✧ sUBMISSION gUDELINES & Currency Distrubution ✧

information and requirements for ARPG sUBMISSIONS & currency

In order to participate in website activities and likewise make the most of their overall Glowchus experience, most users, at some point or another, are going to end up making a submission of some sort to the community. The term "submission" is what we use to refer to anything that was created by a Glowchus user for the sake of participating in the ARPG - whether that be a creative piece for the gallery, an entry for a prompt, or anything else along those lines. These submissions will be the primary means through which users progress both themselves and their characters through the ARPG and likewise earn the site currency, which can them be used to progress themselves and their characters even further - or to make entirely new characters!

Naturally, as a social community, we have several guidelines in place when it comes to what users can and cannot submit to the community, what is and isn't acceptable in terms of content, and overall submission standards we expect members to adhere to during the time they spend participating - all of which can be found outlined in detail on this page! It also breaks down a lot of additional information for submissions such as the difference between participating and additional characters, requirements for collabs, quality standards, and more!

Please refer to the table of contents below if you're looking to learn more about something specific and want to avoid skimming through the entire page in order to find it. And, as always, if anything isn't explained clearly enough or if you likewise have any questions about any of the information written here, you're more than welcome to reach out to a member of the Glowchus staff team for some extra clarification!

Table of Contents

• Submission Guidelines
  
  • General Guidelines
  • Prompt Guidelines
  • Quality Standards
• Currency Distribution
  • Radiance
  • Star Tokens (WIP) - overhaul in progress
  • Reward Passes (WIP) - overhaul in progress
  • Festival Tickets (WIP) - overhaul in progress
  • Experience
  • Job Experience (WIP) - not yet implemented
  • Affection

✧ Submission Guidelines ✧

The first of the two primary topics we'll be addressing on this page is the community's submission guidelines. These guidelines encompass everything from what will and won't be accepted, instructions on how to handle collaborations, quality standard breakdowns for artwork, and much more! Everything written out in this first section applies specifically to what users submit to the Glowchus on site gallery, which is the only way to participate in website activities and likewise earn in-game currency and other rewards.

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➤ General Guidelines

General guidelines are basic standards that apply to any and all submissions made to the Glowchus community, whether said submissions are general gallery pieces, prompt entries, or something else entirely. We ask that users please read through them carefully and also keep them in mind as they go about their arpg endeavors. With the exception of some ground rules that have been tailored to users' experience on this website specifically, everything written out in this section should be common sense. For the sake of clarity, however, users can find all relevant information in regards to both what is and isn't acceptable in terms of their submissions outlined below:

✓ Acceptable!

• Submissions with a substantial degree of finish [flat colored lines, clean colored sketches, lit with 300+ words, etc].
• Submissions of any skill level or media [artwork, literature, photography, animations, literature, 3D models, etc].
• Submissions depicting one or more registered characters.
• Submissions depicting previously registered characters [even if they're no longer registered].
• Submissions depicting non-registered Glowchus characters as long as at least one registered character is included.
• Literature/roleplay logs including registered characters.
• Registered characters depicted as humans, gijinkas, or any other species as long as the character is recognizable.
• Mild violence and sexual themes - if filters are required then the themes are not mild.
• Memes, community-made or otherwise.

✗ Not Acceptable!

• Submissions with a minimal degree of finish [sketches, lineart, lit with less than 300 words, etc].
• Submissions depicting non-registered characters [unless a registered character is also included].
• Any work of art, writing, or otherwise that was not created by the submitter [this includes tracing, copying, reposting, stealing, etc].
• Depictions of heavy sexual themes or violence, regardless of filters.
• Anything  created through the use or with the help of AI.

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➤ prompt guidelines

Prompt guidelines are rules and standards that should be adhered to specifically when it comes to the submission of - and participation in - prompts. When participating in prompts, general submission guidelines should also be kept in mind, but prompts also have their own specific subset of guidelines that can vary from prompt to prompt. More details can be found outlined in the sections below.

