01-29-2019, 03:05 PM
Hey - Kosheh here, community mod. We've decided to adopt a more lax request policy on the forums now, so I figured I'd just throw down a few suggestions if you want to maximize the chances of your requests getting approved.
tl;dr:
I think this pretty much touches on everything. If anything else pops up should a trend in the subforum change, I'll update this as needed.
tl;dr:
- Don't be a slavedriver
- Big big requests like custom things are best off asked in Commissions
- Keep realistic expectations
- Be polite
- This is a quiet forum. Be patient, as it may be a while before you get a reply.
- Even you can rip too. Check out our Wiki and Discord for tips and advice on how to do so
- No one is obligated to work for free
This really needs to be emphasized first and foremost. The members of this community are not your personal slaves, so please don't go about treating them like they are. If you do, the staff will be notified and you'll likely be warned for harassment.
If you're looking for an OC to be modeled or a notoriously difficult encryption to be reverse-engineered to the point where you need custom software written, this probably isn't the subforum for you. You'll have a better chance over in the Commissions subforum, as people will likely be more than happy to fulfill your trickier requests in exchange for money or work in an equal amount of value ["I'll write you a poem if you draw my OC"].
I mean, you could post a request for your OC to be sprited or modeled or something for free, but don't expect it to be fulfilled anytime soon.
- Tone down your expectations, and be kind to others
Instead of asking for every single asset in the game to be ripped, maybe just ask them to rip a character you really want...or two. Odds are that if they figure it out and you're a nice guy, they'll be more than happy to teach you how they did it. And what's better than one person ripping all the assets of the game when there are now two people who can rip from that game!
- Be realistic with your requests
The people who rip models and sprites and sounds all have lives - their obligations first and their hobbies second. Their hobby might happen to be reverse engineering! Nice! But no one is going to rip every asset from a game, just for you, by next Saturday for your school project. That's infeasible unless they quit their job and you're paying them a working wage in 2019.
Please keep this in mind when you're talking to people about possibly fulfilling your request. Talking down to them is going to make them less likely to fulfill your request. Don't try to haggle, either - this stuff is hard work, and these folks really deserve their due diligence.
- Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime
This isn't really to do with requesting, but it's worth mentioning. If you find out how to do a real cool thing, and I mean real cool, feel free to share it on our Wiki as there's several others willing to learn how to do the same thing*! The more you share, the more we as a community can learn and grow. And who knows? Maybe we'll reach a point where requesting becomes irrelevant because we'll all have that knowledge posted somewhere so you can pull those assets from the game within a day or two. B)
* Some people may not be OK with you sharing their trade secrets. Respect their wishes.
- The harsh reality aka "State of the Community"
This is a rather quiet forum and most of the community has since moved to our Discord server to share their creative works or ask for advice on rips. As a result, don't expect an answer within a few hours; it might be a few days or even weeks before someone responds to your topic.
Simply put, we heavily encourage you learn to rip assets from games rather than ask us to rip them for you. Of course, if you need a set of sprites or a model of a character for a fun personal project, go ahead and continue writing that topic.
* The creative side of our community has really slumped in the past few years, the odds of people stepping up to create custom sprites or models for you are slim to none. Once again, your best bet for that is to head over to the Commissions board and work something out with an entrepreneurial soul.
** This is always subject to change should the board surge in popularity somehow, but that seems highly unlikely in 2019.
I think this pretty much touches on everything. If anything else pops up should a trend in the subforum change, I'll update this as needed.