Disasterlock

I'm doing a formlock game based on an amazing commission done for me by Sumiaou. Unlike most formlocks you might see, this one is not an up-front set-and-forget type of lock. Instead, this one is interactive throughout the duration and has more impact than just changing my social media profiles. The formlock will be entirely dependent on a publicly streamed playthrough of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Explorers of Sky and doing "completed" artworks.

This formlock is inactive as of 2025-08-12 due to health issues I encountered immediately after starting. I will try to restart this later when I get my life back on track.

Background

Back in April of 2025, I did a small formlock in a private server with some friends. Unlike most formlocks that rely on up-front like and retweet counts, this one was entirely dependent on my performance in a video game. The lock would last until I completed specific challenges within a randomized copy of Pokemon HeartGold such as catching an Absol and defeating Red. Additional aspects of the lock would change depending on other factors like catching new pokemon or having a team wipe - increasing my "transformation" the more I lost. It was very fun and I've wanted to take another shot at it.

The Challenge Rules

The following are the basic rules for the challenge:

• All gameplay must be streamed publicly via Picarto, Twitch, or YouTube.
  • Gameplay is limited to a maximum of 5 hours per day.
  • Unstreamed gameplay does not count.
• All art must be streamed publicly via Picarto, Twitch, or YouTube.
  • There is no limit on the amount of time spent on art.
  • Unstreamed art does not count.
• Speech/typing related rules are applicable to all social media. The rules also apply to any Discord servers where doing so would not be considered annoying or against the nature of the server.
  • To allow others to filter posts at this time, everything should be tagged with "#disasterlock".
• The formlock is considered complete when all of the following are completed:
  • Complete the main plot + postgame (indicated by defeating Darkrai).
  • Complete all 5 special episodes.
  • Collect all 7 instruments.
• Rules regarding the game itself:
  • Items may not be brought into dungeons unless held by a team member (if an item cannot be held for some reason but is required for story progression, it may be kept in the bag but a team member may not hold an item to bring in).
  • No using linked moves.
  • Spinda's Cafe cannot be used except to unlock story-related things.
  • No using the emulator's fast-forward functions.
  • No using guides or references outside of the game itself (unless required for things like wonder mail codess). Stream chat is discouraged from helping but not outright prevented.
• I can change the rules at any time in the interest of making the formlock more interesting or more sustainable. This should mostly be to add more difficulty to the challenge.
• I reserve the right to end the challenge at any time if I decide that it is detrimental to my health.
• This challenge will end on 2025-11-31 regardless of completion.

The Lock's Effects, and How They'll Change

The starting point for the lock are these two rules:

• Social profiles must be changed to reflect the current state of the formlock.
• Any commissions involving Simm must reflect "his" state during the time of getting the commission.
  • This effectively means that I can only get commissions of Simmsol.

However, this is not the end of the effects. Like with my previous formlock, I want this one to be able to change over time. I'll call the metric used to measure these changes "Instinct" to reflect Simm's absol instincts. Here's the chart of how Instinct will affect the formlock:

I'll keep a live updated indicator of Simm's Instinct level on stream.

Gaining Instinct

Fail states and losses in the game will count as grounds to gain 2 points of Instinct. In PMD, this means the team leader (and sometimes the partner) fainting. Fights where the player is supposed to lose are not exempt from this.

Additionally, there will be a passive Instinct gain. If Simm's Instinct is below 0, he gains 1 Instinct every 3 days. If it's under +15, he gains 3 Instinct for every 4 consecutive days without a stream. This prevents me from doing some art to get to -15 and then not playing anymore, or pausing at a specific level. At minimum, I'll have to do a piece once every 3 days to keep being able to play games other than PMD.

Losing Instinct

In the spirit of self-improvement, the only way to lower the Instinct number is for me to do some art. All art needs to be at least a half-body and of meaningful effort. Clean color is -1 Instinct. Color with cel-shading is -2. Color with soft shading render is -3. At -5, only color with cel-shading will count. At -10, only color with soft shading will count. (So I can't spam 15 clean color pieces.)

