Making good species/races - Or why do some created species rock while others suck balls?

[RussianMozart]

I sometimes dabble in personal story writing (mostly science fiction) and often find myself wanting to make original species (i.e. aliens). Some of my designs seem to have been really good. One image I commissioned was posted on reddit and got over two thousand upvotes before the poster went on a spergfest and deleted all their posts. Others species I came up with don't seem to be worth spit judging from the lack of reactions others give them. And that's enough power leveling for one day!

What do you think makes a good species? Is it all about the visual design or is it more nuanced in your opinion? Should some characteristics/design elements be avoided? (e.g. scales and hair)

I am curious to see what everyone thinks.

 

[Rusty Crab]

I don't know but fuck Orcs.

 

[Prophetic Spirit]

Not entirely about races but i took the concepts of some shit i've seen as a kid to create a element-based identities.

I'll be honest, i never watch those shows entirely so my creavity goes up when i can formulate how those identities lives in the world, one is reclusive inside impenetrables towers, other is imperialism-to-facism, other is a broken monarchy-to-democracy, other is a matriarch sedentarism state, other is a patriarch nomad one, other are fours convents and two dead nations were full monarchy and imperialism.

The thing is... yeah, you're a drawer; is fullying the most represantive thing about the race or the species, i don't know; Krogans in Mass Effect are like lizard-men but bulky as fuck. At least in my novel any nation was a specific IRL ambient based on eras, like one of them is in the 40's and the other is in the 50's.

 

[Dick Pooman]

Finding the right mix of relatability and mysteriousness is important. I think most popular sci-fi is lacking in the latter.

 

[BoobWhiskers]

I mean when it comes to a species, it all kind of depends what you want from them. If you're writing stories and that's what you're using them for I feel like the visual design is a lot less important than other stuff like their culture, history, traditions, etc. On the other hand, cool images are cool, so a striking design is a good way to generate interest for your material. It all kinda depends what's more important to you and what you intend for them.
(And when it comes to visual stuff, you approach design differently based on about a million different factors, because you have to factor in stuff like whether it's just getting drawn once or five thousand times, what medium it's for, etc etc).

I think for me my number one thing for species/creature design is definitely tailoring the design to the environment it comes from. Creatures and characters are so much cooler when how they look is informed by the world they live in, and I love it because it means that the creature tells you about their world too. You can infer biome from coloration or skin texturing and patterning, know whether they live in the water or on land or in the air from their features and body structure. High gravity or low gravity environments, strange extreme weather events, subterranean low/no-light situations, you can imply it all in the design and I love when that's worked in in a smart, believable way.

 

[RussianMozart]

Creatures and characters are so much cooler when how they look is informed by the world they live in, and I love it because it means that the creature tells you about their world too. You can infer biome from coloration or skin texturing and patterning, know whether they live in the water or on land or in the air from their features and body structure. High gravity or low gravity environments, strange extreme weather events, subterranean low/no-light situations, you can imply it all in the design and I love when that's worked in in a smart, believable way.

I couldn't agree more! Light coloured fur, really large ears, and large eyes? They probably live in an arid world and come out at night.
Low gravity? They're probably very tall but with very weak bones.
High gravity? They're short, heavy boned, and could punch you across the room.
Subterranean low/no-light situations? Light coloured skin or no pigmentation what-so ever, large eyes (for low light) or no eyes at all (no light environments).

 

[Fromtheblackdepths]

What roles do the species claim?

 

[RussianMozart]

That's a good point... there are soo many species that exist for the sake of existing, even though the fact that they're not human adds nothing to the narrative.

 

[Lonely Grave]

I come from a history background so looking at a race's past is my way of defining them. Environment is super important for this unless they are a colonizing/conquering race in which case you will get deviations from the race's features and a given planet, but in that case you can just refer back to their home planet (barring any momentous stages in their evolutionary past).

My advice is to be bold with a race's past, don't dwell on a single influence like "oh hey this is an insectoid species hurr durr hive mind shit haha". Add nuance to their past, internal and external conflicts, tragedies and triumphs, change the very nature of their given archetype. Maybe that insectoid species isn't one species but a symbiosis of many - and some of those subspecies can evolve independent thinking spontaneously. Maybe that proud lizardmen in SPESS warrior race are engaged in a nomadic civil war against their evolutionary ancestors. It's up to you to find interesting quirks of the past to make your races believable, even if the events of their past are weak homages to events in human history.

tl:dr Explore your race's past, and don't be a normie fag about it.

 

[RussianMozart]

"And don't be a normie fag about it" is the quote of the day!

And since you mentioned it, I hate hive-minds. They're always soo stupid in stories and games, and yet they should have instant access to the sum of all their races knowledge.

As for the background, one old setting I had involved alien overlords using uplifted species as prey in hunts ala the Predators. Some enjoyed it, some did it because it was expected, others hated it and told stories about the 'ones that got away.' Then there were the uplifted prey that proved 'worthy' and were further modified into another kind of creature to serve as the 'hounds' in the hunts for uplifted prey. The overlord species went extinct, but the prey and 'hounds' remained. Cue complex inter species relationships that range from 'you were dicks in the past!' to 'I KEEEL YOU!'

 

[Realplaya420]

And since you mentioned it, I hate hive-minds. They're always soo stupid in stories and games, and yet they should have instant access to the sum of all their races knowledge.

I personally adore hiveminds. I think it's a really creepy and interesting concept. My favorite example is The Many from System Shock 2.

 

[McMitch4kf]

I personally adore hiveminds. I think it's a really creepy and interesting concept. My favorite example is The Many from System Shock 2.

I still hold that Ender’s Game has the most interesting use of a hive mind, in that it’s actually used as a contrast to our individualized sentience.

 

[Not Vordrak]

For starters, they need to be white.

 

[AbyssStarer]

I believe there should be a moratorium on anthropomorphic animal races in order to help quell the furries.

 

[RussianMozart]

I believe there should be a moratorium on anthropomorphic animal races in order to help quell the furries.

Or at least there had better be a good reason as to why such a race exists in the first place.
Animals evolving like humans? OK... if they're the only sapient species on the planet and as long as they don't resemble any species native to Earth.
Humans uplifting certain species, ala Planet of the Apes? That's a better option, but why would they do that? What does an uplifted chimp do that a robot can't do better?
Hell, post-humans genetically altering their bodies as part of a futuristic new-age spiritual movement is a better reason than what most come up with... which is nothing.

 

[L50LasPak]

I think people get the approach all wrong. You should think of what themes you want to use an alien/inhuman species to explore, and then design them based on that. A fictional race can theoretically be anything, so its a good idea to ground them with a specific focus. Otherwise you'll pull what Star Trek did with Spock and keep stacking traits and new powers on a whim. Good limitations are a must.

 

[RussianMozart]

I think that was my biggest failing with my old setting - I (arguably) had good species, and an interesting history for those species, but I never really decided what themes I wanted to explore. That said, one of my short stories was considered to be "not bad. Not good, but not bad" by some professional authors over at Baen's Bar. So I guess I got away with it? For one story at least.

 

[mr.moon1488]

For starters, they need to be white.

There are some exceptions.

 

[Monolith]

I've heard a really good way to do this is to take something humans take for granted and remove it. For example, I have a race of aliens that don't talk, but rather "speak" with chameleon-like color-changing skin, and use the same patterns in writing.

 

[Not Vordrak]

There are some exceptions.
View attachment 1935503

There literally aren't.