What to do about the Implementation?
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Letâs ignore the vote for now, just wanted to start a maintainer discussion regarding the Vulpkanin species now that the species doc is merged.
The design document is here (Thank you FSP)
From a visual standpoint, I feel like the silhouette is too similar to the lizards & humans. Iâd like to see features like digitgrade feet or a slightly lanky body (or other variant in body shape) to distinguish them from our existing catalogue of anthropomorphic animal species.
Might prove a little problematic since the sprites werenât made by me.
Personally I think they are in a well enough spot cause the tails are quite bit and ears stand out a lot on the head. (Also any changes to the head will make every single hardsuit sprite have to be remade)
exclamation sounds sound a little bit like zombie hit sounds from minecraft, but overall I really like the species!
From my time on playing on HRP and MRP servers that have vulpkanins, I understand the visual similarity issues, though I wouldnât say that theyâre similar to a point where I cannot recognize them from afar/in the dark. They growl, whine, have tails and ears, etc. compared to lizards, which hiss and have a different-looking tail. Thatâs just my two cents.
I agree that, while these concerns may not block the merge (in my opinion), it would still be a good idea to address these issues to have a more visually distinct species.
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Iâd quite like Vulp to have color clamping akin to Vox, but to a bit of a lesser extent.
The neon green and pink dog is a bit too excessive for SS14âs artsytle IMO.
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Regarding visual similarity, can we just merge Lizards, Vulps, and Felinids (Khajits or Tabaxi or whatever) into some generic anthropomorphic animal with tail species?
Theyâre not super visually distinctive from each other, and functionally fluffy dog tail VS slender cat tail VS scaled lizard tail can be a marking difference. This also leaves room for future anthropomorphic expansions like fish, raccoons, squirrels, etc.
Iâm imagining a world where you have a species that has a tail, ears/horns, tail drag, meat diet, slash unarmed attacks, and maybe some temperature considerations as a generic species with TONS of customizations for markings.
Also do this with Humans and Dwarves.
This type of anthro full hybrid species option is something that was done in SS13, though Iâve heard it to be on mostly on HRP servers.
I think for Upstream it wouldnât really fit into the goals of species being these unique, discernible things. I feel that full player freedom in creating a character would be more suitable for downstream, as is what is described in the species guidelines.
Thatâs my whole point. These anthro w/ tail species arenât unique in terms of their visuals.
From the species document itself:
âFor example, a âsharkpersonâ species with a big tail and a love of eating meat may be considered too similar in concept to a lizardperson.â
Create a âsubspeciesâ via markings
Consider if your idea for a species could instead be done via new markings or other extensions to a current species. For example, a âsynthetic lizardpersonâ species does not need to be a specific species in its own right to still be readable and playable as this concept on Wizardâs Den.
Iâd say that yes, in this regard Vulps are pretty close to Lizards. So why not just merge them into one via markings so that players can have the representation they want?
In my example you still get full player freedom, in fact even more, because you can have Vulp ears, and a lizard tail.
I understand visuals may be a problem, but would also like everyone to keep in mind the design.
The sprites can be changed at any moment basically. (Not by me however, since I donât know spriting, also why I have a small bias to keep them the same)
Vulpkanins have other unique aspects, like eating bones, messy drinker, and very different sounds.
Itâs not hard to distinctly identify a vulpkanin vs a lizard, especially by sound.
Iâd argue that appearance and customization are the biggest identifiers to what makes a character unique, but thatâs just my opinion.
I only said theyâre not visually unique, and quoted the relevant section from the design document that highlights how a very similar species, a anthro w/ tail that eats meat, might not be considered.
A sharkperson might be unique in their own other ways too, but I am only touching on the visuals.
I also think that in terms of future species development, subspecies is just a better way to do this. What about the downstream Felinid playerbase? Ratkin (I forget the name for these, Rodentia?) are also anthro w/ tail visually. The design doc clearly highlights a way to handle these inclusions, and in a way that appeals to more people than just those who want to look like an anthro dog/fox or lizard currently.
Every species I included here doesnât need tons of unique gameplay traits that come with their own enforcement or balancing issues. They can all be added as subspecies for the roleplay element alone.
After merging the sprites would be very much final because respriting them would break a lot of playersâ characters. All that could be done later would be adding more customization. So they should have a solid visual design.
I think anthropomorphic animal is too broad of a concept for a species.
Vulpkanin, which is basically another word for the canine domain, feel much more cohesive while still allowing plenty of subdomains (all the various dog breeds, wolves, foxes etc) in its customization.
I personally do not mind the current vulpkanin design and find it distinct enouh to work.
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I think its worth brainstorming some features that make sense in the design of Vulps even if theyre something that would need to be done in a separate PR.
Something to make them truly distinct.
For instance I think they would fit well with some scent ability.
We at some point need to add scent in some form for zombies regardless, so I donât think its a big stretch.
Maybe theres more good ideas for features / additions for Vulps?
the discussion on the doc brings up that they lack a meaningful downside.
Iâm not a big fan of them being harder to poison since they can just examine any solution container.
seems like it makes poisons-in-food harder than it already is for no reason.
I donât think this matters too much honestly 
Poison is just not common enough for it to be an issue imo
I think vulps work as-is, visual similarities to humans and humanoids sort of work in our favour because it makes respriting clothing and equipment less of a hassle.
Although it would be nice to have different body types, I honestly I donât find myself needing to absolutely distinguish between species; theyâre humanoid with âcanineâ features, so theyâre rather recognisable as vulps.
I agree with orks on that point.
I feel like vulpkanin is a bit too hard to distinguish from a lizard, in a sec chase or dark/hard to see area, an innocent person could be arrested simply because a security officer could not differentiate between a vulp and a lizard.
Thatâs just my opinions, otherwise I quite like the new features of the species.