Not to worry!  This guide should help you at least get your bearings!

Assuming you have never played an ARPG with a genetics system before, this stuff is all very big and scary, but that's what this guide is for!  

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Genotypes and Phenotypes
When you get your first Dinosaur or Genotype, it will have something that looks like this:

Genotype: rgb(86,63,54) : Si / Un / Cv
Phenotype: Brown with Cover, Siamese and Unders

 

Those are your Dinosaurs genes!  

A Genotype is how your Dinosaurs genetics are written down in a short, simplified way!  This is mainly used for breeding and technical purposes as many people don't always remember the exact genetic abbreviations for everything!  The first part of your Genotype [ rgb(xxx,xxx,xxx ] is the base color of your dino!

A Phenotype is a more 'digestible" version of a Genotype for ease of understanding, and so that you don't have to look up the genetic codes for every single marking and trait each time you see/obtain a Genotype.  


Marking Genetics
Marking genetics can get a bit trickier.  These are written as the second half of your Genotype after the RGB base color numbers.  Markings can either be Heterozygous or Homozygous and this determines how 'strong' or prevalent a marking is in your dinosaur.  Newbie Dinosaurs cannot receive Homozygous markings, but any other dinosaur bred has the chance to!  If you check out our markings under the "Genetics" page, you can see how Het. vs Hom. compares!
Having a Hom. marking also increases the chances of that marking passing to offspring!

Heterozygous:  [Abbreviated as Het.]  This marking is any marking written as "Xx".  This is the most common type of marking and has a smaller marking range than Homozygous markings.

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Homozygous: [Abbreviated as Hom.]  This marking is any marking written as "XXXX".  This is a more uncommon type of marking, but offers a wider variety within the marking that may include multiple colors, gradients, wider range, ect.