Fanplanet Creation Guide

Hello!
This is a basic guide to creating your own fanplanet for the Meteos universe. It will take you through all the basic steps on how to make a planet, native, and any other details that you see fit.

This document is a constant work in progress, and is updated regularly to complement new issues and problems. Check it regularly, and try to maintain your Fanplanets and other Fanarticles accordingly.

Part 1; The Idea
The object of this section is to assist you with coming up with an idea for a planet, and how to make it fit best in the Fanon universe at least.

The pieces of a memorable planet can be summed up into three equal parts, as follows. Now, these terms may seem redundant right now, but they actually are compartments of a rather easy to understand system, once explained.
 * Theme - What it's about.
 * Concept - How it's defined.
 * Design - How it looks.

Theme
The Theme of a planet can be most easily be defined as what the planet is about, and can easily be confused with concept.

Take Bavoom for example.

Bavoom is a planet about high winds and gusts, and it's natives live on the wind currents.

That's a theme. In essence, the concept is simple. When put into action, though, things can get a bit... hairy, to say the least.

For one, when creating a planet, it can be very tempting to start adding tags and ideas the second you get out of the gate. Bavoom, despite it's simple theme, could very quickly and easily have been made into something far more complex and difficult to design after, something that Meteos tends to avoid, but we'll talk more about that later in this guide. For now, we just need a proof of concept, to make sure that your idea will work.

To start, try making a list of things you would like to make a planet about. Not overly specific things, however, such as "boxes of kittens" or "automotive technology". Rather, try and come up with more general terms, such as "love" or "darkness".

Once you have something that fits the bill, start deducing it into smaller categories. For example, the term "love" means many things, and could be deduced into specific terms such as "family" or "Valentine's Day". Respectively, it's possible to break "darkness" down into "nightmares" or "criminals".

After that, when you have a more specific term, you can begin to turn this into your concept. Start to think of what natives will live on your planet, and how they would live on your planet, keeping your initial theme in mind. Though this may not be as simple as it sounds, it makes your planet ripe for stories and interpretation, so others can write about your work. Having others write about you is fun, right?

Concept
Once you have your theme down, you can now start thinking about the more specific details. Since you are the one with your hands on the reins of your planet, you can begin to fill in more information.

This time, we'll use Starrii's Planetary Data as an example.

"'Starrii is an odd planet, much smaller than some of the others found in the local group of planets. It is shaped like a set of solid rings that spin around a central point, all in different directions. Within the central set of rings is an orb-like portal, leading to the actual habitable world called Starrii. The physics and metaphysics behind the workings of the portal are currently unknown, as are the dimensions of the world within.'" This is a good example of an instance of Planetary Data for a few reasons.

With that, try to make your instances of Planetary Data about as good as this, and use it at a basis for your own entry. We will also look at Inhabitant data, using Layazero's as an example.
 * 1) It puts down all the necessary information and doesn't insist on adding anything unnecessary.
 * 2) It gives a good outline of what is there.
 * 3) Combined with its landscape picture, it gives you a solid idea of what you're looking at.

"'The Layazeroes, inhabitants of Layazero, are very, very small. Known currently to be the smallest sentient race in the universe, standing at around .01 millimeters or 10 micrometers, the Layazeroes are said to draw strength from holograms, although it is unknown how they do this. They appear as legless humanoids, with a disembodied head in the shape of a four-leafed clover, with a single eye in the middle. Singular Layazeroes are barely sentient and have little power to themselves, but upon forming geometric patterns with others, they grown in strength and intelligence, to the point of repelling the Meteos via lasers from their combined forms.'" With that being said, there are a few key points demonstrating why this is good.

Try to make your fanon entries as good as this, or better.
 * 1) It gives the natives themselves some sort of personality, and establishes them as unique.
 * 2) It is written in a definite style, making it sound much better than a description only lasting a sentence or two.
 * 3) It attaches it to the canon universe in a way (though this is not exactly necessary to make a good one).

Design
At this point, provided that you're following through with the guide step-by-step, you should have a good thing to base yourself on.

Since you're here, you probably will need some (at least) partway decent drawing skills; matching the style of Meteos isn't exactly an easy task, due to how simple the figures are and how they are colored or arranged.

Before we go any further, though, we would like to instill some quality control aspects and rules. We'll start with natives.
 * 1) Natives should have refined edges, planets should be more pixelated. This helps match your planet to the style of Meteos. Note that "refined edges" is defined as "not looking overly pixelated."
 * 2) If it is worth doing, it is worth doing well. Don't just slap together a planet and native image and call it good. Even if you have to ask a friend of yours to draw it for you, do so. Just be sure to credit them in your article somewhere.
 * 3) Absolutely NO recolors. Recoloring some native or planet from the official Meteos franchise is a clear sign of laziness, and will not be tolerated, if only because there's no real reason to do it.

