OOC: Application Guide
Out-of-Character Information
Name:
Are you over 15?:
LJ username:
Time Zone: -# or +# GMT
AIM: THIS IS REQUIRED. If you don’t have/want AIM, you can instead download a program like Pidgin, or use an online client like meebo.com.
MSN:
E-mail:
Tegaki: Tegaki is an art site where members may sometimes create art logs instead of prose logs, or put up fanart or memes. SBG’s tag can be found here.
Anything Else?: Which client do you use most often? Are there any you don't sign into at all unless asked?
In-Character Information
Name:
Game/Series:
Canon Point: This is basically where in the game your character is coming from. Post-ending? Pre-game? Halfway through the climactic scene where they bake cupcakes? Note that it’s fine if your canon point of choice doesn’t match that of your castmates.
Age & Grade Level/Teaching Position: If apping a staff member, then what role will they be serving (TA, janitor, etc)? If they’re a teacher, what class will they be instructing? If you’re apping a student, then are they a freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior? Note that Smash Academy also teaches college-level classes, so you have the option of playing a college student. Some people even combine the two and have college-student-slash-TA sort of roles.
Personality: The one tip that I give out to everyone who asks is this: a good app will tell me how a person is, but a great app will also tell me why they’re that way. “Wingaling the Fruitfly likes popcorn and apples and toffee and Smarties” is not a personality trait and would be better suited to the “anything else?” section of the app, but “Wingaling usually isn’t seen without some sort of junk food - he says he just has a big appetite, but secretly he tends to eat when he’s nervous, and having sweets to fall back on makes it a little easier to deal with his shyness making holding a conversation so difficult” is a great example of something we’d like to see in a personality section. Similarly, favourite colours/TV shows/bands/hobbies should also be filed under “anything else?” unless they are used to illustrate personality traits.
If you’re having trouble, here are some basic points that might help you get started:
-Core personality traits: The basic stuff that comes to mind when asked “what’s this character like?” Try to aim for a fair balance of positive and negative traits, if you can.
-Motivations and goals: Not necessarily just the things they want to be when they grow up. Personally, I find that a character is much easier to write long-term if you have a “quest” in mind for them. Are they learning how to love again? Are they following their secret dream to become an R&B superstar? What is it that they want/need to do in life?
-Fears and insecurities: Everyone’s got their little demons. This includes stuff like a fear of spiders, but also the more private stuff like a secret worry that everyone they trust will eventually betray them or the nagging thought that they’re going to grow up to be a lonely cat lady.
-Interactions with others: There are going to be a few generalities that apply to mostly everyone (“opens up more to people she’s known for years than perfect strangers”), but the way that your character handles social situations can also be telling about their personality, especially since the entire basis of every RP ever is social interaction. What sorts of traits do they admire or despise in others? Do they prefer to surround themselves with lots of friends, or do they value their alone time more?
Backstory:
A summary of events that occurred in the character’s life, leading up to whichever canon point you’re taking them from. If you’re apping a canon character, you can simply paraphrase game events. If you’re apping an OC, then keep in mind that we know literally nothing about your character before seeing this app: this section is where we get to see what kind of environment the character was raised in, what sort of values would have been instilled in them, and what sort of dangers they would have had to cope with. You’re especially very welcome to embellish on events by noting the impact they had on the character’s development (“It was this tragic, doomed game of Marco Polo that gave Crazy Hand his paralyzing fear of string bikinis.”), but try to keep the bulk of it to the personality section.
Be sure to include how they end up at Smash Academy, too. Maybe they heard of a school where they could turn into a human and immediately journeyed to Final Destination City, maybe the city sucked them in of its own accord and they simply needed a job, maybe they’re laying low from the Space Police by posing as an innocent high-school geography teacher.
Effective immediately, CANON character histories are now linkable to a wiki. However, there are a few rules in regard to this;
1- Your must still include a paragraph describing where your character cut off in the timeline and how they ended up in Smash Academy.
2- The link must, obviously have a good amount of history for us to consider it. For example, Otacon's wiki link would be accepted, but Lash's barely contains anything in history since there isn't much told about her in the game, and would require you to write one up for her.
3- Obviously, OCs and canon characters with barely any histories in the games will require the normal write ups.
Anything Else?: This section is for miscellany like Pokemon movesets (if they have a canon moveset, like an in-game trainer’s Pokemon or a Brawler, then please use that moveset), appearance, hobbies, etc.
