Hello!
So I was wondering on everyone's opinions on what made a good original closed species?
There are surely many opinions on this and I'd love to hear them all!!
It also may be helpful to those looking to make a closed species!
I understand why people make things cs: it makes it harder to get and can make people want to buy the species more.
My only problem is that people have started sticking a cs tag on everything. So even if the species is really boring, they're made it a cs. When no one buys the designs because it's not an exciting species, those people get really butt hurt.
I love the idea of cs and adopts in general! What makes a good one for me is strong design and community support. For me a character can be pretty as hell but if i can’t use them or fit them in somewhere they're a bit useless! Community support from the creator be it a fleshed out world or just a discord server makes it easier to talk with people who have the species or similar things. So if i don't have my own place i have the option to use them with someone else in an rp context. I see so many species that die because they're just designs and a lore/trait sheet, but i can understand that not every creator wants to commit to that direction. To make a good cs you can’t back down just because sales are slow and you have to think past profit because people see through that real quick.
I think flexibility is also important. I like an already established community but in the absense of that not having to tie a design strictly to its lore also really helps, but that's tos dependent. Ones that let you mess around with the design or do gijinkas(humanize??) are nice for me as someone with mostly human story settings. Because if you can't fit the species you still have something to work with so long as its tied to the adopt and resembles the original strongly. Though this is like... if id be really in a bind with an impulse buy. I always try to fit the character where i can as is.
Whoop... maybe a better explanation is that i like lore as a suggestion of how to use the character/how they'd interact with a setting but not as a strict rule because the more heavily tied to lore a species is the less options the buyer has.
I personally like closed species that at first glance don't look like colorful humans/furries/animals with extra accessories. A good lore behind the species helps too, at least to give you an idea of "What can I do with this OC I just acquired".
I really like species with interesting lore/stories behind it that I can work off of. It also helps if the creator's ToS is lenient enough that they are okay with me not necessarily following the lore and customs, but the lore draws me in the most and I don't really see the point of completely ignoring the species' lore. If there is no lore, only a traits sheet and maybe a bit of info on the customs of the species, I pretty much have no interest in it.
Then, there's appearances. Almost all of my universes are centered around humans or humanoid creatures, so anything that I think is too anthro or feral is also a no-go for me. Furthermore, if the species can be described with pre-existing things/creatures (Twisting's example of a "snake with cute arms" fits the bill exactly) then I'll probably consider it too unoriginal to invest in. I also dislike kemonomimi species because they are so overdone.
Lastly, I really like community-driven species that have groups on dA or TH or group chats such as on Discord, basically ones where I can interact with other owners of the CS and possibly rp with them!
Uniquely composited character design should constitute as a Closed species. It's easy to "steal" a design among it's community's tropes.
:v<
But I'd adopt the heck out of a snake with cute arms, homie...?
Interesting topic, tho...have artists of similar CS ever just, you know, combined their seperate species to make one slightly more diverse CS?
A good original species is one that is truly loved by its owner. Cs owners who love and care for their species, expanding them, creating interactive things, doing events, etc., have a better chance of being popular because cs lovers appreciate a well rounded species. ^w^
Even semi-generic species can be popular if the owner is nice, open to talking, and active in their own species. Species with money hungry owners who are never around can be popular for a time but they ALWAYS die out and their cs world grow toxic.
I also think its important to think about what you do. Don't add traits or edit lore to reflect cuteness or popularity if it doesn't fit your species! ^^ And people should not just make a cs out of a cute idea. Maybe do a set of adopts in that style, but like, don't try to make a whole cs out of it if you don't really love it and are inspired.
Ofc, not everything is about popularity. If everything you do for your species involves popularity, then you probably shouldn't run a cs. But those are just my thoughts.
I like em depending on how they look and their owner's attitude towards them. I love CCCats and I really want one; I love how they look and their creeator does so much with them. They're hella expensive if you want to buy one but there are raffle events for people who can't afford them which I think is really neat. I also love how Koltherians look, and seeing everyone's different take on them, and I got three basically for free, kinda from being in the right place at the right time but I did have to put some effort into getting the two that weren't from the free MYO. Everyone in those communities is really nice and funny as well, and they have their own discord servers, and I kinda want to have a species I can do that with too... I have loads of weird reptilian designs, I just have no idea where to start to develop them into a full-on species xD