Get prepared! (Neverlings)

visual art
you can begin to prepare visual art that you wish to use for your Neverlings.

on the forums they will have a 50 x 50 px image IF you choose to chat as your Neverling, and not as yourself,
if you ever spent time on neopets we won't have the 'active neverling' displayed on forums, but more so, their image will be displayed instead of your player avatar,
and their name will be displayed instead of your username, so this is to benefit those who wish to roleplay!
uploading this custom content, your own 50x50 px display images for yourself and Neverling are premium content,
otherwise you will have to choose from a premade. premium content is $10 usd per month and it includes a lot of stuff, even at launch! :>

150x150 px display image, this is not premium content, everyone can upload these for their Neverlings! on the neverling profile it'll have their full image/reference,
but so it doesn't look squished on your sidebar (or lose detail) you can upload your own image! this can be a headshot, a chibi, whatever you like! or you don't have to upload one at all!

emotes, each player may upload up to 6 emotes per Neverling, these are 70x70 px, and can be used in the social areas of the game play, or on the forums!
each player is entitled to emotes, it is not premium exclusive content. emotes can be what you would call chat heads!

pixel sprites, bases will be provided once concepts are finalised, there will be premade sprites too! we will also have 'official' pixel artists available to commission on the platform itself.
the sprite bases will include walk and run cycles, jump, emotions, different angles etc.

so what other premium content will there be?
exclusive social area, the ability to change your interface colours (input the #) and customise your player and neverling profiles!
more things will be added over time, but the cost of premium content will never go up! it'll always be $10 per month.
you will also appear different from other members on forums and receive priority queue for prompt approvals (yours will always be put at the top automatically and highlighted)
premium content will never include things to give you an advantage over others in game (prompt approvals being quicker is not a game changing advantage)

what will premium content fund?
we will be able to fund more gameplay and pixel artwork, this takes time and money! we will also be able to pay our staff real wages, not just compensation with in game rewards :>
we will continue to reinvest what we make in order to keep providing quality content!

upcoming merchandise
this helps fund our game as well as helping the artists who are contributing!
if you want to craft and make money out of our platform, please see this journal

SOUNDTRACK - we are collaborating with Zi De Guqin Studio to produce our first soundtrack, it will consist of 6 original pieces. we will have so many more soundtracks for locations, moods, worlds etc. the original soundtrack will be available for purchase as a CD through our merch store, or free to listen on the creator's youtube channel! I will also see about making spotify, google play, and soundcloud for our franchise to provide this content free to listen too. But I think people will still buy the CD because of the sake of having physical merchandise, it makes it more special. the soundtrack in game will be modified and mastered to be compatible with a video game, some parts may be enhanced and additions may be added to the sound, as well as making it loop! all these are taken in to consideration by the composer.

PLUSHIES - The-Plushatiers will be making official recurring purchasable plush pieces, not just one offs, these ones will be duplicated but still collectable! mostly of NPC's and summon/pet species. all plush are handmade and absolutely delightful!

PINS - I myself am working on pin sets, they are outsourced because I couldn't find any artists doing handmade enamel pins, BUT I only source from fair work, and when I have the choice, sustainable materials and production methods.

BADGES - I will be making badges myself! just need to invest in a badge press out of my own money once I save it up :> the badges will probably be player achievements and such.

PATCHES - Slothie-Studios will be producing their own custom content and patch sets, most merchandise we sell has a cut added on (for the growth of our world of course) but we never take a cut of custom content! whenever an artist takes a custom they are free to choose the cost of it and everything is theirs.

ART BOOKS - ok I saved the best for last, I am extremely excited for these. the content of these books will also be available on our wiki/webpage but of course like I said for the soundtracks, I'm sure people would still want to collect these! each book has a featured artist, so it's only containing illustration works from them, the content of the book will be categorised by location, so for example there will be a kehts book, a cha-kah book and so on. I am yet to name the Kinlen and Zecoh world since a slight mix up, if you have a suggestion let me know, the current concept is 'Eilore' but I will look to other suggestions before finalising it!
the books themselves will contain history, lore, species information, as well as fauna and flora found in those regions. I will be entirely responsible for the management, printing, production and distribution of these, but the artists will receive most of the cut! for example individual artist worlds (like Magiborbs) only $1 cut from each book will be taken as a sourcing fee, as I am not providing any content myself, I am simply giving the opportunity and helping artists build themselves up!

my take on merchandise
I want to provide quality products and consistency. I rather help artists make money than giving myself a huge profit margin and factory products. when you receive your merchandise I want you to feel the care and love that went in to it, which is exactly what I'm trying to put in to this platform! I want the pieces to last and to be special. also because I am not looking to profit off these the prices will be more affordable to you! rather than the artist taking a lower cut in order to make money for the business. I was going to order in bulk and make the prices extremely high in order to benefit the platform during fundraising, but thanks to so much community effort we don't need to do that anymore! :>

another potential Neverling species
so you guys know my philanthropic bias, is the local cat shelter, cat haven. I am developing my side hustle to help them too and ease the strain on shelters in 2020, but I always go back to 'fundraising' when they are having a crisis, take right now for example they are needing cooling mats, fans etc because Australian summers are so brutal. I like supporting charities I can SEE the money helping, or we can literally drop off the aid required (which is what we will be doing on friday). but a Neverling species can also help this cause, for example a cat inspired species. I don't want to do more MYO sales but this is for a really good cause. Do you remember how we raised funds for the street appeal? that happens once a year, so we could do a small event/festival surrounding that and have MYO of this species for sale but only in that time. As well as any sales I make of the species personally I would donate the funds from (but other designers are not required to do the same). if you have ideas for this, please feel free to help me brainstorm! if you do not support this idea, please let me know, as I really value community feedback even if it's negative!

investors
if you wish to invest, please enquire, I am still taking expressions of interest in these!
at this point we really don't need more investors, but I am happy to put your money to use and help it grow over time!

thanks so much for looking guys! hope you are as excited as I am :>