[OOC] Wattplants General

[skinstealer]

WELCOME TO THE WATTPLANTS OFFICIAL DEVELOPMENT THREAD

here you can find development for our fictional in-universe morbit petsite, wattplants! this is a neopets-like site

CURRENT CANON PETS: HERE

this gallery contains all of the canon (non-custom) pets your characters can adopt currently. more will be added over time- see discussion questions towards the bottom.

CURRENT ASSETS FOR CUSTOM PETS: HERE

here you can get at the PSDs needed to make your own wattplants customs. enjoy!
to get a trapling mini, scale down to 100x100 px with hard edge interpolation.

CURRENT CANON CONCEPTS/FACTS:

• the first wattplant species is the trapling, a flytrap inspired quadruped.
  
• wattplants come in 4 basic colors a la neopets: red, blue, yellow and green.
  
• wattplant colors can also be changed via special items changing their hue/saturation/value, affecting different areas of their body (such as body/leaves/eyes for traplings). these come in the form of plant food.
  
• special plant food also exists to add markings and extra features such as horns/wings etc
  
• wattplants can also use custom images for their profiles, generally with custom markings. this requires something Expensive and Rare
  
• petpet equivalents exist
  
• all wattplants are carnivorous, hence why they require food and water
  
• inspired by both morbit and earth plants, both carnivorous and otherwise
  
• 20 wattplants maximum per character, though you can have as many characters involved as you like
  
• breeding is Not a mechanic
  
• people often establish "relationships" in their pet bios/personal lore
  
• people like to explore personal aesthetics through their pet bios/profiles, as well as wattplant design
  
• creepypasta/horror is pretty common due to the predatory/carnivorous nature of wattplants
  
• you need to give them meat and water every day or they get sad
  
• there was some initial elitism on the site, but it got better over time
  

META STUFF

• new wattplant species will be added via commissions, raffles, and events/contests. they will all be designed by official team members w/ artistic liberty, though suggestions/prompts will be allowed when commissioning etc
  
• prompts for wattplants require a plant/fungus suggestion (fungi arent plants but do you think the devs of this game care. no), pooooosssssibly also animal/other prompt to help guide the unique design?
  
• commissions will be available both for USD and forum cash
  
• thinking at least 25 USD for a new species because its a fully lined + shaded design?
  
• 5-20 USD for an edited custom depending on complexity- may also establish new "items"
  
• item commissions will also be a thing (15 USD?)
  
• minipet commissions will also be a thing (15 USD?)
  

CURRENT QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:

1) should there be a pet limit, like neopets? if so, how much should that be?
while a limit would be, well, a limit, it would also put character focus on specific site goals and what aesthetics they want in a pet, as well as the increased potential for an existing pet to change over time a la paintbrushes/lab ray/etc. what's the stance on this?  solved this

2) how should wattplant species be handled? we want to outsource ideas, but as per usual, we want the designs to be from official team to ensure full copyright etc etc- so, how should these be created? via commission both in USD and in forum cash? raffles/suggestion polls? what goes into inspiring one, what are the prompts like? are they as simple as critters/TCPs, or more involved? solved this

3) while wattplants has a custom image feature a la aywas or even select 4dopt stuff, what do we want the context for obtaining these to be in-universe? are these done by official artists? are they uploaded by the user themself? are they commissioned? does it require an item? solved this

4) what kind of world do we want to have for this? what kind of setting, what kind of overall vibe? how much of a focus on story is there? what do people make up fanon-wise in-universe?

5) what are creative trends within the community, such as art style choices, characterization choices, etc? what's the Vibe of the site? solved this

6) is there a story to wattplants? how well does the site upkeep lore? how messy is it?

7) what kinds of ways do you make money on the site itself? obviously im not implementing any actual games or anything but itd be interesting to give characters something to complain talk about. how are items earned? what is the economy like (if there is one)?