Hey Jammers! Wow I have not been as productive as I've wanted to be this week. Or last week, for that matter. I guess as school rapidly approaches for me, I've subconsciously decided to be as lazy as possible in preparation for the onslaught of school work ^^;
However! I did get some progress down with the new header. Take a look:
It's just a screenshot, so that checkerboard pattern won't be in the final. I'm probably gonna add a rounded border and some leafy accents to make it nice :D
For the second quick part of this quick post, here's a part of a news article involving WildWorks (and kids app makers in general) that you may find interesting:
So basically, Apple is now requiring kids apps to not run advertising or external analytics software. With WildWorks, AJPW and the AJ desktop app don't have ads, but another app "Tag With Ryan" is completely dependent on ads and will probably shut down. Honestly I don't care about that in particular– I really dislike the people making money off of toy-review videos for kids on YouTube, it just feels exploitative.
HOWEVER, Play Wild and the AJ desktop app might still be affected by the new Apple policies! It wasn't entirely clear, and the passage above is the only part that mentions WildWorks, but analytics software is used to monitor how Jammers use those apps (to prevent inappropriate behavior, see what features are most popular, etc.).
The new Apple policies are banning external analytics software– I'm not sure the difference between internal and external analytics software, but it might mean that at least on WildWorks' apps, data can't be collected the same way.
Is this kind of analytics software also on browser AJ? Would this new Apple policy mean that the desktop app and the browser are managed differently?
Hmm....
I'm gonna go back to being lazy now. Seeya guys soon!
~DoomyPanda
Hey Jammers! I'm here to talk about this week's update– which is actually pretty nice/interesting!
But first, I wanna show you my current progress on the new header, because I finished the lettering yesterday:
It might stay blue, but I also might make different colored versions.
The easy part is now just choosing a font for the 'Stream' text to be, an AJ related background for the header, and any extra stuff to make it pretty :3
And now! The update:
It's another Wild Weekend, but this is one of the better ones because it's all about natural items! Honestly though, we should have at least 2/3 of all items be nature-inspired. It's a game about other animals and plants!
Here's the items:
You can change the symbols on the broken tree and the dirt marking to a river symbol, a lightning symbol, a star, a spiral...
I imagine these items would be helpful for Warrior-related roleplays (those are still popular, right?)
You know what would be a good idea for one of these special designs? Instead of solid-colored patterns, gradient ones. That may be popular.
The Fantasy Castle den is back in store for gems!
I remember when it first came out– it was one of the first really big and complicated dens in Jamaa, and in my opinion its one of the nicest looking ones. Sometimes the newer dens that come out can be... a little oversized.
I may actually get a membership just so I can have a fantasy castle for a bit :P
Some birds are back!
The toucan mini-book doesn't have as many cool illustrations/animations as say, the panda mini-book, but it's still worth a look!
Owls are back~
The Summer Eggstravaganza pets are flying/skittering away for the season, but keep an eye out for the Fall pets!
This is the main reason why I called this update 'interesting'– what do you think this page is hinting?
Last of all, new armor (that won't protect you very well) is here, as well a returning den item theme.
I was gonna go into the other new/clearance items, but I got some forms I need to fill out for school, so I'm gonna end this post here!
See you in Jamaa, and I hope your summer has been great! (or winter, if you're in the southern hemisphere :P)
Hey Jammers! I was planning on posting about the wild weekend today, but I honestly don't have much to say. Hallfall (that's still your user, right?) made a more extensive post about it on The Animal Jam Digest along with a cool NM den idea, so you should check that out!
So, I haven't posted as often as I would have wanted this month (and for most of this summer, it seems), and it's because I'm working on some creative projects that I won't have time to do once school starts for me– one of which is designing a new layout for this blog. It shouldn't be that hard, but I'm so picky about aesthetics that I'm making my own graphics and lettering lol
(Temporary color, temporary background, temporary positions, etc. Just wanted to show my progress w/ the lettering. I think the "stream" will be an actual font.)
I'm kinda sick of Tiki Island so I'm trying to hand-copy a font that was on the AJ beta homepage that I can't find anywhere else:
That's a graphic from the help section.