In the spirit of the formlock, subjects themed around transformation or the Simmsolplush design will be worth an extra -1 Instinct.

Expected Questions

Isn't it a bit underwhelming to call this "The Disaster Formlock" but put a cap on it? Especially a cap that's hardly 3 months away? I've seen people do formlocks for years.

Perhaps it is, but in the end all of this is just for fun. The reason for the cap is to prevent it from becoming permanent if I suddenly lose all interest in the game or have major life problems get in the way.

On the other hand, there is a chance that I have enough fun with the idea that I decide to extend the time limit out on it. Regardless, I will still taking a break from it in December for mental health reasons due to things in my personal life.

Why is there a 5 hour limit on gameplay per day?

Two reasons!

1. It will extend the lock time.
2. It will prevent me from spending all day/night playing the game (either because I find it too much fun or because I want to clear the lock). That way I actually get sleep at night, and spend time on other things (like making art).

Are you going to make this permanent?

It is very unlikely that I will want to make this permanent. Although I adore Sumiaou's design for Simmsolplush, I still have plenty of reasons to keep normal Simm around and keep him as the default. For one, he's my self-insert and I'd like to keep his default state as something that doesn't feel so tied to kinky fantasies. For another, there's a sizable number of artists that I'd like to get art from who are 100% SFW. I wouldn't want to impose on them given that Simmsolplush's design is downstream from a tranformation fetish. Plus I still want to get more art of Simm's tiger and gargoyle forms. :p

I understand the appeal of permanent TF! But at the same time, it's hard to enjoy the transformation aspects of transformation if you aren't supposed to transform anymore.

(something about mega Absol)

I don't have anything strongly against mega Absol's design. I just like normal Absol a little better. That said, there's still a chance I'll get mega Simmsol!

What does this mean for Oubliette and Cammy?

I'll still get commissions of Oubliette and Cammy while the formlock is going on as long as I'm under the threshold I mentioned earlier. However, anything that involves them and Simm will use Simmsol's design.

What about Simm commissions you're already waiting on? Will you ask artists to change to Simmsol?

Any commissions that I currently have in-progress will continue as planned. Those artists agreed to a certain project and don't want to ask them to change their plans in a way that would be more difficult and require more time spent on rendering. I may hold off on sharing those commissions until the formlock is over, however. (On the off chance you're an artist that I have an open commission with involving regular Simm and you would like to take a shot at Simmsol instead, please let me know.)

Why are you doing a formlock in this format?

The way that most people do formlocks doesn't appeal to me. You get to have a lot of fun at the very start as you watch your timer tick up to increasingly higher numbers. But after that initial day or two, you're just stuck with one form for months or years with minimal interactivity. Some people try to roleplay as their form but I see very few who commit to that past the first week or two.

This format is much more dynamic, it's primarily dependent on my skill with the game, and encourages me to practice my art more. (Also it makes me feel less like I'm trying to engineer a post for maximum attention.)

Game-Specific Questions

Why Explorers of Sky? Have you played it before?

The Pokemon Mystery Dungeon series - at least the ones that I've played - have transformation themes at their core. They're an excellent choice thematically for this formlock. I played Explorers of Darkness when I was a lot younger, and it's my understanding that the story is mostly the same as Sky. However, it's been a very long time since then, and Sky has additional stuff to do compared to Darkness. I'm effectively going in blind with the exception of looking up what would be a good set of goals and restrictions.

(As a side note, I also considered Pokemon Radical Red and Pokemon Reborn. If I finish this one too fast, I may add on one of those as well.)

Why not formlock as whatever starter mon you got from the quiz?

I like Absol. It's my favourite 'mon. Plus, it was Sumiaou's art of Simmsolplush that inspired all of this.

Why not use cheats or ROM hacks to set your starter to Absol?

I'm expecting the game to already be fairly easy (it is made for children, after all). I don't want to throw the balance off by having a stronger Pokemon from the start.

Why not use the Explorers of Skies ROM hack?

After much thought, I decided it would be best to play the base game first. It will give me a predictable level of difficulty.

Changelog