You may not believe this, but all the inhabitants in Meteos are designed under a rather specific set of rules, as follows, with very few exceptions (which will be noted). Now under these rules, it may not seem like there's much room for creativity, but you'd be surprised at what these rules allow you to come up with. Just look at the official natives, if you want proof.
 * 1) They all use two colors or less. An exception to this rule is Dejeh (plus Meteo, if you count it.)
 * 2) All natives have transparent sclerae, besides Globin (again plus Meteo if counted.)
 * 3) No complex figures. These are things such as long, wavy lines, or figures with lots of points on them.
 * 4) No more than four different shapes on a single native; copies of the same shape are fine.
 * 5) Not one is 3-D from the native illustration; the 3-D appearance of the inhabitants, if there is one, is at the viewer's discretion.
 * 6) Smooth edges only. Nothing jagged or fuzzy. Spiky, like Hotted or Dejeh, is OK.

When making a planet, however, the limitations are far less strict. In fact, you can pretty much design anything you want, provided that it can fit in a 64x64 box and has a transparent background (I mean, honestly. Does anyone know what Hevendor is?). In any case, go wild!

Infobox And Setup
Now that you have a planet and idea ready to go, it's time to add it to the wiki.

Start by making a new page, and giving it the title of your planet. The first thing you should do is go to the "Insert" menu and selecting "Template". Then, search for "Noncanon", and pick the first template you see. This template denotes any article, planet or story that isn't in Meteos canon, and looks like this

This should be implemented at the top of your page, and nowhere else, for it signifies that your article is no canonical in any way, shape or form. Make a new page, titled (YourPlanet). This step is crucial. For this first page, we will be putting in the data for your planet. The next thing you'll want to do is import the "FanInfobox" template. Just go and import it.
 * 1) Insert
 * 2) Template
 * 3) Search "FanInfobox" (no quotes, as shown)

Once imported, you'll get an empty template to mess around with. The one of the left has been filled out and annotated as an example.

Each category serves a specific purpose, as follows.

Title

This is the title of your planet, obviously. Not much else needs to be said.

Planet Image

The picture of your planet. This can be just about any file that is shaped as a square; 64x64 pixels is minimum.

Alien Image

Your drawing of your native. Make sure it's a PNG file, along with a transparent background as shown here.

Alien Caption

How your alien is referred to without a personal name. For example, the natives of Firim are called "Firimes". You may need to try different suffixes for your native's title to get it right.

Alternate Names

This section is for a planet's names in other countries. If you want, you can leave this blank. You can also choose an alternate name for your planet in certain regions, emulating the regional differences shown in Meteos.

Diameter

How big your planet is. State the initial value in kilometers, and the value in miles next to it in parenthesis.

Music

Your planet's soundtrack. Feel free to put fitting music in here, as a link (crediting the author, even if it is yourself). No putting Through The Fire And Flames on a planet like Florias, for example.

Alternatively, if your music is from a licensed property, such as a video game or a musical, state the name of the composer. If you cannot find it, state the name of the work it is from.

Code is here; [Your external link; Link text, crediting author] Planetary Grouping

Currently, there is no true purpose for this section. If you wish to feature your fanon planet in a "system" of other fanon planets, you may do so here.

Population

How many natives live on your planet. If you want to be mysterious, you can type in "Unknown".'

Size (Height)

How tall your natives are on average. If your native is a shape-shifter, like those on Wiral, you may want to consider putting down "Variable" as the average height, with a "baseline" next to it (the height your natives have on average while not shapeshifting).

Author

Put a link to your page here, or whoever wrote the planet with you. For the sake of simplicty, try to keep the amount of authors to one.

Artist

Like the above, but for whoever made the pictures of your native/planet. Supply links as usual. You can easily put in line breaks by pressing Shift + Enter(/Return).

One this is filled out, you can begin to create the body of your page.

Make two headers, with the first being named "Planetary Data" and the second being "Inhabitants". The next thing to do should be apparent; Either re-type in your corresponding information, if you wrote it on a piece of paper, or, more practically, copy-and-paste it in from Microsoft Word/Google Docs/ZenWriter/whatever other program you may be using. Make sure the content matches the header, or it'll look ridiculous and you will be very, very sad.

Once you are done with this, publish the page; you don't have much farther to go!

Archived Interactions
Archived Interactions are essentially short stories written by various Archivers (read; users) that document various experiences on the planet. These can be anything from quick descriptions to detailed accounts on the inhabitants themselves. However, there is a distinction between normal stories and Archived Interactions; these all revolve around certain subjects (usually) and only account a single planet's behaviors; it doesn't go into multi-planet epics.

For more information on writing Archived Interactions, please see the Archived Interaction Guide.

