You've probably heard of it before...where you have to base your design around an existing one, a form of frame, or template...this in turn saves time having to build the thing from scratch, but at the same time, you have to adapt according to the available designs.
But sometimes, frames, can lead to speculation. Take Nacli, for example...when it was first leaked way back in the days where the most recent Pokémon to be revealed was Farigiraf, all that was known about it was it's appearance...but that didn't stop the fans from filling in the missing gaps. It's name, it's type, even what it potentially evolved into. It has happened a lot before with all the Pokémon that got revealed before their evolutions...here's looking to you, Fire/Fighting starters. And sometimes, it can be the other way around...hands up to those who thought that Terapagos's base form was a separate Pokémon when it was initially revealed. And hands up to those who thought that, when it was revealed, Alomomola was a Luvdisc evolution.
And to those who remember when Corviknight was playable in Showdown before Pokémon Sword and Shield was released or it's stats, movepool, or hidden ability were even revealed...I salute you. Eventually, though, the remaining tidbits will eventually get revealed, even if they get leaked, and the speculation surrounding them fades away. We remember when we all thought that Crabrawler's reveal at the Pokémon World Championships meant it was going to be a top tier OU Pokémon...only to find out, that, when the game came out, it was actually just another LC Fighting type those evolution wasn't even NU. But hey, at least it was Alola's only new Ice-type that isn't a regional form....
...But what if...that reveal never came?
What if...we had to fill in the details ourselves?
This is...LIKE A MUSE TO FLAME. The micrometa Pet Mod...where we create a metagame with nothing but the sprites that you yourselves must bless with an identity.
To understand how this works, we must invite some special guests over to help us out...come over, from Scribblenauts, Dragon, Minotaur, and Haetae! Now, we're going to assume that their sprites are for Pokémon we've never seen before....
THE START OF A SLATE
At the start of each slate, there will be a foreword that details a belief we had in the past in Pokémon reveals...then, three sprites will be shown below, marked Designs A, B, and C.
DESIGN A:
DESIGN B:
DESIGN C:
Now, in a real slate, the three sprites would be unique designs hand crafted by Ubertrainer2000 himself using Aseprite! Just be warned that the sprites might look different from offical Pokémon sprites.
CREATING A SUBMISSION
To create your submission, choose one of the designs above and write down what you think the Pokémon's stats, moves, and abilities are like. You must list the design's sprite above your entry, but otherwise, you may do this in any way you'd wish, except for one rule: If a design lists more than one sprite, your submission must make use of all of them! However, I prefer you use the below template for maximum effect:
You are allowed to submit one submission for each design listed above. For example, you can submit a submission each for Designs A and C, but you can't submit two submissions for Design A. So, with that being said, here is an example submission using Design A as a base:
CASTING YOUR VOTES
Once I personally close submissions, which will usually be warned beforehand by an announcement of "Get your submissions in soon, I am tallying them up for voting as I speak!", it will become voting time immediately. The three designs will once again be listed out, this time with the submissions that the people made for them being listed below them, like so:
DESIGN A:
Sir William The Knight's Green Dragon
Bowser Jr's Doofally
The DJ42's Examplorge
A Murloc's Mrglah
DESIGN B:
Cat Noir's Miraculotaur
Jimmy's Beefire
Kayven's Golsora
A Murloc's Grrosh
DESIGN C:
Frontier's The Battle Begins
Daiyakuza's Iron Legend
Angie Yonaga's Atualion
A Murloc's Mrglagaihahkal
None of these are actual Smogon users, in a real slate they'd be the community's own creations! For each design, you may list up to five of the submissions within a comment to vote for them, like the one shown below:
DESIGN A:
Sir William The Knight's Green Dragon
Bowser Jr's Doofally
The DJ42's Examplorge
A Murloc's Mrglah
DESIGN B:
Cat Noir's Miraculotaur
Jimmy's Beefire
Kayven's Golsora
A Murloc's Grrosh
DESIGN C:
Frontier's The Battle Begins
Daiyakuza's Iron Legend
Angie Yonaga's Atualion
A Murloc's Mrglagaihahkal
...Yes, I know that's the same as the voting options we just showed, but it is an example of what you should type in! There are only two caveats to your vote: Whoever is on the top counts as two votes instead of one, and you cannot put your own submission at the top. For example, if you were Maxwell....
...This would be allowed.
Wario's Really Stinky Ant Monster That Smells of Garlic (Counts as two votes!)
Maxwell's Antiga
But this wouldn't.
Maxwell's Antiga
Wario's Really Stinky Ant Monster That Smells of Garlic
Once voting concludes, I shall tally up the votes, and whoever has the most votes in each design will enter the micrometa! Then, the next slate will begin soon after with three new sprites.
