[Updated]Guide To Slime Creation and Slimepedia Writing

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[Updated]Guide To Slime Creation and Slimepedia Writing

Postby DeltaStorm » Thu Jan 14, 2016 11:34 am

This has been updated! There is now a new chapter, Personal favorite slime ideas! You do not need to follow my guide to get there, but I will only choose well-designed and fleshed out slimes.

Prologue!

Too often on these forums I see potential for a really good idea, but just for the OP to not flesh out the slime, or it just hasn't got any information except a basic summary

Which it's fine, but a good idea is a fleshed out one. A bare bones slimes isn't gonna seem like it could potentially be in the game, but some fan concepts alone have potential, but it just isn't fleshed out enough to sound convincing and well-made. So I am writing this guide to help you write hopefully very good slimepedia entries on your favorite little slime idea.

Contents!

Chap. 1 - The Basics

Chap. 2 - The Format

Chap. 3 - Slimeology

Chap. 4 - Risks

Chap. 5 - Plortonomics

Chap. 6 - Balance

Chap. 7 - Favorites

Chap. 8 - Conclusion

But just a lil' disclaimer here, I am not claiming I know all the answers, but I used these methods and usually get very good reception for them (See my Ghostly Slime for an example, my favorite and first idea, it's in my signature.)

First let's walk through the basics.


Chapter 1: The Basics

These are things you need to keep in mind while thinking about the slime idea.

1. What IS the slime? Is the slime a Herbivore, Omnivore, unique? What does it look like? What can it do? Is it worth it to corral it?

These are all questions you should ask when coming up with the basics of the slime, if the last question's answer is 'No!' then the idea should be scrapped (Unless it's supposed to be a negative slime), if you grasp for straws in the other questions, scrap the idea. At this stage in creating your slime idea, you can start again with the same concept, but try something new to see if it can work. If the slime just can't seem to work at this stage, scrap it entirely. Or you may post about the scrapped idea, but explain that you scrapped it for a reason.

But do remember, if you do seem to grasp at straws, don't give up on that idea just yet! Sometimes, science can be the help you can get. The slimes are based highly on scientific facts, so if you can reinforce the idea with science, go ahead, because it wont be grasping at straws anymore. An added bonus? It'll fit into the game further, so you should consider this all the time, in every question you ask.

2. What IS the value of the slime? What phase of the game would this slime be found? Early on? Or later on? Or just everywhere but very rare?

These questions should just be added bonuses to your slime, if the value is high, but it's found early game commonly, then you should reconsider the value or change the rarity or location.

3. What is unique about the other slimes, how is mine set apart from the rest?

This question should tell you how unique your slime is, if you can immediately answer it with a confident and good response, you get an A*, go outside and dance and frolic in the flowers. If not, scrap the 'What can it do' from phase one and try another idea that may click, make minor changes if you have to, if not, try the slime idea again, you may want to reconsider if this slime is really a good idea.

4. Is the concept or design even good in the first place?

This can be asked anytime during the process and I recommend doing it first, because if the answer is no, don't bother, that Wrench Slime ain't getting into the game even if you was the developer.

If you got a very good idea of a slime through these questions, move onto chapter two!

Chapter 2: The Format

Now this is where this gets a little more interactive, now what I want you to do, is use the format I give you, fill it in with your ideas, then save it somewhere on your computer, keep the original, and work on a back up for the improved version, compare the two and see which one is better, if mine is better in your opinion, my style may fit you more then yours, but if it's vice versa, your style is pretty good, and you should only take chapter 1 and 2 into consideration when writing a slimepedia entry.

Plorts starting value:

Rarity: (Here, please enter the chance of finding one and specifications if present (Like a Tarr only spawning when a largo eats a plort it does not produce.) Only put down the specification if it's the only way it CAN spawn.)

Slime Name

Joke/Pun: (Optional, do not make one if you're not very good at them, but you may make a negative comment about the slime if the slime is negative)

Diet:

Favorite: (I personally hate people making up their own foods just for their slimes, but you can do it, I wont be mad about it ;) )

Slimeology: (Described in chapter 3)

Risks: (Described in chapter 4)

Plortonomics: (Described in Chapter 5)

Now, before we start chapter 3, please fill out this form and save it onto your computer, then create another copy of it and use my advice, I wont be doing one because I'll just use my tips I use already.

Chapter 3: Slimeology.

This is hands down the best way to sell your slime to people, if it's interesting here, the slime is a good slime, but you'll want to make it as good as possible. You'll want to do the following.

1. Use Scientific terminology, and use science (Or made scientific theory's on your slime) to reinforce the possibility of it existing in the slime rancher world.

You don't need a great deal of scientific knowledge to use this advice, there is a lot of common knowledge that can be used to create an interesting slime (Radiation Slime, anybody?)

But if you do have some obscure knowledge of some science, use it, it just makes the whole slime way more interesting if it fits.

2. Describe the Slime's appearance and behavior, and describe it scientifically.

This just means 'Say it like a biologist would' You'll want to describe how these abilities of the slime occur (The boom slime has vibrating cells that build up to an inevitable explosion.)

3. Use your imagination.

If you can use science and facts, then go ahead and throw it out the window and stretch it so you can make a slime that may fit your original desire, and the tool for stretching it is imagination. If it could possibly happen, then it can happen. The boom slime's explosion does not make sense because energy would disperse, not be stored then dispersed all out at once, but you see, the factor here they used was imagination, master this horse and slimeology is no problem for you.