The goal of re-doing my layout is so I'm more motivated to post regularly once school starts (and so the blog looks better and works better) because older AJ graphics are just so weirdly calming.
Another project I'm working on that's gonna take at least all day today is to start planning a story I've been wanting to write (that's unrelated to AJ).
So yeah, I have a lot to do before school starts! I guess paradoxically, you might be getting posts more regularly once September comes around
But back to the beta AJ help section... for I have discovered something:
So I have no clue what Zeevex is, but more importantly– What is Panda Week!?
So every week in beta testing (or soon after it, I forget if August 2010 counts as beta), one kind of animal was celebrated? Neat!
(In case you weren't aware, I use the Wayback Machine to go snooping around the beta homepage. Check it out!)
Here's a Jamaa Journal calendar I found on the Animal Jam Rush that shows a few Animal Weeks:
Interesting. Maybe the activities posted in the Jamaa Journal were similar to this:
So Guides were not only there to help, but to facilitate activities! That's so cool. (Image from here)
Dang. I wish that level of community was here today. Maybe we can take inspiration from the positivity of early AJ and make that part of how we act in Jamaa today :)
Alright guys, I'm off to go work on stuff! See you in Jamaa, and have an awesome day~
Hey guys! After about a week of drawing, I'm done with the first (and probably the most difficult) half of the new Animal Jam Stream header I'm designing: the panda.
This is probably the digital drawing I'm most proud of so far. The goal was for it to look like it could be an official Animal Jam graphic, and I think it looks pretty close!
This panda will go next to the blog title when I finish drawing out the letters, which will hopefully be easier.
Just wanted to update you guys–
see you in Jamaa!
~DoomyPanda
Hey Jammers! This Wild Weekend isn't as cool as ones we've had in the past, but I thought I'd just feature the couple of items I think are cool.
But this wasn't just a Wild Weekend– it was a full-on update! And the main star of this update is...
Baron Brightfire, the amazing camel!
I have to say that this camel design isn't too bad– I suspected it would be an obvious edit of the llama, so let's compare their designs:
Aaaand they're completely different! Props to you, AJHQ, for making an 100% original animal that genuinely looks like the real-life version :')
On a side note, when I was looking at pictures of llamas, something occurred to me:
The llama Alpha is named Andy. Why, you may ask?
Because llamas are native to the Andes mountains!!!
I wonder if there's any story behind the shark Alpha being named Drake... hmm
As promised, here are the couple of items from the Juno Wild Weekend that I think are worthwhile:
I like them both because they have that rough-around-the-edges style of AJ items that I've been missing in recent years. I think the mural in particular is more interesting than some of the other Juno furniture items because it's more lore-focused than simple and decorative.
Moving on, National Honeybee Day is also coming up:
I'm not sure if these fun facts are the same that they've always been, but it's good to have them nonetheless.
Something that not a lot of people realize, though, is that the bees that are most in trouble in America due to pesticides and habitat destruction are native bees, many of whom do not necessarily produce honey.
Let me introduce you to diadasia envata, also known as the sunflower bee:
Unlike honeybees, which are actually native to Europe, the sunflower bee is native to North and Central America– this means that they have evolved alongside other native American plants and animals for a much longer time (hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years) than honeybees.
And unlike the honeybees, who are generalists who will drink nectar from and pollinate just about any flower, the sunflower bee will only be found where there are sunflowers. Those are their absolute favorite flowers, and though I think they can also forage off of other flowers, they cannot exist without sunflowers.
As you can imagine, honeybees have an easier time thriving in an America where native plant ecosystems are becoming scarcer and scarcer. They don't depend on any specific flower.
However, native American bees like sunflower bees depend on native American plants, which are losing habitat fast to human buildings.
Here's something you can do if you want to help these bees:
typical garden flowers like tiger lilies or hydrangea are not native, and therefore cannot feed native bees (they just can't digest their nectar because they haven't evolved long enough alongside them).
However, if you have any space at all to plant flowers, you can use plant databases like wildflower.org to see what flowers are native to your region. If you plant those, you can attract and feed native pollinators!