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➤ Participating [Focus] Character[s] & Additional Character[s]

Each submission made for most prompt related purposes in the Glowchus ARPG can only have a single participating character [unless otherwise stated], with one exception - that exception being collabs. Users may include as many of their own characters [or characters of other users] in a prompt submission as they like, but only the character listed as the participating character [or alternatively, the focus character] will reap the prompt rewards. So, even if a user was to include three of their own characters in their prompt submission, that user may only list one of those characters as the participating character and only that singular character will receive the character-based prompt rewards [such as items, extra experience, and in the case of any associated companions, affection].

In very rare cases, some prompts do, in fact, allow for listing multiple characters as participating characters. As a general rule of thumb, storyline prompts adhere strictly to the one participating character rule, but some festival prompts, monthly prompts, and miscellaneous activities may permit the listing of several characters as the participating characters. In instances where multiple participating characters is applicable, it will be clearly stated in the prompt guidelines. If the quantity of participating characters is NOT listed, however, it's safe to assume that there may be only one.

Any companions included in the submission are considered additional participating characters only if they are bonded to the participating character[s]. They will not receive item rewards, but will receive an equal share of the experience earned as well as an additional currency known as affection. Even if you consider a companion to belong to a certain character, they will NOT receive participating character rewards unless they are bonded to the participating character. They will instead be considered an additional character.

Additional characters included in submissions are any characters aside from the participating character and the participating character's companions. These characters will receive a small amount of EXP for being included in the submission, and may grant the user additional radiance depending on any relevant bonuses, but they will not be granted any additional rewards, as, to reiterate, prompt rewards are pretty much exclusive to the singular participating character.

https://glowchus.com/gallery/view/1221

This image was adgerelli's submission for [G2-001M]. Spike [the Pichu] is the participating character in this image. Because Gasty [the Ghastly behind him] is Spike's bonded companion, she is considered a participating character by association. Were Gasty not bonded to Spike, she would be considered an additional character instead. Mirage [the Pikachu] on the other hand, is not the participating character and is therefore considered an additional character.

https://glowchus.com/gallery/view/243

This image was Staarbits's submission for [G2-001S]. Solari [the orange Pikachu] is the participating character in this image. Rose [the Pichu] is a presently registered character, but is not the participating character and therefore counts as an additional character. Blake [the red Pikachu] and Colette [the pink Pikachu] are no longer registered but were registered previously and therefore likewise count as additional characters. Had Blake and Collette never been registered before, they would not count as additional characters because characters need to be registered on site to count for radiance distribution.

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➤ cHARACTER Portrayal

When using characters to participate in prompts, the characters portrayed must appear as they do in their masterlist entries. What this essentially means is that if a specific character has yellow fur, blue markings, and a scar over their left eye, any art pieces that they appear in should depict that character's appearance accurately and without any traits or characteristics they do not possess. Users may stylize their artwork as they see fit [more regarding stylization can be found in another section below] but each character portrayed must always be recognizable as said character(s) and likewise may not present with any qualities or characteristics that they do not possess (drawing a Pikachu as an Eevee, for example. Or alternatively drawing a character that doesn't have horns with horns). There are two exceptions to this rule based on the potential circumstances of the particular prompt that a user is participating in - as well as the character's individual circumstances.

➤ Portrayal as an Alternate Species

As a general rule, characters may only be portrayed in prompts as the species they are listed as (ex. if a character is a Pikachu, they cannot be portrayed as a Charizard - or even a Raichu, despite that being Pikachu's next evolutionary stage - for the sake of prompt submissions). That said, there are a few situations in which users may portray their characters in prompts as an alternate species, despite the character not being that species themselves. Those situations are outlined below:

The prompt requires it
Occasionally, we may run prompts where the objective is to do something different with your character, such as drawing them as a species they might be if they weren't the species they are currently. Or alternatively drawing them in an alternate universe setting where they may not even be a Pokemon at all! In cases like these, it's obviously entirely fine for users to draw their characters in whatever manner will tie them in to the prompt, even if they don't adhere to their masterlist entries.

The character is a shifter and/or has a registered alternate form
If a character is a shifter or alternatively has an additional form (as is the case with undead Luminarians), users may portray that character as any one of it's alt forms as long as the form used have been registered and attached to the character.

