Welcome to the Custom Unit Forum. Please read me.

[justjohn]

If you're new, welcome to the site! If you're not, you're welcome anyways, and you probably already know all of this, but you're welcome to read along anyways!

This Public Service Announcement is being made for several reasons. First, there are a lot of new faces in our little corner of 'scapers. This a great thing, I love seeing new customs. There have been some really cool customs popping up from new members.

Secondly, it comes on the heels of the "Your Place in Heroscape History" article in the latest issue ofThe Heroscape Codex. I had planned on posting this PSA a couple of days ago, but decided against it, but after reading that article, I decided it was a good idea.

First, If you are new to customs, please, go here first: Index Thread: How-to's/Recognition for Custom Creations which is a sticky at the very top of the Custom Units & Army Cards Forum. This sticky has tons of information in it. Several card making guides, blank card templates, lists of special abilities, and all sorts of other great stuff. If you need to know how to make customs, then that is the place to go.

Secondly, look at other people's customs. Believe it or not, people have been making customs since Heroscape first came out 3 years ago, and many of the custom creators here have been making customs for almost that long. I'm not saying you need to go through and read all of the custom cards that have been posted in these forums, but knowing what other people have done, and how they've done it, what worked, and what didn't, could help you in making your own custom. Take some time and look through the A-Z custom creators list. Don't just look at the 3 or 5 custom creators' threads on this forum's first page, and call it a day. Many of this community's best work comes from people who don't spit out a new custom every day. Like I said, use the A-Z creator list, skim through it.

Echoing the Article, if you're creating a new custom, use common sense and consider if anyone else could have ever thought of using the same idea. Making a SWAT team? Guess what? There are already 2 really good SWAT teams out there. Does that mean that your SWAT team is going to suck because there's already a SWAT team out there? Nope, but you need to see what other people have tried. Repeat this for any figure in literature, popular or classic, film, comic book, whatever. If it's something that other people besides you enjoy, there's a good chance that someone, in the 2+ years since people have been making customs, has already made it, it's recieved feedback, and has been fine tuned.

Use the Search Function! Unlike many online communities, our search function actually WORKS! You don't get kicked out or fail the search, it works, in my experience, 100% of the time. Things that can be found in the search would be questions concerning: heroscape bases, where can I get figures, what paint do you use, I'm making :this: that is something that people have probably already tried before. There are several threads about all of these things already around. Think your question may be a common one? Use the search feature. From now on, if I see a thread that asks a question, and I search for it and find a thread already answering it, I'm just going to delete the thread.

Please keep all of your custom creations in a single thread. If you create something new, post it in your existing thread, and edit the title. I suggest editing your first post, including the new picture of your card, and editing the title. Then posting the new card in a reply to your thread, giving it a bump to let people know you have created something new. I would also suggest not posting more than 3 customs at a time. Any more than 3, and it becomes a lot for people to read and reply to. I've seen people drop 7 or 8 customs at a go, many of them decent, but get little to no response, simply for the fact that the reader is overwhelmed. Also, please don't bump your thread asking for feedback. For one, it makes you seem needy. For two, there are A LOT of new people on these forums and A LOT of new custom creators' threads.

Finally, echoing the article I mentioned earlier, why are you posting your customs? The majority of customs in this forum are customs that are created for other people to use. If people give you advice on how to make your custom better (that is why you're posting these, after all, aside from the recognition factor, which I think everyone enjoys), then consider it. The more work you put into a custom, the more feedback you're going to get. If a person posts well thought out feedback in your forum, and you ignore it, chances are, that person won't be coming back to your thread to comment on your customs. What's the point? This isn't the case 100% of the time, but from my experience, it happens more often than not. When reviewing customs, I suggest using the "Compliment Sandwich." Sounds stupid, right? Start with something you like/or positive about the custom. Follow up with any negative criticism. End with something positive.

I hope this did not come off too harsh. I'm not a harsh guy. I just want new custom creators to help make this community the best it possibly can be.