Last Element; Planet (Fanon) Navigation Box
The Last element in your page should be the Planet (Fanon) Navigation Box. As earlier, you can add it to your page by going to the "Insert" menu and selecting "Template". Then, search for "PlanetFanonNavbox", and pick the first template you see. This is how it looks:

It is used to link each Fanon Planet together for easy navigation. You can also add your own planet to it by editing that template in its page. Please put your new planet in alphabetical order, and make your own Mini icon respecting the style of the other icons (No gradients, 20x20 alien image inside the constraints of the white box).

This is essentially all there is to a Fanon planet page at this point. Once you're done, it may be time to do a reality check.

Part 3; Quality Check
Now that you're planet is done (mostly), it's time to check it for anything that may be missing, or need to be fixed.

This section is divided into several checklists, and is intended to be looked at after all the previous steps are completed. Look over it, and make sure all of the elements fit the bill.

General
This is based on general concepts in your article.
 * 1) Did I even go over the process?
 * 2) * If not, go ahead and actually do it this time. Speaking of which, how did you get down here? Are you just checking this out ahead of time?
 * 3) Is it sensible?
 * 4) * This basically means to check your planet makes sense in the Meteos universe. Get someone to check it out if you're unsure.
 * 5) Is this high quality?
 * 6) * If you're unsure, compare your article to some of the canonical planet articles, or some featured Fanon planet articles, to make sure.
 * 7) Could I show this to a twelve-year old without scarring them for life?
 * 8) * This is a question you should ask yourself if you're worried about family-friendliness. If the answer is "no", you have a problem.
 * 9) Is this a mess?
 * 10) * If you've been following instructions and formatting your page like you're supposed to, this should be a "no", unless you've added images. If you're worried about images outside of the infobox making a mess, don't use them.
 * 11) Is this based too much on some other media?
 * 12) * Whether you're making a planet based on Spore, Ratchet & Clank, or some other game, as yourself; "If I showed this to (whatever I based it on)'s creator, would they file for copyright infringement?" If the answer is 'yes', then try and make your planet a little more original, such as throwing in a few ideas of your own.

Illustrations
This set revolves around any problems you may have with images.
 * 1) Do these images adhere to the images guidelines for their categories?
 * 2) * You can review the general constraints and inhabitant image constraints here.
 * 3) Could I show this to a twelve-year old without scarring them for life?
 * 4) * As stated previously, ask yourself this if you're concerned about your image being safe to put on the wiki.
 * 5) Is this stolen?
 * 6) * If you're using an image from a source you don't have permission from and/or are violating it's usage license (and do not credit the author), congratulations, you're committing plagiarism! The best way to avoid this? Simple; don't use images about other games, sources, or anything you paid for.

Miscellaneous
This category is of anything that wasn't covered in previous categories, or may be about something you forgot. If you managed to get down here without tripping any of the questions, then congratulations! Your planet will fit well with the other Fanon planets on the site!
 * 1) Did I include music?
 * 2) * If not, you may want to, for completeness purposes.
 * 3) Did I credit everyone I borrowed from (if anyone)?
 * 4) * If you used the work of someone else in your article anywhere (inhabitant or planet picture, any artwork you used, things you drew inspiration from, music artists), be sure to credit them in the "Credits" section of your article's opening.
 * 5) Are any image links broken?
 * 6) * Broken images have red links to them in their place. Make sure you have none; they look extraordinarily tacky, and are a good way to have your planet lose most of its chances of being featured.
 * 7) Is this planet made by someone else?
 * 8) * In the strange case that someone wanted you to post one of their planets here (but wouldn't join the wiki themselves, for some reason), make sure to put that in the credits. It's healthy.
 * 9) Am I happy with this?
 * 10) * This is by far the most important one; it's whether or not you are happy with how your article turned out. If you aren't, go back and work on it some more, extend and expand it a bit, clean things up, or re-check the list a few times.

Part 4; Tagging
Once you are happy with everything, have gone though the quality check, and are ready to release your planet into the world, there's only one thing left to do before publishing your planet.

Tagging
To make sure that the Fanplanet you made doesn't get lost, we have some tags to give said page. For best results, make sure your planet has it. (Note that no tag actually have quotes.) Once everything's tagged and done, congratulations! Your planet is ready to be published!
 * "Homeworlds"
 * This puts your planet in with all the other Fanplanets.

Part 5; Tips and Tricks
Having trouble making your planet, or want to be more efficient? Have a go at our tips section.
 * If you want to save your article, but don't want to publish it yet, open the SourceEditor, highlight everything in it, copy it, and paste it into a word processing program. When you want to re-open it, make a new article (and give it the proper title again), type in a few letters, open the SourceEditor again, and paste in your article's code, for a quick and easy reload!
 * You can make a blog post about your planet. Just don't spam people's message walls with your planets, or you'll probably end up getting blocked, or at least warned, for spamming.
 * The best way to draw more attention to your planets is to pay attention to everyone else's; if you're lucky, someone may just come over and look at yours!
 * Tracks from Lumines are great choices for your planet's soundtracks.