The character is anthromorphized
We consider anthromorphification to be a form of stylization here at glowchus, and if users feel more comfortable drawing their quadrupeds as bipeds, or their ferals with more humanistic anatomy and features, they are more than welcome to do so as long as the character is still represented traditionally on their masterlist entry and as long as the user is aware that other users may draw said character in whatever way is most comfortable for them.

The character is depicted as a gijinka/human
If users prefer to draw their feral/non-human characters as humans, then they're in luck! Because here at Glowchus, we allow exactly that.

➤ Portrayal in Flashbacks/Flashforwards

While the portrayal of characters, specifically when it comes to their evolutionary stages, will generally depend on the stage that they're currently registered at in their masterlist entry, there are a few circumstances under which users may portray their characters at a lower (or even higher) evolutionary stage than they are presently. Those situations are outlined below:

The prompt requires it
As with the alternate species rule above, there may be instances where a prompt requires that it be treated as a flashback, or even a flashforward.

Legacy Rerun Prompts
Because RS's legacy prompts are currently re-running and initially took place several years ago, users may treat them as  flashbacks, in which their characters appear younger or at lower evolutionary stages than they are presently registered as.

Monthly Prompts/Festival Prompts/Questlines
Both monthly and festival prompts are considered "non canon" to the overarching events of the Glowchus timeline and can be treated as though they've taken place at any point in a character's life. Meaning that if users want to treat a monthly prompt as though it happened presently, they can, but if they want to treat it as though it happened in the past, they are more than welcome to do so! Despite this, however, we do not allow flash forwards under these circumstances and these prompts must be treated as though they are occurring presently or that they occurred in the past only.

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➤ Prompt sPLITS

If you're not familiar with the term already, in ARPGs, a split is a single submission that can be used for multiple prompt entries as long each image in the split meets the base requirements for the prompts it's being submitted to. Because of certain restrictions with LK, we only allow splits if they're being done for one singular submission. For example, if you're participating in the Spring Festival main event, which has 3 parts, you can make 1 submission with multiple images (comic, sequence, animation, collage, etc) as long as each piece within the submission meets the minimum requirements for the prompt. But you could not, for example, make 1 submission with multiple images and use that to participate in both the Spring Festival main event and the Summer festival main event, as they are not the same prompt.

Each piece in the split is treated independently based on what part of the prompt (or the number of characters being portrayed) the piece is being submitted for. If you submit a 3 panel comic for a 3 part prompt (basically one panel per prompt), you will only receive the associated panel for the associated prompt when you submit it. For example, let's assume that there's a bonus for including Solari in each part of a 3 part prompt submission and that a user submits a 3 panel comic (one panel per part) and that all 3 panels include Solari. The user would not receive the bonus for including Solari 3 times each time they submit the prompt - only one time per submission for 3 times total.

There is one drawback to splits, and that is the number of times it will be submitted in instances where the splits are collabs. Because of this, if you are planning to collaborate on a potential split, be aware up front that this IS possible, but that there are limitations. Because there's a cap on the number of times a single submission can be used to participate in one prompt submission, users need to keep in mind that if they're collaborating on a split submission, that will likewise increase the amount of times it's being submitted to the prompt since each collaborator will need to submit the image themselves to earn their share of the rewards. Taking that into consideration, we have put a general rule for collab splits in play: If collaborating on a split art piece with another user will ultimately result in the piece being submitted more than 6 times (a 4 part prompt for example, which would mean each user would have to submit the piece four times for a total of 8), then the piece can either not be done as a split or not be done as a collab - the choice will ultimately be up to the users participating.

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➤ Collaborations

When collaborating on submissions, the Radiance earned by the participating users will be split (rounded up). For example, if two users collab on a general gallery submission with a value of 5R, both users will receive 3R (not 2.5R). When collaborating on submissions for prompts, both users receive the full set of prompt rewards... as applicable to their respective participating characters.

What this essentially means that is if, for the sake of a collab, one character gets a bonus (say the Soulmates bonus, as an example, for being included in the submission with their romantic partner), only the user who owns that character will receive the +10R, not the collaborator. This is because character perks are dependent upon the user, not the art. Users can only reap perk rewards from their own characters. Additionally, when collaborating on submissions, any additional characters included in the submission will not earn EXP. The only characters that earn EXP in a collab are the characters belonging to the collaborators and said characters can only be granted EXP through their own user's submissions. What this essentially means is that if one user is collaborating on a single submission for with another user, the first user will only add EXP to their submission for their own character (not the collaborator's) and the second user will do the same for their own character. This is explained in detail below.

