" sliders and which to use where.

The base color section is what you will use for the main color you of your dragon. Light/Dark accent mini sliders are for things that are described two sections below in this guide! Continue reading on to see that information. If you fill in your dragon with a color from the accent sliders, it will be sent in for corrections! 

Markings and their rules

Next, its time to add the markings onto your dragon! This is where it can get a little crazy. First, look at what markings your dragon has, then open up their pages! You can find the list of all markings by clicking the drop down arrow next to the word "Markings" on the "Design your dragon" tab at the top of this site.

This will show a page for each and every marking! Lets just take a look at the "Spotted" marking page for this walk through on how to understand marking rules.

The very first thing you will see on the marking page is a little blurb describing roughly what the marking is. This can be from a single sentance to a few.

Then you will spot a "ranges" section. This will have an image for each dragon species with the color green on it. The color green is where the marking can appear on the dragon. Some markings can show up anywhere, while others are quite restricted to a specific area.

After the ranges area you will find a whole section about the markings rules and what to do and what not to do. This also includes what colors you can use and sometimes from where on the slider (main, or accents ect). Sometimes in this rules section, it will include a marking type, such as "Top" or "Bottom". This indicates where the marking should go in the order of how the markings are layered on  your dragons image. It may also include something about being limited to a number of "Sections". To see all info about these parts, please visit the "Markings Sections/Types" area.

After all of these will be a visual guide and examples area. Here it will show you what the edge's of the markings can look like as well as some approved examples/styles and incorrect examples/styles! Remember to not use other approved dragons as guides or examples! Sometimes rules change, and those dragons would no longer pass if they were in the approval stage now, or sometimes they may have had items added on to them in the game later on to change their looks further!

Remember as well, there is always the design questions section on our discord you can ask specific questions in. General "would this design pass/be approved" questions will not be answered as thats what the approval stage is for. 

Accents/Extras for claws, maws and other areas

Ok, its time to get working on the other parts of your dragon, like flesh, mouth area, teeth, eyes, inner ears, webbing, claws, manes ect. These all have different rules, so to check out those rules here on the "Accents" page.

Mutations

Mutations are a fun and rare edit to your dragons look. Mutations are hard to obtain and may or may not be visible. If it says hidden, it means your dragon carries its genetic code, but it does not show up in its looks (Meaning you dont have to draw it out!) but if its visible, you will need to include it on your import. Mutations and their general looks/rules can be found on the "Mutations" page.

Interactions

Interactions is a way for two markings to come together to make a whole look! You can find the list of all current interactions under the markings drop down, as a drop down tab of its own.

Please note, if you use an interaction, and it uses two markings, those markings may not be used to make any other interaction on the dragon. This means if you have two interactions that require the use of a marking for both, you may pick either interaction, NOT BOTH. You may have more then one interaction as long as they are not using up normal markings more then once.

Free and Lesser Markings

Free markings are a GREAT way to add a little personal touch to  your design. These are markings that are often very small but can add a nice look to your dragon. You are welcome to use as MANY free markings as you want. To find all of these free markings you can check out that page here "Free/Lesser Markings". Each free marking has simple rules to follow.

Now this page also includes something called "Lesser markings". These are premade, drag and drop .PNG files of markings that are ONLY allowed to be used on dragons who have 2 or less main geno markings. These markings may not be moved around on your dragon, or have any edits done to it. They are simply to be used AS IS. Each file is fit perfectly to its species import file so all you have to do is open it, copy and paste the entire image (no cropping) onto the import file. 

Final Touches

Final touches are the very last step on designing your dragon and can help it look a little less flat and more alive, but are NOT required to do/use.

To see what final touches you can do, please see this page "Final touches".

Thats it! Thats all there is too it! Now its time to head to your MYO/Geno slot and find the button that says submit design. You can find a guide for that here --->  Design approval guide