I'm thinking about creating a new Petsite

[Nintendo]

I'm not active on these forums at all, but I have always been a huge fan of virtual pet sites and have always wanted to create some sort of virtual community site as a lass. I'm just creating this thread to ask about opinions on whether or not my ideas for a petsite would be worthy of creating.


Being greatly inspired by Pokemon, I want to create some sort of battling pet site. A small variety pets will be available on the adoption page, similar to how you can choose a starter Pokemon; you can travel with your pet or pets to find and battle rarer creatures throughout the map. There will be elemental types, and multiple stages of creatures (all will have 3). In order to reach the next stage, it requires experience points, and in order to acquire experience, it can be done so through eating different food items, reading different books, battling of course, playing with toys, etc. Other than battling, quests will also be a huge in this site. Quests will allow you to unlock new lands on the map, encountering new creatures, and it opens up new battle opponents in the arena.
Everything a typical pet site has will also be included such as : Human avatars, multiple colors choices for pets, games, battling, ye know.

Although I'd love to create it right away, I wouldn't know at all if people would like a battling pet site or if it would be very popular at all. Before I invest any time or money into my idea, I'd just like to ask what you all think makes a pet site great or worth playing! I'd really like to create one sometime in the future, instead of just drawing for them.

[Enki]

Well you know I'm behind this idea 100%, so I can only offer my 'YES PLS DO IT'.

[Sid12192]

I want say DO IT BUT the pet site industry is loosing people, so TO ME i dont think people should be making any more petsites because they are just not gonna get big.
Also there is paladore, which is basically pokemon, with GREAT art, soo many pets, and everything. SO you can do if u want to, but 99% time the site is not gonna go big. Also, you would have to spend lot more money to compete with Paladore's battle system. If your battle system sucks, why would they play your site instead of playing pala's.

i hope u understood that. I am not trying to break ur dream or anything but stating my opinion. I dont think petsite industry is getting anywhere. All petsites are loosing people. SO i would suggest not doing. You are better off being a artist, so no worries about anything.
----
You still work for Mara right?

[Zei]

@Nintendo
Support.

I wish I could program.

[Nintendo]

@Sid12192

Yes, I still draw for Marapets. C:
My dad is a professional programer so I'm sure he can help me create some cool features or effects to add for the battling system. But of course I'm mainly worried about if there will actually be chance of success with creating a virtual pet site or if it is just a completely awful idea and waste of time/money. I feel though as if I have a ton ideas to make one actually worth playing and lingering on to. Guh.

[Kiara]

If you have the money, time and passion to actually attempt this than I'd say go for it. While it's true the petsite industry isn't really thriving anymore, it's mostly because the people who make sites have no idea what they're doing when trying to develop a site OR don't know how to run it once it's up.

A lot of sites that are talked about on VPL aren't "big" but I think that might also be because this is a small, kind of closed community.

[Dog]

@Nintendo

Okay, so this might come out very long. Fair warning -- though I will try to keep it short.

Pet sites rarely get 'big'.
It's very hard, very time-consuming, to make a pet site work out. In the beginning, you're going to be losing money most likely. It's like any business. People have to get to know you, like what you do, and come back for more. You'll lose money paying for programming, art, writing, anything that you need for the site will most likely have to be paid for. Quality work usually comes with a price. (My tip? Be picky. People will come back for quality, and they won't come back if they think everything's done badly.) Sometimes you can find volunteer work, but it's very difficult to find -- at least, if you're looking for uniformity in your website, it is.
That's a big thing for some people, the uniformity. If your art all looks like it's done by a million different people (or even two or three different people) you could take some flack. That being said, best to find artists who can match styles. Writing counts here, too. Some people are more descriptive, some more poetic, etc.
Is it worth making a pet site? The truth is painful: It can be. It takes a LOT of hard work, patience, time, and sometimes even money... but it can be done. You want to make something that's different from the rest, that stands out. Something people can't get anywhere else. With that, they'll come back because they want it. They crave it and, after all, no one else does it.

All that being said, I would support this.

[Volt]

If you have the money to waste, go for it.
I'm not saying it won't be successful, but it will not be easy.
And it certainly won't be lucrative for a very long time.

I think individuals like you with great ideas like this would be better off banding together, or joining a pre-existing site that's doing fairly well and making it better rather then creating a bunch of different sites trying to pander to an incredibly small market.

[Nintendo]

@Volt

Well, if there's another artist or a programmer out there that would like to share ownership and that has any great ideas for this battling/questing type of site, then I'd be totally down to for it.

The most popular pet sites are YEARS old, so of course I don't expect it to become successful just within a month. I'd have to plan this out carefully before I begin investing money for a programmer. I'm happy though I have support for my idea though, I'm determined to make it happen sometime in the future. C:

[Trythia]

@Nintendo, this sounds a lot like what we're planning to do with Trythia, though we have 5 total evolutions instead of the Pokemon 3. So I would have to say I fully support the idea, since I'm doing it myself

If you are interested in working with us on something like this...it's always at least worth a conversation, right?