➤ Submitting Collaborative Pieces to the Gallery

When submitting a collab to the gallery, only one of the users involved will submit the piece - who specifically doesn't matter because all collaborators will be listed and likewise receive rewards, regardless. But to ensure that all users do, in fact, receive their equal share of the rewards, it's very important that the submitting user remembers to list not just themselves, but ALSO any additional participants in the "participants" section. This will ensure that everyone involved receives credit and rewards for the piece.

A tutorial on submitting pieces to the gallery (which includes information on submitting collabs specifically) can be found here.

➤ Submitting Collaborative Pieces to Prompts

When submitting a collab to a prompt, every user that participated in the collab will make their own prompt submission independently from one another. Let's say for example a two users collaborated on one singular prompt and have already submitted that prompt to the gallery. When making the actual prompt submission, each user will make their own prompt submission using the gallery link to the collaborative piece. This ensures that both users get their full rewards for participating. It's important to keep in mind that when doing so, however, that each user involved will only add rewards for their own characters. So when the first user submits the prompt for themself, they will only grant items to their participating character and not their partner's character and their partner will do the same with their own characters when they submit their prompt as well.

A tutorial on making prompt submissions  (which includes information on submitting collabs specifically) can be found here.

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➤ Commissions

Users may use art that was commissioned (or that was received as a gift, trade, etc) for the sake of their own prompt submissions! They do not need permission from the original artist to do so, but the art does need to be uploaded to the site before it can be used. Therefore, if the person who made the art is not a member of the community, the user in question will need the person's written consent in order to have it uploaded to the site for the sake of prompt submissions. These pieces specifically will be submitted to the Arceus account and will not be granted any currency so that in the future, if the artist does end up deciding to join the community after all, they will be able to submit a claim for ownership over and currency for any art pieces that have already been submitted on their behalf.

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➤ Quality Standards

Users participating in the Glowchus ARPG must adhere to certain quality standards when it comes to the art being submitted here. Don't worry! We're not going to ding you on your skill level or anything like that. It's more or less so a matter of the degree of finish required for general gallery submissions and the conditions that must be met in order for a prompt submission to be considered a valid entry, especially when it comes to prompts.

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➤ Art Finish & Finish Bonuses

To avoid unintential discrimination against the shading/rendering users use in their art pieces, rendering is not required when it comes to submissions and if users choose to render their submissions, it is at their own discretion and do so with the knowledge that they won't receive anything extra [in terms of currency] for doing so - with one exception outlined below. That said, we do require some degree of finish when it comes to art pieces submitted to the gallery. With very few exceptions, we do not accept submissions that are anything less than flat colored images. Please refer to the chart below for a visual reference for the sake of images that will or will not be accepted.

Sketch

Clean Lines

Messy Colored Sketch

Clean Colored Sketch

Flat Colored Lines

Shaded

We know there's been some flip-flopping over whether or not to consider shading when it comes to the distribution of Radiance since the launch of the Glowchus website. We do want people do feel rewarded for the amount of effort put into their artwork, but we also don't want people to slap some undefined dark splotches onto their art and call it shading. So as of right now, we are tentatively introducing an "art finish bonus" to fully rendered pieces as long as those pieces follow some specific guidelines when it comes to what is and isn't acceptable in terms of shading. The art finish bonus is 1.5x the total value of radiance for the submission and must adhere to the following guidelines:

• The piece must be at least 75% rendered to count for the bonus.
• Rendering must contor to the character's body shape and cannot be undefined or linear splashes of shadow on the character.
• Rendering must have clear depth and dimension, meaning that both shadows and highlights must be utulized in the piece.
• The finish doesn't need to be overly complicated or something you'd expect to see on "professional" art. As long as users are utilizing both light and shadow in their pieces, those pieces will qualify for the bonus.

As usual, we have provided a chart below to illustrate what will and will not be enough to qualify for an art finish bonus.

The rendering on this piece is blocky and undefined and would not qualify for the art finish bonus in any capacity.