In-Character 1st person writing sample (journal): This is the sort of post that we would see them putting on their journal. You’re certainly welcome to write their intro post as a sample, but bear in mind that it is hard for a post to tell us about the character if it consists of keysmashing/not knowing how to type, and “hello, I’m Meta-Ridley, nice to meet you” is less likely to leave a strong impression than another sample idea. It's fine to assume the character has already learned what a computer is/how to be a human/where they are for the sake of their samples.
If you need an idea for them to write about, here are a few possible prompts:
-Your character just saw Crazy Hand and ten other people all dancing in speedos in the hallway.
-Your character just won/lost a brawl in the school’s stadium. You are welcome to reference Brawl stages and items. (“Why did we agree that the only item allowed was Bob-ombs?!”, “I got run over by F-Zero cars TEN TIMES! It was awful!”, “Wow, the simulated Dialga at Sky Pillar looks just like the real one!”, etc.)
-Your character discusses their plans for summer vacation. Note characters can leave Final Destination City at will, so they can stay in the city, go home, or you could send Ganondorf out to Hocotate, or something like that.
- Your character has bombed a test they studied really hard for. Alternatively, if they’re staff, Crazy Hand just told them their pay was being docked because he dislikes the colour of their shoes.
-Someone has sent your character an anonymous love note.
You may also use DR and outside meme samples. Keep in mind that if it's not sufficiently showing the personality or voice the character, we may ask you to write a sample for us anyway. We will do this on a case-by-case basis.
In-Character 3rd person writing post: This is the sort of post we’d see you writing for a prose log. “Mayor Tabuu sighed and thought about toast” instead of “Man, I really love toast”, and so on and so forth. Again, if you need a few ideas, here are some suggestions:
-Your character is having their first lunch at the Smash Academy cafeteria. Write their reaction to being served their food by Nancy, the lunch Ursaring.
-Your character returns home after a long, hard, day... and realizes that a particularly rambunctious Driver’s Ed class has resulted in someone driving a go-kart right through their wall.
-If your character is non-human but using a gijinka/humanized form, write them struggling with a human concept like fancy-dinner etiquette or wearing pants.
-Your character is looking through the Item Storage closet when they knock over an Assist Trophy.
-Your character is attempting to bake a triple-decker cake.
-Your character finds a trinket/food/etc. that suddenly reminds them of home.
Name:
Are you over 15?:
LJ username:
Time Zone: -# or +# GMT
AIM: THIS IS REQUIRED. If you don’t have/want AIM, you can instead download a program like Pidgin, or use an online client like meebo.com.
MSN:
E-mail:
Tegaki: Tegaki is an art site where members may sometimes create art logs instead of prose logs, or put up fanart or memes. SBG’s tag can be found here.
Anything Else?: Which client do you use most often? Are there any you don't sign into at all unless asked?
In-Character Information
Name:
Game/Series:
Canon Point: This is basically where in the game your character is coming from. Post-ending? Pre-game? Halfway through the climactic scene where they bake cupcakes? Note that it’s fine if your canon point of choice doesn’t match that of your castmates.
Age & Grade Level/Teaching Position: If apping a staff member, then what role will they be serving (TA, janitor, etc)? If they’re a teacher, what class will they be instructing? If you’re apping a student, then are they a freshman, sophomore, junior, or senior? Note that Smash Academy also teaches college-level classes, so you have the option of playing a college student. Some people even combine the two and have college-student-slash-TA sort of roles.
Personality: The one tip that I give out to everyone who asks is this: a good app will tell me how a person is, but a great app will also tell me why they’re that way. “Wingaling the Fruitfly likes popcorn and apples and toffee and Smarties” is not a personality trait and would be better suited to the “anything else?” section of the app, but “Wingaling usually isn’t seen without some sort of junk food - he says he just has a big appetite, but secretly he tends to eat when he’s nervous, and having sweets to fall back on makes it a little easier to deal with his shyness making holding a conversation so difficult” is a great example of something we’d like to see in a personality section. Similarly, favourite colours/TV shows/bands/hobbies should also be filed under “anything else?” unless they are used to illustrate personality traits.
If you’re having trouble, here are some basic points that might help you get started:
-Core personality traits: The basic stuff that comes to mind when asked “what’s this character like?” Try to aim for a fair balance of positive and negative traits, if you can.
-Motivations and goals: Not necessarily just the things they want to be when they grow up. Personally, I find that a character is much easier to write long-term if you have a “quest” in mind for them. Are they learning how to love again? Are they following their secret dream to become an R&B superstar? What is it that they want/need to do in life?