I have a small garden of native plants that does just that, and you can't imagine the difference in wildlife I've seen since I started it three years ago. Maybe I should post a photo sometime :P
Before I go, one last thing:
I don't normally do this, but I've been searching for a long time and I just can't find it. If you have a blue Rectangular Coffee Table (image above ^), I am willing to trade some or all of the items below for it:
The green Rectangular Coffee Table I have is worth just the same amount as the blue one I'm looking for, but it's been so hard to find this item that I am willing to overpay my entire list for one.
Comment if you're interested!
Ok, time to keep working on my blog's header. See you in Jamaa!
Hey Jammers! I haven't been posting for the past couple days, and probably won't for the next couple days (unless the Wild Weekend compels me) because I'm working on designing new elements of AJ Stream by hand!
Usually, I rely on pre-existing AJ graphics and fonts to make stuff like the header and sidebars, but I thought it might be more interesting to see if I can draw my own graphics, especially now that I'm trying to get more comfortable with digital art.
(Also, I just really love the art in the header of Rainbow000Pegasus' blog)
Here's a sneak-peek of an unfinished drawing that's probably gonna go somewhere in my new header when it's all done:
(The circle is going to be an Earth)
I think it's an improvement since the last panda drawing I posted, even in its unfinished state
So, that's all I got for now! Just wanted to drop a quick update to show y'all that I'm getting stuff done :P
~DoomyPanda
Hey Jammers! I was actually feeling pretty sick yesterday, but I think I'm 100% better now :3
Here are some items that look pretty new:
...I think? I'm not as diligent at covering new items as I probably should be :P
So, picking back up the Bunny Script topic from my last actual post, it seems like no one's figured out what it's supposed to say. For a little bit more info, I went around and tried to find signs of other potential coded scripts, but I found nothing conclusive:
The last one looks like it's probably some kinda script, but it's too small and pixelly to possibly make out.
Oh well... until someone guesses correctly about what Peck's Inscription could be saying, this will remain a mystery.
Moving on...
Ever get bored of stuff like trading and spending hours sitting in locked dens?
Well, have I got some fun ideas for you.
First fun idea– become broke!
It doesn't sound fun at first, but do any of you remember back in ye olden days of AJ when it was difficult to earn gems? To be fair, items were also a lot cheaper, but the difficulty involved in earning gems through low-gem-yield games gave a sense of accomplishment when you could finally afford the Rare Item Monday.
About a year ago I introduced the Gem Challenge in this post, which you should go read if you're interested in adding an extra level of difficulty to AJ– basically, you only get any gems through low-gem-yield games, but you should read that post for more info.
If you like the Gem Challenge and want even more difficulty... what about the Buddy Game Challenge?
With buddy games, you usually just get 5, 10, or 25 gems, so they are very low-gem-yield. It's just a more limited Gem Challenge– get all your gems from buddy games :P
Now for the second fun idea...
awooooooo
You can go to official parties on the Party List and be surprised that they are still very active places! There are lots of other Jammers to meet, trade, and worship the moon with
And finally...
Find a buddy to play a 2-player game with, and agree that whoever loses has to give the winner an item as a prize!
Now, I personally think this goes better when the situation is not like the one in the pictures above where a specific prize is promised. Sometimes people might change their minds and cause conflict– so it might be less annoying if you both just promise that you'll give some kind of prize to the winner. Or, promise a specific item! It's up to you.
My favorite multiplayer game is Gem Ball, so you can try that out!
---
Before I go, my next project is going to involve redesigning Animal Jam Stream's layout. As a reminder for myself (or for anyone who's interested), here are some things I'm hoping to do:
– Re-do Glitches page so most recent glitches are at the top and older/not working glitches are archived at the bottom.
– Redesign Pages tab so it's simpler, or even stop using image maps because the Trading Post link has been unclickable for some people.
– Update that dang Codes page with codes that actually work
– Make some new pages which I will add onto a sidebar, such as an art gallery page full of submitted Jammer art (Masterpieces or not)
– Add some kinda search bar
– Redesign sidebar blogroll so it's easier to see
....and probably more things I'm forgetting right now >.<
But anyway, thanks for reading! See you in Jamaa~