The rendering on this piece is getting closer to the desired result, but still wouldn't be enough to qualify for the art finish bonus.

The rendering on this piece is contoured to the character's body, but the lack of depth and dimension would still prevent it from qualifying for the art finish bonus.

The rendering on this piece is more along the lines of what we expect to see in pieces that would qualify for the art finish bonus. It's not overly complicated but the depth is there.

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➤ vISIBILITY

Visibility refers to how much of a character must be shown in order to count as a character for the sake of submissions. As a general rule of thumb, roughtly 30% of a character must be visible to acount for the minimum shown. Less may qualify under certain circumstances, but if the character is unidentifiable or obscured in any way, despite the minimum showing, it still might not count. For example, if you have 30% of a character showing but all you see is the character's leg, the character will be classified as "unidentifiable" and therefore not count as a character. What is acceptable is based on a system of how much of the character is shown in the image, not necessarily what, specificially, of the character is shown. A headshot, for example, is classified as ≤30% of the character shown - but what's shown doesn't necessarily need to be the character's head. That said, its also important to note that a character's face is considered a defining feature and not having it visible in a submission will result in the character being dropped to the next lowest tier of percentage. What we mean by this is if you have a full body character, for example, but you're viewing the character from behind and their face isn't visible, the character will be counted as a half-body rather than a full body. Additionally, if there's anything obstructing view of the character (elements of the background, other characters, etc), what is considered the percentage shown may suffer as a result. This is also true when it comes to chibis. If the chibis are oversimplified (missing arms and legs, for example) they may have their percentaged dinged as a result. Visibility percentages are listed below:

Headshot: ≤30%
Half-body: 30-60%
Full body: 60%+

An example of how these values appear visually can be seen in the chart below. Note that the segment containing the ears is greyed out because the ears don't count toward the percentage of the character's body. The amount of the character shown, in terms of the percentages listed, should begin from the top of the head and extend to the feet - otherwise the values would be thrown off [If the images are too small to see, you can right click on them and select "View Image"].

Visibility can be squashed down a bit to account for proportions on smaller creatures as long as the general percentages of visibility are kept into account. For example, for a headshot, the head of the character specifically does not need to be shown, only 30% or less if the character is still identifiable. If the face is obscured or only the bottom half of the character is shown, the character must still be identifiable. If all we see is a foot, a silhouette, or an undefined stick figure way off in the distance, for example, we will not count it as an individual character.

This image shows enough of the character to fall within the 10-35% range and therefore classifies as a "headshot."

Because a character's face is considered  a defining feature, this image isn't enough to count as a headshot despite falling within the 10-35% range.

This image shows enough of the character to fall within the 65% range and therefore classifies as a "half-body."

Because a character's face is considered  a defining feature, this image isn't enough to count as a half-body despite falling within the 65% range and would therefore classify as a "headshot" instead.

 

This image shows enough of the character to fall within the 90%+ range and therefore classifies as a "full body."

Because a character's face is considered a defining feature, this image isn't enough to count as a full body despite falling within the 90%+ range and would therefore classify as a "half-body" instead.

The character's face isn't showing in this image and the character's body is obscured by another object. Depending how much of the character is visible, there will be a reduction in what would be considered percentage shown.

Because this image is essentially a silhouette, it is considered "undefined" and despite being a full body otherwise, it would not count as a character for the sake of currency distribution.

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➤ Stylization

As with rendering, stylization is not a factor we take into consideration when it comes to the distribution of radiance. Your submissions can be chibi, non-chibi, or heavily stylized in other ways - you can even make submissions with your characters as anthros, gijinkas, or humans (as long as they're identifyable as the character in their masterlist entries). When it comes to stylization, we simply ask that people keep our general submission guidelines in mind. For example, we won't accept a black and white stylized image because it would conflict with the fact that we don't allow uncolored submissions. Monochrome or chromatone is generally fine as long as long as the image/characters still have definition.

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➤ Backgrounds

For general submissions, anything can pass as a background as long as it's not simply splashes of color or something made with a bunch of stamp brushes. But in order for backgrounds to qualify for prompt submissions, they need to be landscapes.