-Fears and insecurities: Everyone’s got their little demons. This includes stuff like a fear of spiders, but also the more private stuff like a secret worry that everyone they trust will eventually betray them or the nagging thought that they’re going to grow up to be a lonely cat lady.
-Interactions with others: There are going to be a few generalities that apply to mostly everyone (“opens up more to people she’s known for years than perfect strangers”), but the way that your character handles social situations can also be telling about their personality, especially since the entire basis of every RP ever is social interaction. What sorts of traits do they admire or despise in others? Do they prefer to surround themselves with lots of friends, or do they value their alone time more?
Backstory:
A summary of events that occurred in the character’s life, leading up to whichever canon point you’re taking them from. If you’re apping a canon character, you can simply paraphrase game events. If you’re apping an OC, then keep in mind that we know literally nothing about your character before seeing this app: this section is where we get to see what kind of environment the character was raised in, what sort of values would have been instilled in them, and what sort of dangers they would have had to cope with. You’re especially very welcome to embellish on events by noting the impact they had on the character’s development (“It was this tragic, doomed game of Marco Polo that gave Crazy Hand his paralyzing fear of string bikinis.”), but try to keep the bulk of it to the personality section.
Be sure to include how they end up at Smash Academy, too. Maybe they heard of a school where they could turn into a human and immediately journeyed to Final Destination City, maybe the city sucked them in of its own accord and they simply needed a job, maybe they’re laying low from the Space Police by posing as an innocent high-school geography teacher.
Effective immediately, CANON character histories are now linkable to a wiki. However, there are a few rules in regard to this;
1- Your must still include a paragraph describing where your character cut off in the timeline and how they ended up in Smash Academy.
2- The link must, obviously have a good amount of history for us to consider it. For example, Otacon's wiki link would be accepted, but Lash's barely contains anything in history since there isn't much told about her in the game, and would require you to write one up for her.
3- Obviously, OCs and canon characters with barely any histories in the games will require the normal write ups.
Anything Else?: This section is for miscellany like Pokemon movesets (if they have a canon moveset, like an in-game trainer’s Pokemon or a Brawler, then please use that moveset), appearance, hobbies, etc.
In-Character 1st person writing sample (journal): This is the sort of post that we would see them putting on their journal. You’re certainly welcome to write their intro post as a sample, but bear in mind that it is hard for a post to tell us about the character if it consists of keysmashing/not knowing how to type, and “hello, I’m Meta-Ridley, nice to meet you” is less likely to leave a strong impression than another sample idea. It's fine to assume the character has already learned what a computer is/how to be a human/where they are for the sake of their samples.
If you need an idea for them to write about, here are a few possible prompts:
-Your character just saw Crazy Hand and ten other people all dancing in speedos in the hallway.
-Your character just won/lost a brawl in the school’s stadium. You are welcome to reference Brawl stages and items. (“Why did we agree that the only item allowed was Bob-ombs?!”, “I got run over by F-Zero cars TEN TIMES! It was awful!”, “Wow, the simulated Dialga at Sky Pillar looks just like the real one!”, etc.)
-Your character discusses their plans for summer vacation. Note characters can leave Final Destination City at will, so they can stay in the city, go home, or you could send Ganondorf out to Hocotate, or something like that.
- Your character has bombed a test they studied really hard for. Alternatively, if they’re staff, Crazy Hand just told them their pay was being docked because he dislikes the colour of their shoes.
-Someone has sent your character an anonymous love note.
You may also use DR and outside meme samples. Keep in mind that if it's not sufficiently showing the personality or voice the character, we may ask you to write a sample for us anyway. We will do this on a case-by-case basis.
In-Character 3rd person writing post: This is the sort of post we’d see you writing for a prose log. “Mayor Tabuu sighed and thought about toast” instead of “Man, I really love toast”, and so on and so forth. Again, if you need a few ideas, here are some suggestions:
-Your character is having their first lunch at the Smash Academy cafeteria. Write their reaction to being served their food by Nancy, the lunch Ursaring.
-Your character returns home after a long, hard, day... and realizes that a particularly rambunctious Driver’s Ed class has resulted in someone driving a go-kart right through their wall.
-If your character is non-human but using a gijinka/humanized form, write them struggling with a human concept like fancy-dinner etiquette or wearing pants.
-Your character is looking through the Item Storage closet when they knock over an Assist Trophy.
-Your character is attempting to bake a triple-decker cake.
-Your character finds a trinket/food/etc. that suddenly reminds them of home.