GOOD LUCK!
THE START OF A SLATE
At the start of each slate, there will be a foreword that details a belief we had in the past in Pokémon reveals...then, three sprites will be shown below, marked Designs A, B, and C.
DESIGN A:
DESIGN B:
DESIGN C:
Now, in a real slate, the three sprites would be unique designs hand crafted by Ubertrainer2000 himself using Aseprite! Just be warned that the sprites might look different from offical Pokémon sprites.
CREATING A SUBMISSION
To create your submission, choose one of the designs above and write down what you think the Pokémon's stats, moves, and abilities are like. You must list the design's sprite above your entry, but otherwise, you may do this in any way you'd wish, except for one rule: If a design lists more than one sprite, your submission must make use of all of them! However, I prefer you use the below template for maximum effect:
Name: The Pokémon's name. (The words that make up the Pokémon's name)
Type: The Pokémon's type combination. The types are
.
Abilities: Choose up to three abilities to give to the Pokémon.
Stats: HP/Attack/Defence/Special Attack/Special Defence/Speed (Total)
Weight: How heavy the Pokémon is in kg. This is necessary for moves such as Heavy Slam and Grass Knot.
Movepool: List out all of the moves that the Pokémon can learn here. How it learns them doesn't matter. This micrometa uses the Gen 9 TM list, so all submissions are required to know these moves: Hyper Beam, Giga Impact, Take Down, Facade, Substitute, Tera Blast, Protect, Endure, Sleep Talk, Rest
Custom Elements: You may list up to two new moves or abilities for the Pokémon. For abilities, list them as "Ability Name: The ability's effect". For moves, list them as "Move name: Power/BP, Type, Category, PP, Accuracy, effect.)
Flavor: List out a description about what you think the Pokémon can do in the wild, or how it serves a purpose in the world.
Role: List out your Pokémon's role in this micrometa: Remember to take the previous winners into account. For example, you can assign it as a Setup Sweeper, or a Pivot.
Type: The Pokémon's type combination. The types are
Abilities: Choose up to three abilities to give to the Pokémon.
Stats: HP/Attack/Defence/Special Attack/Special Defence/Speed (Total)
Weight: How heavy the Pokémon is in kg. This is necessary for moves such as Heavy Slam and Grass Knot.
Movepool: List out all of the moves that the Pokémon can learn here. How it learns them doesn't matter. This micrometa uses the Gen 9 TM list, so all submissions are required to know these moves: Hyper Beam, Giga Impact, Take Down, Facade, Substitute, Tera Blast, Protect, Endure, Sleep Talk, Rest
Custom Elements: You may list up to two new moves or abilities for the Pokémon. For abilities, list them as "Ability Name: The ability's effect". For moves, list them as "Move name: Power/BP, Type, Category, PP, Accuracy, effect.)
Flavor: List out a description about what you think the Pokémon can do in the wild, or how it serves a purpose in the world.
Role: List out your Pokémon's role in this micrometa: Remember to take the previous winners into account. For example, you can assign it as a Setup Sweeper, or a Pivot.
Name: Examplorge (Example + George)
Type:
Abilities: Intimidate/Grassy Surge/Shed Skin
Stats: 80/90/80/75/100/100 (525)
Weight: 86.4kg.
Movepool: Dragon Claw, Outrage, Dragon Pulse, Draco Meteor, Dragon Dance, Iron Head, Earthquake, Leaf Blade, Roar, Grassy Glide, Grassy Terrain, Giga Drain, Hyper Beam, Giga Impact, Take Down, Facade, Substitute, Tera Blast, Protect, Endure, Sleep Talk, Rest
Custom Elements: None (This is just an example)
Flavor: This dragon flies across the world, spreading out examples to those who are lacking in knowledge. It is said to only appear before those who have missed out on a period of education in the past, whether it be because of a calamity in the world, or because the person was unable to take on education, such as if they were sick.
Role: A Sweeper that can use Iron Head to take care of Ice-types, and use Dragon Dance to set up for a powerful sweep.
Type:
Abilities: Intimidate/Grassy Surge/Shed Skin
Stats: 80/90/80/75/100/100 (525)
Weight: 86.4kg.
Movepool: Dragon Claw, Outrage, Dragon Pulse, Draco Meteor, Dragon Dance, Iron Head, Earthquake, Leaf Blade, Roar, Grassy Glide, Grassy Terrain, Giga Drain, Hyper Beam, Giga Impact, Take Down, Facade, Substitute, Tera Blast, Protect, Endure, Sleep Talk, Rest
Custom Elements: None (This is just an example)
Flavor: This dragon flies across the world, spreading out examples to those who are lacking in knowledge. It is said to only appear before those who have missed out on a period of education in the past, whether it be because of a calamity in the world, or because the person was unable to take on education, such as if they were sick.