Here at Glowchus, when it comes to backgrounds, we follow a simple element rule. 3+ defined elements is equivalent to a simple background and 5+ defined elements is equivalent to a detailed background. The background, midground, and foreground of a submission can all count as individual elements as long as those elements have definition (i.e. the sky as long as it's not a solid color and contains clouds, stars, the sun/moon, birds, etc). As for what else is considered an element, it can be absolutely anything that contributes to the scene! A fallen log, a tree (or a bunch of trees), the ocean/mountains/canyons/a city in the background, flowers in the foreground, furniture, rocks, a pond - anything!

To qualify as a simple background, the illustration must have a background (sky) and a midground (ground) as well as an additional element. Additional elements can be as simple as adding a foreground to the illustration or adding some extra artifacts to either the background (mountains, a tree line, etc) or midground (trees, rocks, fallen logs, etc).

This background doesn't have enough of a degree of finish to be considered a background in any capacity. Because the ground, sky, and tree are unshaded, the image is too abstract as a result and doesn't feel like a background.

This background shows the minimum requirements to be considered a "simple" background. The sky and ground both have definition (clouds and a gradient in the sky and defined stalks of grass) and the shading on the tree gives it enough dimension and volume to be considered an additional element.

This background is an example of what would be considered a "detailed" background. A foreground, midground, and background are all present and there's sufficient detail, aka, a total of 5+ separate elements.

Some notes on aspects of a background that count as independent elements:

• The sky, as long as it has dimension [a gradient, rather than one solid color] and features [clouds, the sun/moon/stars, birds, etc].
• The ground, as long as it has detail [blades of grass or other textures, flowers, shading, rocks, etc].
• The floor or walls of interiors as long as they are defined [shaded with features such as panels on the walls/floor, stones, cracks, holes for windows, etc].
• Any additional aspects of the background that contribute to the scene [furniture, a single tree or a large clump of trees, patches of flowers in the foreground, mountains in the background, a fallen log, rocks, a river/pond/the ocean, etc].

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➤ Animations

What qualifies as a simple animation versus a complex animation depends on whether or not the aspects of the animation are individually animated or if they're manipulated so that they're moving without needing to be drawn frame by frame. Animations such as blinking and bouncing and ear twitching likely wouldn't be enough to classify as even a simple animation. That said, our approval process when it comes to animations is still sort of a case by case basis and we're working on getting something sorted out that's more consistent and defined!

Animations that portray changing scenes/characters can be treated as sequence drawings [i.e. comics], and will receive the respective amount of radiance per scene illustrated.

✧ Currency dISTRIBUTION ✧

Throughout participation in the Glowchus ARPG users will begin to accrue a number of different currencies. Curriencies have a myriad of purposes on this website and are used to do things like track character progression [Experience and Affection] and buy items that will ultimately benefit you, as the user, as well as your characters - or that can alternatively be used to make entirely new characters [Radiance and Star Tokens]. This page outlines all the currencies members can earn for participating in community activities and includes information on everything anyone could ever need to know about them. From their purpose to thier distribution rates and everything in between, you'll find everything you need here on this one singular page!

The total number of currencies we currently have active here in the Glowchus community is seven. These currencies include Radiance, Star Tokens, Reward Passes, Festival Tickets [of which there are four variations], Experience, Job Exerience, and Affection! Each and every form of site currency has its own method of being earned, its own distribution rates, and its own purposes as far as its overall site uses go. While there can occasionally be some crossover when it comes to any one of these things, most currencies have thier own functions and purposes as individual facets of the community, which you'll find outlined in detail in the section below! The following section is broken down into categories based on the specific form of currency and each category explains the uses, rates, and earning methods of its respective currency. So if you have any questions about what a specific currency does or is used for, you will likely be able to find the answers to those questions here!

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➤ Radiance

Radiance (represented by the symbol) is our core currency here in the Glowchus community. It is earned through gallery submissions, prompt submissions, activity participation, and even through the trading and selling of art or ARPG items! Despite the multitude of ways that it can be acquired or earned, the primary method for which a user will receive radiance is by contributing art/literature/etc to the community via prompt and gallery submissions. Almost everything you submit will accrue Radiance in some way - although the exact amount will vary depending on the submission type, among other things. General gallery submissions, for example, always receive Radiance, but the exact amount depends several factors from the quantity of characters, the percentage of character shown, and the complexity of the background (or animation if it's animated). The exact rates for Radiance distribution are outlined below!

