So, you want to submit something...
Okay, so you've made something, be it a comic, fanfic, or whatever. And, not only that, but you want to send it in to be put on the site.
Well, it's not that simple. It has to get past my very strict, no exceptions, one-size-fits-all set of guidelines. If it fails your submission will be returned back to you via e-mail with reasons given for its rejection and a few pointers for next time.
So, what are these guidelines? Just check below. There are a few jump-to links here to save you time.
Comic SubmissionsComics have fairly lenient guidelines. Firstly, your comic must be saved as one of the following formats: JPG*, JPEG*, GIF*, or PNG*. The latter is not recommended as not everybody's browser supports PNG files, but they will still be accepted. GIF files are recommended as there is next to no quality loss and the file size is dropped dramatically.
Do NOT send me any BMP files, as they are huge, and I won't even bother attatching them to the rejection e-mail.
Secondly, you should specify in the e-mail whether it goes with a series of yours, or is just a random comic. I won't know otherwise; I'm not psychic.
Thirdly, comics must be rated no stronger than PG-13. This means:Fourthly, there must be either a Yoshi or a Nintendo character in the comic, or your character. No exceptions. This is a fan site, what did you expect?
Finally, an individual non-animated comic should be no larger than 250kB. This probably won't be a problem with compressed comics, though; a typical DMBN comic, for example, is about 35-40kB.
Jump to top.Resource guidelines are mainly in place to cut back on, essentially, spam. Resources includes sprite sheets and construction kits, so there aren't all that many guidelines for resources.
Firstly, don't make resources for all your characters if they are nothing more than recolours*. Your alias, sure, but not every last sub-character you ever created.
Secondly, only make resources if you're going to use them for comics, or you intend to release the rights of use for that character. There's no point in having them on the site if you're the exclusive user and you're not making any sprite comics, flash files, or whatever. If you don't intend to release rights of use to ANYONE, then don't bother sending them in in the first place.
Finally, make sure to compress resources as either GIFs or PNGs. Do NOT use JPG files as they make the sprite sheets or construction kits worthless. The final file should be no larger than 250kB, but your average single sheet tends to be under 20kB in size.
Jump to top.Anything hand-drawn or CG'd* counts as artwork.
Firstly, save drawn artwork as a JPG or JPEG file, since JPG files are for photo-quality pictures. CG'd artwork is best saved as a PNG, but you can save it as a JPG if you really want.
Secondly, I will make a thumbnail for you, but you may supply one if you wish. If you don't want your avatar to be used as the button for your gallery, then just specify which thumbnail you want used instead.
Thirdly, no hentai. This is a PG-13 website, not an NC-17 one. Anything else is okay, except for extremely bloody pictures, but you'll practically have to eviscerate a character to get your submission rejected on those grounds.
Fourthly, the artwork must be related to Yoshi(es) or an official Nintendo
character, for the obvious reasons that this is a fan site.
Policy Change 17/08/07: Drawings of avatars*
of people who aren't on this site are allowed as long as that person's
avatar is a Nintendo-related fancharacter (so Yoshi, Koopa, etc characters are
allowed, but not Final Fantasy fancharacters, or furries, or so on).
Finally, sign your work. Even though I'll give credit on the web page, there is no way for me to prevent someone stealing your work and claiming credit for it, which is every artist's pet hate.
Jump to top.Unfortunately, game files too tend to be large, but there is a way around this. Pick up a copy of File Splitter, and you can split your files into pieces for those of us with 56k modems. It is recommended that you make each piece about 500kB-1MB, but for large games, this could result in as many as eight or more pieces. You should compress the game file first, then split it for minimum file size.
Basic rules apply. No hentai, it's got to be Nintendo related, and it should work fully, unless it's a demo.
Jump to top.Tutorials have some pretty basic guidelines. Firstly, it would be better if you saved them as a DOC file, but any text file will do. Please refrain from adding pictures, but I can still add them to the tutorial if they are absolutely essential. Try to set the tutorial out in a logical manner, such as bullet points or a numbered list.
The only exception to this rule is a pictorial tutorial, such as a visual demonstration of how to make a particular sprite. If you make one of these save the file as a GIF or PNG, and send it in.
It can be on anything, be it a guide to a game or level, writing tips, comic tips, art tips, etc etc etc, so long as it's in some way related to the site or its contents.
Jump to top.Articles can be sent as TXT or DOC files; I'll convert them to HTML for you. There's nothing much by way of guidelines on these, except that they need to be related to Nintendo and/or Yoshi. Please, PLEASE verify what you're saying and provide links to pictures, references, sources, etc. You may speculate in your article, but make it clear you're doing so and do NOT make up spoof or untrue articles.
Jump to top.This has been deliberately left 'till last because it's the longest and most convoluted set of guidelines.
Firstly, it's got to be of decent quality. Either it has to have been well written and edited, or written well enough to be edited by myself. Extremely badly written stories lacking capitals and riddled with errors are likely to be sent back. I'll only edit so much before I'll give up on a submission, or you'll never learn to write well.
Of the well-written submissions, they can be either short stories, series stories, or single chapter stories. Series stories are ongoing, short stories are up to ten chapters in length, and single chapter stories are pretty self-explanatory. You'll have to tell me in the submission e-mail what type of story you're submitting.
One more thing; stories must be written in continuous prose, that is, not script format. If you haven't written fan fiction in prose before, check out the various tutorials dedicated to learning how to write.
After that, I won't judge on the content of the story too much, except for the following guidelines to keep the story PG-13 rated or below:Violence is gauged on what kind of fights are written about. A fistfight has a fairly low rating, whereas at the other end of the scale you've got genocide. Violence tends not to be a factor a story may be rejected on, just more a grade of determining the rating of the story.
Blood and Gore:This tends to tie in with Violence. Blood and Gore is also usually used to determine the rating of a story, but the only grounds for rejection are stories swathed in blood, entrails, corpses, etc, and not just someone being hacked open by a sword (though excessively detailed passages may be pushing it a little.)
Love, Romance and Sex:Did you just read that right? Are there really guidelines for sex that mean you can have it according to certain rules? Well, it's not like it's revolutionary. Authors have been writing around sex for a while; take Dune for instance. It has sex in the story to advance the plot, but it is written so indirectly that the books have no age restriction placed upon them.
This is by far the most strict set of guidelines, for obvious reasons. As far as romance and love go, anything can happen, so long as it doesn't involve any graphical thoughts of a sexual nature being thought by one of the characters.
The general rule is that there are no physical descriptions of any anatomy or of the sexual act itself, making the passage so indirect that it becomes decent. If it sounds difficult, don't even attempt to write it into your story or fanfic.
That said, if you must include sex in your story, please do so sparingly and only to advance the storyline, not just to do so because you can. If I get repeated submissions from a single author like that, even if they are decent, I will probably ask them to tone down the stories a little. If they persist I will simply refuse to accept any more stories from them.
Why have I decided to do it this way? Well, it's still technically PG-13 if it's non-explicit, and it can be a powerful plot device if used correctly. I will probably be wary of submissions from people I don't know that well, so try to submit a few other things before you jump straight into fan fiction.
Finally, send me your work as a text file of some sort. I will put it up for you if it makes it through the guidelines, but I would be grateful if series stories came with a title picture.
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