Weird Deleted Feature

Hey Jammers!!! If you've been wondering why my last post was five whole days ago, the answer is simple: laziness. I have a small summer job, and while it's only four hours a day, it involves a lot of working outside in the sun (gardening). 

I just get overly tired when I get home and I can't do much else aside from lie around and read. :\

Just wanted to clarify that because a couple people have asked me if I've lost interest in AJ blogging. The answer is a resounding NOPE!!! I'm just sleepy lol

This laziness has also meant that I still... haven't... started... on 1sun1spirit's custom Masterpiece. It will happen, I swear! I think about it every day! I've just been struggling with motivating myself /).(\

I'm gonna clean my room today, and that usually helps, so hopefully all the stuff I need to do will happen sooner rather than later.

---

Over on Animal Jam, I noticed something a little weird buried in the Settings tab a couple updates ago. 

It came unannounced, was barely noticed at all, and then vanished as soon as it arrived:

A strange button entitled 'Update Parent Email'

It seemed to imply that you may now switch your parent email address to another one. This might be helpful for Jammers (or their parents) who don't have access to their email address. 

Still, it's a very particular situation that probably doesn't happen enough to merit a whole button in the Settings tab. 

If you clicked it, things started looking a little fishy:

I think it's suspicious that clicking it gives no further information– it just asks you to write down your parent email and baits you with 1,500 gems. 

I didn't test it out. On the surface, this feature appeared innocent, and it might as well have been, but a parent email account is sensitive information for someone who might wanna hack your account.

For example: if you're afraid of someone fooling around with your account, you can lock that account from the parent dashboard. However, if that person gets your parent's email account, they can do whatever they want. 

I'm probably just being paranoid, because this button looks like it was internally implemented by AJHQ. I'd also assume that hacks into the appearance of AJ wouldn't be possible with the level of security now employed.

Still, just thought it was a lil spooky. O_o

Before I go clean my room, I just wanted to tell you an idea I came up with: graphics commissions for AJ bloggers! Of course, I wouldn't do this until I'm done with the other stuff I need to do, but it's a thought. :)

Seeya!

~DoomyPanda

The Den Beta Artstyle

Hey Jammers! So I was at an educational summer camp all last week. It was pretty interesting. I had gone last year and had an awesome experience and made so many close friends (that I really need to contact). I didn't really make any friends this time, but because of that I could focus on learning more. 

That was just some positivity before I get negative about the update lol

So guys, the beta party is back...

...with no interesting items in sight.

You know, for a moment before I checked this party out I thought there might finally be a release of the mysterious green Beta Panda Banner.

And, as always, I should have known better.

Here are the items that came out during the first Beta Party for comparison:

Pretty cool, right? Decent nonmember items that probably really were used in beta before deletion. 

Those items were clearly beta-styled, whereas the only "beta" feature about the new ones are that they're front facing (in reference to the horizontal walls of the beta den)

But, what makes an item look beta?

Here's my artistic analysis:

– A beta item is typically a muted, dusty, earthy color.

– A beta item has realistic shadows and rarely looks one-dimensional.

– Sharper geometric edges are used, even in round shapes.

The Globe item really embodies the "beta" look. The base of the globe is shadowed, the globe itself is a muddy mix of turquoise, the handle is a dusty gold, and the entire item is framed with geometric edges.

To clarify, in this instance I am referring to "beta" items as any items designed during or near beta testing in 2010. I'm not using the current trading definition of "beta"– I have no clue what anyone even means by that now lol

My theory about these lackluster summer updates is that a lot of AJHQ people are on vacation, which is totally fine. Working at AJHQ, trying to make a billion people happy with regular updates sounds stressful as heck. :T

I'm kinda tired right now, and I wanna go participate in the Chicken Smoothie jungle event, so I'm gonna peace out right here.

Peace out! :P

Post coming soon

Eventually...

Trade Offer

Hey Jammers! If you thought you've already seen the shortest post in the world this past week, think again. XD

Because this one's gonna be even shorter.