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➤ Radiance Distrubution

As stated above, the distribution of Radiance is based on several varying factors from the type of submissions to the finish of said submissions; from the number of characters to the number of words; as well as any applicable art bonuses. Because the amount of radiance you will earn for a specific type of submission takes so many things into consideration, we have broken the distribution process down into the two primary ways in which the currency can be earned: general gallery submissions (both art and lit) and prompt submissions.

➤ General Submissions (Illustrations)

Content submitted to the gallery without a specific purpose [i.e. a submission that wasn't made for a prompt, activity, questline, etc] is what we consider a general submission. Anything you submit to either of the website's general galleries will receive the general rate of Radiance distribution, while submissions made specifically for prompts are subject to their own unique distribution rates [outlined in another section below]. General Radiance distribution rates for gallery submissions are outlined here:

The total amount of Radiance earned for a gallery submission will be Art Type + Art Finish per character + any additional applicable Art Bonuses [note that we no longer count rendering as part of the overall radiance distribution in order to avoid discriminating against people's shading styles. Art finish is listed as part of the submission process purely because the framework requires it]. % shown is up to moderator discretion.

➤ General Submissions (Literature)

Because of the limitations when it comes to the inclusion of extra characters and other potential bonuses for literature submissions, lit pieces are subject to one singular rate of currency distribution, which is that they will earn 1R per every 150 words written, regardless of the amount of characters included and regardless of the overall complexity or attention to detail that the literature piece has.

➤ Prompt, Activity, & Questline Submissions

Despite the varying names, the method by which you submit antyhing to the group is collectively known as "prompts". Prompts grant the same amount of Radiance (a base rate of 50) regardless of the specific prompt and allows for bonuses up to 80R.

Prompt submissions have a cap on the total amount of Radiance that can be earned for a submission to said prompt. If you take a look at the Base Rates section for submissions, you'll see two values listed. For example, Storyline submissions are listed as 30R/80R. 30R is the base amount of Radiance you will receive for participating in the prompt while 80R is the max amount of radiance you can receive overall. The cap is always +50R from the base value. So if the base value is 10, the cap will be 60. If the base value is 20, the cap will be 70, and so on. Even if your submission includes enough bonuses to exceed the cap, the total amount of radiance earned cannot exceed it.

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➤ Experience

Experience (represented by the symbol), while technically a currency, are moreso like points that serve as a representation of your character's progression. Experience can't be spent or earned the same way that Radiance can and is indicative of your character's current level at a rate of 100 points per 1 level. So if you have a character with 1,000 experience points, your character is effectively level 10!

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➤ Experience Distrubution

Experience is earned one singulary way, and that's via participating in prompts! Most prompts grant EXP, although there will be some that grant more than others and some that may not grant exp at all. It just depends on the situation and what the prompt is specifically for. For example, storyline prompts grant the most experience and while most activities grant exp as well, they grant the least! Some prompts also offer EXP bonuses for completing specific objectives or alternatively for using specific items.

➤ Prompt, Activity, & Questline Submissions

Experience earned for prompts is generally a flat rate based on the base rate of radiance earned for the submission, but can be increased via the use of certain items. For example, if the base amount of Radiance earned is 30, then the amount of EXP earned will (generally) be 300.

Storyline/Monthly = 300EXP
Plot Point/Mission = 200EXP
Activity = 100EXP

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➤ aFFECTION

Affection (represented by the symbol), like Experience, despite being a currency, is moreso a point system that we use to track character progression - specifically the progression of pets! Whenever companions are included in prompt submissions with their owners, they will earn affection! Affection level has a multitude of purposes such as determining radiance bonuses and evolutionary elligibility.

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➤ Affection Distrubution

Affection can only be earned through prompt submissions and only in situations where they are drawn alongside their bonded owners. If you draw them on their own or with a charcater considered to be their owner but the owner isn't bonded to them, then they will not earn affection or grant bonus radiance.

➤ Prompt, Activity, & Questline Submissions

Affection is generally a flat rate but, like experience, can be boosted with certain items.

Most prompts = 1 Affection