Sponsorship

Promoting your character from Testing to Main Game

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Simplified Outline

A creator must resolve all flaws in a sponsorship post to "complete a sponsorship."

• Sponsorship posts must contain one or more flaws to count.
• Sponsorship posts by developers with 2+ characters on the main roster may choose to not include flaws, however.

A creator must meet one of the two following requirements for their character to be added to the main roster:

• If you're a first time writer (no characters on the main roster): Completion of any 5 sponsorship posts.
• If you're a writer with 1+ characters on the main roster: Completion of 3 sponsorship posts written by SPNatI contributors also with 1+ characters on the main roster, or any 5 sponsorship posts.

Process

For release into the main game, a character must pass community sponsorship. Five sponsorships are required for new characters and three for reworks. These sponsorships will be conditional sponsorships, meaning the flaws outlined in the post must be addressed before the character will be accepted.

The number of sponsorships required is relaxed for new characters where all writers have already had a character sponsored and on the Main Roster before. These characters only need three sponsorships, but all three must be from developers who have likewise had a character on the Main Roster.

A character is considered new when it uses no prior dialogue or artwork from another version of the character. A character is considered reworked when it encounters a substantial art overhaul, substantial dialogue update, or inheritance by a new author. The moderation team reserves full rights to make judgment calls on this distinction.

Some reworked main roster characters are eligible for Quick Pass, and won't need to return to Testing. For more information on Quick Pass and the difference between new characters and reworks, see here.

Procedure

• When a creator is ready to submit their Testing Roster character to the main roster, they will create a sponsorship post on Reddit.
• The community will have an opportunity to give affirmative, conditional sponsorships.
• The creator will look at the disqualifying flaws listed and update the character to address them.
• When requisite number of sponsorships have been obtained and their flaws addressed, the creator will petition the QA team, and select which of the sponsorships they’ve received they wish to use as basis for Mod QA.
• Creators can select which sponsorships to use and address when completing the process, as long as they select enough to meet the requirements.
• The QA team will perform Mod QA. If necessary, sponsors will be communicated with to determine if these fixes have been met.
• If successful, the character will be admitted to the core roster. If unsuccessful, the character will remain on the Testing Roster until the creator submits them for another round of QA, or until they fall off the Testing Roster to the offline version.

Structure for Character Devs

Sponsorship requests should have the Sponsorship Request flair on Reddit, and a title that states the character in question is seeking sponsorship. Usually the post is a picture of the character, with a separate post of additional details as a reply. You can see examples of other devs' sponsorship posts here.

Devs are encouraged to list out any areas where they would like direction. This would be non-binding (sponsors can still list any flaws they want) but would help sponsors know what to look for and what the dev is willing to fix.

Please post a link in your character's Discord channel to the Reddit thread, so it can be pinned for easy access.

When adding a character to the main roster, you're entitled to make your own pre-set table for them! Pick a name, three other characters, and a background.

Structure for Sponsors

Sponsors will need to list who they played with, what positive values this characters adds to the Main Roster, and any flaws encountered that you feel holds the character back from being good enough for the main roster. You can also list additional points of suggestion or discussion.

Note that a developer must fix what's been posted in the Disqualifying Flaws section. These can range from simple typo fixes to model reworks, but it's best not to saddle a character with prohibitively steep conditions unless it's what you truly feel a character needs. You can also add Suggestions, which are non-binding but can be helpful ideas.

Experienced Developers

Developers with the Made Two Characters role or higher on Discord are allowed to bypass the Disqualifying Flaws section and sponsor the character as-is. However they will still need to post on Reddit and fill out the Positive Values section of the template, because it's good to praise other people's hard work.

Template for Sponsorship:

Characters Tested:
Who you played your test game with.

Positive Values:
Examples include but aren't limited to quality dialogue, unusual but appealing models, and positive interactions. Three is a good number to shoot for.

Disqualifying Flaws:
Here, list whatever flaws prohibit this character from being good enough to be added to the game. You can be as specific as you'd like when requesting fixes, e.g. "This character does not have enough targets, please add 52 total targets to 17 different opponents."

Suggestions and Discussion:
Suggestions are optional ideas for where to take the character and what to do after sponsorship. These aren't binding like the flaws observed. Discussions are a more fluid series of observations on what you didn’t like or liked about the character.

This can be things such as “I don’t like that this character’s face. I think this character’s sexuality isn’t quite canon. I don’t think this character’s gimmick does anything interesting, and could be frustrating to target.”

Mod QA

The Mod QA will be as follows:

• Confirmation that each sponsorship flaw has been corrected
• Validator check for major issues
• Tag-removed spellcheck, reported on the character’s Discord channel.
• Testing that all collectibles work properly and are in line with the rules
• Confirmation of dialogue in each of the Futa cases, with the exception that the Visible general case doesn't need lines if the three size cases have lines, and vice versa.

If a character is found not to meet all of the chosen sponsors' flaws, they will be required to address those before the character can be added to the main roster. Additionally, if significant or numerous technical issues are found, the developer will be asked to fix those as well.

Mod QA Veto

If the character's developer disagrees with a ruling from a QA checker or mod they can petition another mod for a second opinion.