I could post about actual topics, but I'm having a hard time focusing today.

But anyway, do you see the image above? I have a ton of seasonal trees just like them. I'm interested in swapping a portion of them for the same amount of default green seasonal trees. 

Depending on how many green trees you have, I'd be willing to trade you the same amount of any kinds of non-default seasonal tree.

Comment below or Jam-a-Gram me if you're interested!

However, I probably won't respond immediately.

Because I'll be without internet connection from this saturday to next saturday.

So... no posting either.

But still, contact me and we can arrange a trade once I'm back.

Before I wrap up this sad little post, here's a status update on that commission for 1sun1spirit: 

I haven't started yet. XD

I've been pretty busy as of late. However, when I am away this week I'll bring my sketchbook, so I'll try to find time to finalize your tiger on paper before I start drawing with my mouse lol

See you in Jamaa... next week!

RIM Theory

Hey Jammers– super short post! I have a lot to do today.

Like yesterday, I wanna talk about something kinda late: the Rare Item Monday.

I wanna talk about it because it was one of the 10% of Rare Item Mondays that are actually unique and cool.

(Image credit to Rainbow000Pegasus' Ultimate Animal Jam Blog)

As you can see, this meets a lot of the criteria for a Quality RIM. In my opinion, here are all the things that can make a good RIM:

– Not that much eye strain 
– Uniqueness– aspects are changed aside from color
– Nonmember

I'd rate this one a 2.5/3 because while this item is not entirely unique (like Extra Salty Popcorn), the facial expression is delightfully unexpected. Here's the original for comparison:

So the eyes were actually negated... instead of black with white pupils, we have white with black pupils. Nice!

The thing with Rare Item Mondays is that they can catch you by surprise. We get so used to weird eyestrain-y recolors that we just give up on checking the shops every Monday... and then when we least expect it, actually cool stuff shows up.

I have a theory: 90% of Rare Item Mondays are ugly on purpose. While the ugly ones don't necessarily become regarded as very rare, they make the cool RIMs even rarer. Hmm...

Before I go, I just wanted to let y'all know that I'm on Chicken Smoothie! I dunno why I didn't talk about it earlier, because so many Animal Jam people also use this pet-adopting website. 

Here's my user. I don't have a lot of people on CS to talk to, so feel free to PM me!!! Unlike Jam-a-Grams, I can actually write back personalized responses lol

That concludes this short post. See you in Jamaa!!!

Lag, Glorious Lag

Hey Jammers!

I know it's a little late to talk about the update, but I gotta few things to say.

First of all, look at my dodo:

Kingtoast is not my actual pet, because I have no diamonds, but he will be my best friend in spirit. 

Kingtoast can take the form of a bad transparent png so he may travel beyond Jamaa and into the great unknown.

While it only took me a few minutes to make the png before my wrist started cramping up, it took me a long time to make Kingtoast. 

Why, you ask?

One word: lag. 

Every time there's an update, everything gets slower and slower. I have only one tab open with Animal Jam, no programs running in the background... and still, even in an empty server, I can barely click anything.

And I'm not the only one having problems:

So, obviously this is a problem.

In my opinion, a lot of stuff in the updates doesn't need to be there. We don't really need a constant stream of new pets and animals– and having bigger gaps between introducing that kinda stuff will make it feel more special. 

Maybe it might also give AJHQ a break too, it really seems like they don't have much time at all to make new stuff. 

Also, ever since the homepage changed from the consistent Alpha image, I've always got severe lag from all the animations everywhere:

Anyone else?

So, that concludes this short post. I'm surprised that for the most part I've kept up with posting daily... wow. See you in Jamaa!

Thank you everyone!!!

Hey Jammers, the party went surprisingly well! I'd say around 6 to 7 people showed up, and I met some new people and made some new friends. ^-^

I also took a ton of screenshots. My desktop is coated in them. 

