Fluff Items

[FreeStylaLT]

 

Here's some information on fluff items and how to get them.

 

What is a fluff item?

Regarding fluff items, they should be primarily wearable attire that has no direct impact on gameplay.

Re-skins or recolors are allowed, however, they should maintain the original item's shape and / or form as closely as possible. 

For example, if you wish to have a re-skin of a wheelchair, then the item should look like one, however, you are free to add fire decals or recolor it to be black, or anything of the sort. You will also not receive the item itself, but rather a special object that allows you to change the icon of the item once it is in your possession.

This is important for clarity's sake, as items and objects should always be recognized at first glance. This means that having re-skins for weapons, such as tasers or stun-batons is often a bad idea, as the said visual clarity has to be maintained, so people would always recognize it as what they are.

In addition, fluff apparel should not resemble armor, as they would never be allowed to have actual armor values, unless you are creating a replacement for an armor vest, coat, or other armor-item. However, if you choose to do so, it should be evident at first glance that it is an armored item, and if it is tied to a specific job, that impression should not be lost.

What if I don't want my fluff to be a clothing item? What is / isn't allowed then?

As a rule of thumb, if it is available in the load-out section - it is an eligible fluff item, both as the items themselves or as recolors or re-skins of those items.

Beyond simple apparel, here is a comprehensive list of pre-approved non-apparel items that can be had as fluff items:

• Dice (D20 or D6, or otherwise)
• Cigarette packs
• Lighters (Zippos or Regular)
• Plushies
• Photographs
• Pet rocks
• Body mod accessories (such as tattoos or body markings)
• Paper Bin
• Pen (Multicolor, special font)
• A book (Not the Bible or a variant of the bible, unless it is for the Chaplain)
• A box variant
• Reagent containers that can contain up to 30 units of the following substances:
  • Space Cola
  • Space-Up
  • Dr. Gibb
  • Space Mountain Wind
  • Grapel Juice
  • Water
• Empty reagent containers (such as flasks) that can contain up to 60 units.
• A unique pAI sprite.
• A unique AI Hologram sprite.
• A unique recolor / light reskin of an existing Mech.
• A unique Borg sprite, however, some quality, clarity and color-palette standards may apply.
• Any items that have no functional use, but have unique sprites, as long as they do not actively resemble an already-existing item.
• Any items that can be attached to existing apparel, such as waistcoats, badges, scarves, bowties, ties, necklaces, medals. Webbings are not eligible. Holsters, unless a recolor / re-skin, are not eligible for fluff items.

Allowed Fluff Item Features:

Fluff items are allowed to have the following unique features:

• A unique name
• A unique description
• A unique sprite (as an item and on a mob)
• An ability to change the item's sprite to a different color of the same sprite.

Fluff items are not allowed to have custom sounds, effects or other abilities beyond the ones already present in the item (if it is a resprite / recolor).

Modifying Fluff Items after implementation:

If you are unsatisfied with or wish to have some, or all of your fluff item's aspects changed, there are some restrictions:

• You may have minor tweaks added to your sprites at any time.
• If your item has state-changing capabilities, you may not add additional states, however, you may remove or apply minor tweaks to said states.

If you wish to completely swap out your fluff item for a different one, you must make a choice of either:

• Removing the existing item from the code-base in its entirety
• Allowing it, sprites included, to be freely used by other developers, admins, or players at their discretion.

Head Administrators may remove your fluff item or request changes to it for any reason.

Any fluff items that have been fully implemented prior to this thread will remain untouched, even if they do not follow the standards established in this thread.

Fluff items that do not fall under the aforementioned criteria may be requested for review, but are only acceptable with Head of Staff approval before implementation. Changes to the details of the requested item may be made at Head of Staff discretion in order to ensure fairness and standards.

As always, if you are in doubt, or have any questions, feel free to contact a Head Administrator.

 

How to get a fluff item?

1. Pledge. Either support us on Patreon or still have a fluff item left over from when we took regular donations.

2. Come up with a fluff item. Can be anything that doesn’t make the game unfair. Cosmetic-only changes can still be vetoed if they seem deceptive (if something looks like an armor it should behave like one)

3. Sprite it! You can either do the work yourself or find some slaves to do it for you. Unfortunately, we can’t guarantee a staff member spriting your fluff item, we’re a bit too busy for that.

4. Come up with a name and description for the item, try to be unique.

5. Fill this form.

Quote

In-Game name of the item:

Description on the item in-game:

What the item does:

Your byond key:

The name of the character you want to have the item:

The specific jobs you want the character to have the item for:

 

And if you didn't use Patreon

The date of your donation:

The email of the account you used:

 

6. Send the form and all sprites to a Head of Staff either by a forum PM or by Discord. Using Discord will help you get to them faster.

 

[Cole_Wilds]

I've been hearing some scuttlebutt about fluff items being removed. Is there any validity to that?

[Spacemanspark]

The patron tier that could get fluff items is being removed, but all current fluff items already in place are staying. 

[Cole_Wilds]

Ah, good to know. Thanks for getting back so quickly!