Welcome to Gaia! ::

To make a pixel pet shop, you first need a idea. It needs to be pretty unique if you want the shop to be successful. Don't use any other ideas that have already been used. For examples, normal pets.. Like dogs. There have been at least 10 pixel pet dog shops. Your idea should be unique. No one likes copycats. Some good ideas I've seen include: Ghosts, Pets from another planet, pets that resemble 2 different animals, mushroom pets, ect. But these ideas have been used already. So don't take them.

Next, you need a program. Like.. MS Paint, or Photoshop, any version, if you're good with colouring in it and stuff. Create a lineart for your pets WITH THE PENCIL TOOL. If you're not good at making lineart, go buy lineart from an auction or ask a friend that's good to help you. You should also make items, food, ect. And a habitat.

After you have your idea and lineart, it's time to make the thread. Go here. http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=81 And click New Topic. When you're setting up, make sure that you put "DO NOT POST YET" in the title. Reserve how many posts you need. I suggest 15 though. It just looks neater. xDD

In the posts you make, make sure to put the following: "Welcome", "Story" (Not neccessary, but it would be fun!), "Rules", "Stages", "FAQ", "Furniture"(If you have any), "Items", and a post for events, "Owners List", ect. And everything else that should be put.

Next, after you finish setting up, open it up! You should advertise now. Tell your friends! Affiliate with other pixel shops! But, if you don't get customers right away, you should be patient. If no one comes after a long time, your shop is missing something.



This section is about hiring people. Just like the normal breedable shops.. When you want to hire someone, you have to consider some points..

- Do I need to hire someone?
- Does this person have enough skill and time to work in my shop?
- Will this person know how to do their job?
- Is this person trustworthy?
- Do I have a plan on how to split the profit?
- Do I(or we, if you have already hired a person) make enough income to split? (XD)

If you answered no to the first question, then you should take a while to consider your decision. If you answered no to more then 4 of these questions, also consider.

In the next post, I'll compare a good pixel pet to a badly done one.

When colouring/shading your pixel stuff, an important thing is to use colours that are not too far away from each other...

For example..



The one on the left is.. Just plain scary.. The one on the right is much better looking.

Soft pastel colours usually work nice with pixels.

Also, when shading, remember not to put the shading in random spots.. You should shading in parts that have shadows.. ect. Like.. underneath a ear... ect.



Contributed by Freya and Saporion! CC;.... LOVE YOU GUYS FOREVAH. <3

HOW TO UPDATE YOUR PETS ~

I've been asked this before, how to updates the image with the growings and such, and the solution is.. Photobucket. You will need to get a photobucket account here. Sign up, and upload your images and certificates there. When it's time to update your pets, first, name the image on your computer the file name you gave to the old image, make sure to save it in the exact same format too. Then click "Delete" above the image you want to update in photobucket. Upload the new image with the same name, and then refresh.

Tada! :3

IMPORTANT:

I don't know where to stick this section but...

Okay, your pets are most likely going to go through stages, so that means updates. You should set a day for when the updates will occur. For example.. Lets say you want to update once 2 weeks, so you would mark your calender with the update day twice a month. DO NOT SELL MORE PETS THEN YOU CAN UPDATE. I repeat. Because if you do, your customers would start to get impatient, meaning.. Well.. You lose customers. Get it? Okay, good.

Okay. I thought I would get this over with. I HATE IT WHEN PEOPLE STEAL. Yup. If you know me well, you'll know that I don't tolerate stealing. It's unfair, wrong, and just shows that you either have no talent or is just lazy. It's okay if you don't know what it is, but if you do know, and you still do it, then.. -.- It's ILLEGAL, unless you have permission. If you don't know what stealing online is, then let me explain.

Stealing is taking ANYTHING from someone and claiming it to be your own. Online, people only steal art. Taking someone's outline, recoloring it, and claiming it to be yours, that's stealing. Taking someone's idea, editing it breifly, and then claiming it to be yours, also stealing. The worse kind is just plain taking it, erasing the artist's credit, and then just posting it as it is. You will get NOTHING from stealing.

Even if you steal something and hide it at the most deserted corner of the web, someone WILL find out eventually. And depending on what they decided to do, you might get kicked out of the website, or something like that. If it's your own website, you might get it frozen. =/

Taking something without giving credit is also a form of stealing.. Soo.. Make sure to credit the stuff like doll bases you take from other websites.

Anyway, I hope I got my point across. If not, then I'm telling you not to take someone else's work from their shop and then pasting it in your's. kthx. n.n

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Thanks Kie! xP

Yeah. That's annoying. Thanks for the tip!

ROSA! : D *bunny luffs*