Here are some notable ones:

I spent around 10 minutes waiting for people to show up, but once one did, many followed. 

We discussed the history of roleplaying in Sarepia.

...it got out of hand pretty quick lol

Later, we went to Brady Barr's theater and watched some animal videos.

Many an interesting conversation was had here. 

Meanwhile...

Snowflake Peachyrose revealed that they were secretly a sentient rock who doesn't breathe, along with other shocking information:

Despite Prancing Thetiger's desperate plea for mercy, AJHQ manifested in my den and struck us down. Maybe it was for the better. 

Thank you everyone who showed up!!! Even if it was just briefly, you guys made my day yesterday <3

See you in Jamaa!

Party on NOW

Come say hi :)

Reminder

Hey guys, I don't have much to post about today, but I just wanted to remind you that the 6-year celebration is tomorrow! 

To be exact: Saturday July 7th, at 1:00pm Eastern Standard Time.

If you aren't in the EST time zone, there are online time zone converters. :)

I hope to see you there!

Blog-a-Versary Contest Winner!

Hey Jammers, a big thank you to Transions, 1sun1spirit, IceCream Cookie Kitty, and Sarahkey8 for entering in the riddle contest! I appreciate all of you <3

This will be the post where the winner is revealed– which one of these riddle-solvers will win the custom Masterpiece? :0

But before that, I will show you all the answers. Y'know, to build suspense!

Riddle: To the ants nearby, an earth-colored ocean.

Answer: 

The mud puddle. Pretty self explanatory. 

Riddle: Flaming blue wings

Answer:

 Yup.

Riddle: From here you can look for peregrine falcons.

Answer:

You can view the peregrine falcon (from the Coral Canyons Journey Book) from this specific location and all the way to the far-right of the screen. Any of your answers from close to this location I marked as correct. :)

Riddle: Wooden wheel in the sky.

Answer:

The windmill. Again, pretty self-explanatory.

Riddle: Tropical marshmallows in the jungle.

Answer:

It's a hibiscus! As the Temple of Zios Journey Book entry states, "in Latin, the word 'hibiscus' means 'marshmallow'"

Riddle: The castle with no king.

Answer:

It's Jam Mart Clothing because it looks just like a castle! Sorry if this one was vague. ^^;

Riddle: You would not believe your eyes~

Answer:

XD

Riddle: Prehistory in ice

Answer:

The frozen prehistoric whale dinosaur.

Riddle: The tallest you can be.

Answer:

This specific place. According to this sign and the map, this might be the highest elevation in Jamaa!

Riddle: Someone lost $2 by the water!

Answer:

The two sand dollars by the water slides~

Riddle: LOL means "Lots of Legs"

Answer:

I don't think many people had trouble with this one.

Riddle: I'm green and will follow you everywhere.

Answer:

This green fish in Tierney's Aquarium will follow your cursor. :3

Riddle: A room to see the stars, day or night.

Answer: 

This specific room in the Chamber of Knowledge will always show you the stars.

Riddle: Two extremes exist between this path.

Answer:

This path goes between Crystal Sands and Mt. Shiveer– a very hot place and a very cold place.

Riddle: Moose turned llama.

Answer:

This was probably the hardest one, in my opinion. It required the knowledge that before this small painting was turned into a llama when they came out, it was originally a moose. 

Riddle: Long ago, the sun painted history here.

Answer:

This table covered with mixed dye was used by Zios (based off of a sun god) to record Jamaa's history. 

So... that's every riddle. Now, who's ready to hear who got the most of them right?

Ok, here we go

*drumroll*

THE WINNER IS...

*drumroll intensifies*

1sun1spirit!!!!!

Congratulations!!! I'll start on a Masterpiece of your tiger as soon as possible, and I sent you a buddy request so I can eventually trade it to you. :)

Even though 1sun1spirit is the winner, this contest was made possible by all of you who entered. Thanks again to Transions, Sarahkey8, and IceCream Cookie Kitty!!!

See you guys in Jamaa~