Role: A Sweeper that can use Iron Head to take care of Ice-types, and use Dragon Dance to set up for a powerful sweep.
Once I personally close submissions, which will usually be warned beforehand by an announcement of "Get your submissions in soon, I am tallying them up for voting as I speak!", it will become voting time immediately. The three designs will once again be listed out, this time with the submissions that the people made for them being listed below them, like so:
DESIGN A:
Sir William The Knight's Green Dragon
Bowser Jr's Doofally
The DJ42's Examplorge
A Murloc's Mrglah
DESIGN B:
Cat Noir's Miraculotaur
Jimmy's Beefire
Kayven's Golsora
A Murloc's Grrosh
DESIGN C:
Frontier's The Battle Begins
Daiyakuza's Iron Legend
Angie Yonaga's Atualion
A Murloc's Mrglagaihahkal
None of these are actual Smogon users, in a real slate they'd be the community's own creations! For each design, you may list up to five of the submissions within a comment to vote for them, like the one shown below:
DESIGN A:
Sir William The Knight's Green Dragon
Bowser Jr's Doofally
The DJ42's Examplorge
A Murloc's Mrglah
DESIGN B:
Cat Noir's Miraculotaur
Jimmy's Beefire
Kayven's Golsora
A Murloc's Grrosh
DESIGN C:
Frontier's The Battle Begins
Daiyakuza's Iron Legend
Angie Yonaga's Atualion
A Murloc's Mrglagaihahkal
...Yes, I know that's the same as the voting options we just showed, but it is an example of what you should type in! There are only two caveats to your vote: Whoever is on the top counts as two votes instead of one, and you cannot put your own submission at the top. For example, if you were Maxwell....
...This would be allowed.
Wario's Really Stinky Ant Monster That Smells of Garlic (Counts as two votes!)
Maxwell's Antiga
But this wouldn't.
Maxwell's Antiga
Wario's Really Stinky Ant Monster That Smells of Garlic
Once voting concludes, I shall tally up the votes, and whoever has the most votes in each design will enter the micrometa! Then, the next slate will begin soon after with three new sprites.
GOOD LUCK!
How many slates do you plan to have?
Hopefully until we run out of Generation 9! But, there is one relief: We will be taking a hiatus after Slate 10, when the micrometa has 30 Pokémon in it.
Will this be on Dragonhaven?
Certainly! But not until at least after slate 4, when the micrometa has 12 Pokémon in it.
How long will a slate last?
It depends, I have a lot to do on my other projects, including contributing to other Pet Mods! But, rest assured, you'll have at least a week to submit your submissions. I will let you know on this thread when submissions will close. Voting always lasts, unless otherwise stated, one to two days.
What is a micrometa?
A micrometa is a metagame that has no returning Pokémon in it, only new ones. For example, "INSERT WINNER HERE" would be legal, but Blissey would be not. Usually, Terastalization is also banned within it.
A Pokémon's broken! What shall we do?
List the problematic beast out on the Discord Server, and the community can discuss about how it is nerfed here. The server also contains a workshop that you can use to get the community to see how your submission fits in the metagame.
Do you need help?
Well, I need someone who can program moves and abilities into the metagame through Github: Scoopapa's special code generator (https://scoopapa.github.io/PS-Spreadsheet-to-JS/) can handle everything else...but if only he'd change "Species" to "Name", gah!
Will there actually be a muse in this one?
...Depends.
Hopefully until we run out of Generation 9! But, there is one relief: We will be taking a hiatus after Slate 10, when the micrometa has 30 Pokémon in it.
Will this be on Dragonhaven?
Certainly! But not until at least after slate 4, when the micrometa has 12 Pokémon in it.
How long will a slate last?
It depends, I have a lot to do on my other projects, including contributing to other Pet Mods! But, rest assured, you'll have at least a week to submit your submissions. I will let you know on this thread when submissions will close. Voting always lasts, unless otherwise stated, one to two days.
What is a micrometa?
A micrometa is a metagame that has no returning Pokémon in it, only new ones. For example, "INSERT WINNER HERE" would be legal, but Blissey would be not. Usually, Terastalization is also banned within it.
A Pokémon's broken! What shall we do?
List the problematic beast out on the Discord Server, and the community can discuss about how it is nerfed here. The server also contains a workshop that you can use to get the community to see how your submission fits in the metagame.
Do you need help?
Well, I need someone who can program moves and abilities into the metagame through Github: Scoopapa's special code generator (https://scoopapa.github.io/PS-Spreadsheet-to-JS/) can handle everything else...but if only he'd change "Species" to "Name", gah!
Will there actually be a muse in this one?
...Depends.
