Planet Zebeth's one and only "How-to" section

So you've decided to make a guest comic strip. Excellent idea indeed, but we're left with the question as to how.

Now before you start, first off see if your computer is capable of saving any image file in .gif format. Generally, if you're using Microsoft Photo Editor, or Adobe Photoshop, or any other higher quality image editing program, you can just go to file - save as - and select ".gif" in the "save as type" field (or whatever similar field you have in the save window). If you're using MSPaint, you'll need a gif graphics filter. It would be automatically installed if you have Microsoft Office installed. If you're not sure, just search the hard drive for "Gifimp32.flt". If it has it, you should be able to save as .gif. If not... just install Microsoft Office... or upgrade your computer, or something. Although, I also accept .png files, and occasionally .jpg, depending on the quality, seeing as .jpg tends to make the sprites fuzzy.

But with that out of the way, we're left with the creation of the guest strip:

Step 1: Obtaining the sprites.
Well, first off, you have to decide which sprites you want. For the most part, people go with Metroid 1, because the sprites are plentiful, and available here. If you wish to use other Metroid games, or other games in general for guest cameos or something, I'd suggest searching Google for "Super Metroid game sprites" or something along those lines. Change the Super Metroid to whichever game you want. Also, GSArchives, The Shyguy Kingdom, or VG Maps all have many MANY game sprites and backgrounds. Check them out first.

Step 2: Creating the setup.
By setup I'm refering to how you want the comic strip to look. The default setup that I personally use is over here. It's basically comprised of four frames. If you wish for more or less, I'd suggest doubling the height of the image (and add 3 pixels for that grey bar down the center), pasting the blank strip over the bottom half, and go from there. You can even drop the rightmost frames if you only want 6 frames. Look at the bonus extra strips I made to get the idea. If you don't want to use the default setup, then go ahead and create your own. Just know what you're doing if you do this! If you've never made a sprite comic before... just go with the default.

Step 3: Designing the strip.
Excellent. Now that we've gotten the layout and the sprites, it's time to ram them together in a beautiful orgy of messy sprite sex. Now, the ideas are basically up to you, except for about 4 points that I stand by:
Point 1: Try to avoid the toilet-humour people. For the most part, you're not 7 years old when that may have actually been funny. Generally, I don't care how good it looks... it the humour is stupid and designed for an 8-year old's level of intelligence... just no.
Point 2: Have it somewhat make sense. If I'm confused by why things are happening... that's not a good sign. Given what I do for a living, I tend to understand virtually anything (I talk to, and try to understand the ramblings of old/drunk/incompitent/unschooled/etc people all day... and THEN talk them through fixing computer problems).
Point 3: No mocking/defaming/killing/etc. Kabutroid! And preferably not much talking for him. I've allowed this on only several occasions (Cyrus/Figaro) because it's not a direct crack or insult of me, and they do an EXCELLENT job making strips. Otherwise... generally no.
Point 4: Absolutely no advertising! If you put up the address of your page at the bottom or something, I'll re-inform you of this point in a reply email, asking if I can remove it. If you do not respond, I will not put it up. If you will not allow the address to be removed, I will not put it up. See the FAQ section for my policy on advertisements. But other than those points, the rest is up to you. Given the size of the extras section, it ain't that hard. All that's left is making it look good.

