The Gallery Spotlight: Guide to a Successful Gallery by rain_hunter |  |
Untitled Document
PET CENTRAL - On January 17th, thousands of Neopians sat, stunned in their whirly
little computer chairs as they read the New Features page. The reaction was very
nearly universal: They're going to do what? Neomail flooded the systems,
user's Neopets clicking madly on their 'send' button, yapping excitedly about
the news. It was only until the next day that they began to wonder--did they even
have a chance?
After checking hundreds of shops by way of the loveable Shop Wizard, Neopians
found that building a shop gallery was harder than it looked--every species
and section of food having their own unbuyables, and very nearly costing millions
altogether, how could anyone except the rich possibly put together a gallery worth
visiting? Well, I have some answers for you to pick and choose among--and with
a little quack and some skydiving maneuvers, as well as a bit of luck, you'll
be able to get up and have your gallery on the way before breakfast.
Now, off with ye..
Step One: Take Inventory.
This is always a necessary step. Use the search option, typing in the main
topic of your unborn gallery -- say, strawberries. Write or type them down,
and zip right over to the Shop Wizard, where you'll search for strawberry-related
objects all over again. Check your list each time to see if there's any you've
missed, and their average prices; after all, you'll need to have a few thousand
backup Neopoints, won't you? After you've done this about fifty times, quit
that, lest you go insane and end up torching the poor little strangely-dressed
Jubjub, and check your Safety Deposit Box--or, for those people who don't know
how to use their Safety Deposit Box, their Inventory and/or Shop. You
have to scan wherever-you've-gone for any items containing the word 'strawberry'
or 'strawberries' within them. Put, or keep them in your shop. Take/sell everything
else.
Note: For obvious reasons, you should have a shop before you try this.
Step Two: Buy More.
Not only does this drastically help Neopia's economy, but you can have a great
time playing games to get more Neopoints to fund your gallery and bargain hunting.
One recommended choice of games is rather lucrative, if you have the twisted
mindset to understand it -- Fetch!, my personal favourite. Fetch! allows you
an inexhaustible source of Neopoints, and it is fairly simple, one you get the
hang of it; get it, get the item, and get out. For players on the Easy level,
the prize for escaping averages at about 107 Neopoints, on Medium, 279, on Hard,
482, and on Fiendish, above that. Please be reminded that this takes up a large
amount of time; although if you're smart, you won't be worrying about how fast
your gallery can be put up. Most of the time, slow is a synonym for 'quality.'
Now, the bargain hunting -- that's rather easy, if you think about it. One
of the main rules of this 'game' is not to panic. It doesn't matter if
you get that one-thousand-Neopoint golden Aisha wand unless you're making an
Aisha gallery. Another important rule is not to go overboard--and though Keljeri
will be having a field day with those words, stretched out over a few weeks
-- you only need one of each item. Believe me, I know it's hard to suppress
that inherently Neopian instinct to buy and hoard, but you've got to move on.
Do something to cure yourself of it. Join a support group for it.. There must
be one around here somewhere.
Note: Make sure you have the average price of your item before you run off
to buy it -- you wouldn't want to miss a bargain, now, would you?
Step Three: Storyline.
Okay -- you've got your items, hopefully priced them far above the viable
buying limit, and now you're wondering "What next?" You see, simply acquiring
some items and placing them in your shop does not make your gallery worth placing
in the Gallery Spotlight. Come on--give us some background! Does your Neopet
have a laboratory where they study the effects of such-and-such objects upon
such-and-such Neopets? Do they collect them to use as a bid for world domination?
Or to build a trans-dimensional roller coaster that plops any Neopet that wanders
on into the human world? The options never cease.
Really, you need to think about what would make your gallery unique.
Leave out the ultra-fancy backgrounds, the dolls and the music; a welcome sign
is fine, perhaps even encouraged, but that's really all you need. If you're
one of those Neopians who never think about anything other than looks, you should
probably change, or, if you resent doing that, don't waste your money on a gallery
at all. But if you do -- I salute you. Go out there and show off. For once,
it's okay.
Note: Please think up your own ideas about gallery history -- I'm touchy about
that.
Your gallery should be set up by now, if you made it this far. Please be warned--and
don't hold me responsible--that owning a gallery may or may not make
greedy little demons of annoyance attempt to hover above your account and hack
into it in order to take your hard-earned, valuable belongings. Also, your shop
may or may not be successful in obtaining the Gallery Spotlight, and in such
would be a waste of Neopoints. But it's still fun, and if all else fails, take
'em down and hoard them.
|