Now use this advice to write into your slimeology, it will help, trust me.

Chapter 4: Risks

The only thing you need to keep in mind here is balance and the value of the slime.

If the slime is very valuable, make it a pain in the ass to raise it, but it has a great pay-off in the end. Boom slimes for example are insanely annoying, but are worth a nice bit when Largo'd, which is another factor you might want to take into consideration here. If the slime has a unique diet and is rare, do not allow it to become a Largo, it only makes it overpowered.

A good risk slime would be Tabby's, they simply jump higher, and prefer to play with food then eating it. (This causes the insanely funny glitch where tabby's start flying over a chicken)

A bad risk slime would be the pinks, since 2 of them can equal that of a Tabby slime, but you see, they are half the value of a risky slime, that is what you are looking for, the boom tabby's are basically a nightmare in terms of balance.

Add this advice into your idea now please :)

Chapter 5: Plortonomics

You just write out a use for the plorts, that's it.

But there's a little more to it then that. You see, you must come up with a unique plort use. If you have a Dog slime, do use 'It is a rival in the energy industry to that of Tabby Slimes, as they do not have the side effects of the wiggle wiggle.' If you put that down, that makes the Tabby Slime obsolete and useless. A better idea would be 'The Dog Plorts are used to flavour meat, it is stronger then most sauces at Earth and is considered a treat for the whole family' I came up with that by think about the slimes original inspiration, the Dog animal. The inspiration can help you out here so I advise thinking about it for a while until you strike gold, otherwise, base it on something to do with slimeology, if you can't do that, then you skipped chapter 1.

Add this into your idea.

NEW Chapter 6: Balance

So you're finally finished, you got everything done and you are ready to show it to the world. But one final step needs to be taken into consideration: Balance.

It's always good to think of this first but I prefer to do it last. Rejects are very rare at this stage, as the rarity and value of plorts are flexible.

So let's go.

(P.S, I refer to 'increasing' rarity as 'increasing the chances of you possibly finding this slime while trying to find a heart beetbutfindagoldslimeinsteadandget5plortsandyou'relikeyes)

1. Plort to Rarity

The plort value should decrease the rarity, but the rarity should increase the plort value. This has exclusions list below.

2. Slimes stopping threats against the ranch

The only way to balance this is to make the rarity very high, and the plorts medium value. Because it's simply OP to have a direct counter to the Tarr

3. Very easy food source

If the food source or favorite is too vast and easily obtained (E.g: Slimes, Carrots, Pogofruit, Hen Hens), then it is simply OP, increase the rarity or decrease the plort.

4. Unique Diet

If you have a unique diet with a high plort value, have NO favorites, or the rarity is gonna burst through the damn roof. Also do not allow these slimes to have Largo's or it can have standard favorites (Heart Beets)

5. Corral Escape.

If the slime either...

A: Can easily escape and annoy the crap out of you.

B: Can work together to escape well.

C: Can make other slimes wish to escape, or have an indirect method of escaping.

D: Has conditions that may make it no longer exist there.

Highten the plort value.

Increase the rarity if the opposite applies, and lower the plort value.

Summary: If easy to contain, decrease value and increase rarity. If not do the opposite

6. Risks should not outweigh the reward, or vice versa.

This is a simple concept, but imagine you went to play TF2 with your friends, and one of 'em asks ya' if you want to play rock, papers, scissors for a cool hat he just found, the loser must also pay another hat. If you like the hat, you'll go for it and risk losing it. If you don't like the hat, you'll say 'keep it' or if you're feeling like an ass 'I hate it, so no, screw off.'

The same can be applied the other way around, but simply keeping it, there's no risk in this and it's easy to do.

In case one, we had you accept the deal, and you had a good balance of risk and reward. In case 2, you declined and said 'no' politely or if you were an ass, you told him to screw off, there is more risk then there is reward. In case 3, it's vice versa, but you get the gist.

You want to keep it like the game of RPS, don't fall into the trap of greatly rewarding a player for nothing, or make the reward too small to justify even attempting because of the great risk involved.

Apply these changes.

If you can't balance a slime, you've clearly dun goofed somewhere because there is so little you need to change here.

Chapter 7: Personal Favorites

The Mole Slime

Image

This slime shows what a good slime should be, and you should take notes from this slime.
It has a good joke, well-thought out ideas and a charming idea. A slime worth checking out. (Although I think Carrots should be their favorite, as it is one big root.)

If you think your slime is a good idea, just post a link, I may not have noticed it! (Note: By linking it, you are open to criticism from me.)

Chapter 8: Conclusion

In conclusion, I hope this helped you very much in creating a well made slimepedia page and slime idea, I would appreciate it if you posted the idea, in a 'Before/After' format.
Last edited by DeltaStorm on Wed Jan 27, 2016 9:10 am, edited 3 times in total.
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Re: [Repost]Guide To Slime Creation and Slimepedia Writing

Postby Pigcatapult » Thu Jan 14, 2016 2:56 pm

(And, again, the current base plort value tiers, for reference)

n7 = Pink

n15 = Rock, Tabby, Phosphor

n30 = Boom, Rad, Honey, Puddle

n200 = Gold
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Re: [Updated]Guide To Slime Creation and Slimepedia Writing

Postby DeltaStorm » Wed Jan 27, 2016 9:10 am

Updated!
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