Rule 1: Allow equal blank space. By this, I mean try not to stuff too many characters/items on one side of the frame, leaving the rest of it empty.
Rule 2: Word bubbles go top to bottom, left to right. That way we at least have an idea as to what to read first. And give enough white-space in the word bubbles around the letters to not have the letters connect with the background in any way.
Rule 3: Add a floor! Don't just stand people at the bottom of the frame. Give them something to stand on. And have them stand ON the floor... not slightly above it.
Rule 4: Don't mix different Metroid game sprites unless it's actually part of the humour. If you mix them for no reason whatsoever... it just looks bad.
Rule 5: Check all of the strips on this site to see if the idea has already been done. If it's somewhat different, that's not too bad. If you're not sure, just lemme know the idea and I'll give you a thumbs up or thumbs down.
Rule 6: Use an appropriate font/font size. Generally, Arial is good, and no smaller than size 10 for what people say. Sound effects can go to size 8, but no smaller. And if you use italics, use a good font that's easy to read in italics. If you have to squint to read it, redo it. Odds are I won't allow it if I can't read it.
Rule 7: Use correct punctuation. Unless it's for a specific reason, no l33t-speak. Use periods, commas, semi-colons, quotes, dashes, capitals and the like correctly. It pisses me off to no end when there's no capital letters or periods. That's basically an instant delete of your strip.
Rule 8: PLAY THE GAME! I can't stress this one enough. Know what things generally do, and how the game Metroid works in general. Don't have Samus shooting enemies from their gun (I've seen this lots), or use Rinkas as explosions or anything. Know what's what. If you're not sure, it's probably just best to ask on the message board.
Rule 9: NO COPYING MY STRIPS! Specific items from the strips is fine, such as a specific sprite-edit of Ridley or Samus or something. Try not to copy from Subsector Hiroshi or anyone elses stuff though. Ask them first. But for pete sake, don't copy entire frames, or partial frames! I will not allow it no matter HOW good the strip is. And I'll know if it's a copy. I made it for God sake!

Step 4: Final touches.
Well, now that you've got the strip made, it's time to give it a once-over. Read it entirely over and check for spelling mistakes. If you're not sure, crack open Microsoft Word or something and do a spell check on that. Or just go to www.dictionary.com and check it out there. Also check for any colour differences frame to frame, covering up of pieces of other characters when copying/pasting, or random dots or something from accidentally clicking somewhere with a different colour. And if you're using MSPaint, and are using lines to depict movement, make the lines curved or straight accordingly. Don't just use the pencil tool. And go with appropriate thickness. More/thicker lines indicate faster movement.

Step 5: Completion!
Well, you've got the strip made, looked over, and saved (preferably as .gif, but .jpg/jpeg, or .png are also acceptable. At all costs avoid .bmp. I've told you how to fix that in here. I will no longer accept them. Period.) It's time to send it over. Just email it as an attachment. If you insert it as an image into the email itself, for some reason it often forces me to save it as .bmp as opposed to whatever it was. To correct this, I have to open the source code, find the address to the actual image, put that into the address bar, open THAT up, then save it as the correct type from there. Hence... if it's inserted into the email itself... you've just lost a couple of points in your favour.

And as a final note... compare your strip in general to those in Planet Zebeth, Subsector Hiroshi, and/or the Bonus section. If you see yours is definitely worse than them... don't bother sending it in hopes I'll take it anyway. I won't. Same goes with if you make like 10 or 15 strips, and send them in hoping that I'll accept it due to sheer volume... no. I couldn't care less if you make 50 strips. If they're not good... they're not good, and thusly won't go up.

Or just compare your strip to the H A L L _O F _S H A M E . If yours reminds you of any of these... just delete it already. Warning: if you send me shit, it might end up in this Hall Of Shame here, for all to mock.

Or failing that, I give you the greatest of the worst... so bad, it's actually awesome... TEEN ZEBETH SQUAD!

Like I said... those who have submitted strips already are pretty much safe. Just keep in mind the how to submit them as attachments and so forth. The basic purpose of the pure existance of this "how-to" page is mainly because I've lately received an unusually large number of low-quality strips. Basically... I'm getting tired of receiving crap. You wasted your time making it, and I wasted mine reading your email and deleting it. Most of the time, if it's not going up, I won't reply to the email unless it's about something other than the guest strip as well. If it's close to going up, I'll reply saying what's wrong. But otherwise, noone wins. And with that, thus concludes the lesson of how to make a guest comic strip.