FERAL CLOSED BETA SIGNUP!!! + Winter Art Contest

Hey Jammers! I bet you thought I wouldn't actually do that contest I mentioned last post, but here I am exactly two weeks later!!! Defying the odds xD

Finals week has honestly been more of a finals month-and-a-half for me because of all of the longterm projects I've had to do. 

Most of my projects/tests are over now, so I think it wouldn't hurt to jump right in and introduce a contest, right?

But first... I'm sure you're at least a bit more interested in some news from Fer.al that came out just this Wednesday!

If you previously signed up for the Fer.al newsletter, you've probably noticed that nothing has been emailed... until this past Wednesday, when a link to sign up to closed-beta test Fer.al was sent out!

The sign-up link leads to a Google Form that just asks a bunch of general survey questions– what devices you use, how long you've played AJ, AJ username...  nothing that personal. As explained once the survey is completed...

The information you give in the survey determines what testing group you'll be in. Hmm... does this mean Fer.al might have a mobile version...? Maybe not, but I wonder.

But what does "closed beta" even mean?

On Animal Jam, the word "beta" tends to make people really excited– it conjures up images of cool items of years past, the time when AJ was smaller so there was more of a feeling of community... 

However, the word "beta" doesn't necessarily have to mean that! It's used to describe the early stages of a new game, when the people who get to play it are playing it in order to spot bugs and glitches to be fixed before everyone can play it.

Closed beta in particular means that only a smaller, controlled group of people get to beta test a game.

I'm not sure if you'll receive the closed beta sign up link if you rush in and sign up for notifications now, but I guess there's no harm in seeing what happens! 
^-^

Alright, let's move onto the contest!

So, admittedly, I don't really have any high-demand items like black spiked collars to give out as prizes. However, I do have this one very hard to find item! The green variant of the Jamaa Township Portal. 

It took me months to even find someone who had it, let alone someone who'd be willing to trade it away, so I hope you can find value in how literally rare it is instead of how high demand it is.

I was originally just going to do a simple giveaway, where you comment your username and I randomly choose a winner, but where's the fun in that?

That's why I'm making this a winter art contest!

I hope you appreciate my example XD

This is a low-stress art contest where you just draw/paint something winter related and share it with me for a chance to win the Jamaa Township Portal pictured above! 

Your art can be as simple or as complicated as you'd like. My opinion is that super realistic/complicated art is just as valid as simple art like the example above. 

The most important thing to do is to have fun, so I invite everyone– not just people who consider themselves artists –to join in! I'll be showing off every art submission in a post once the contest comes to a close.

So, how exactly do you enter? I'll tell ya!

How to Enter the Winter Art Contest

EDIT: You can also just make an AJ Masterpiece and comment your username so I can go check it out! 

The steps below are just in case you don't want to have to use MP Tokens, or if you want to draw with some other method. :)

Step 1: Draw something winter related! You can use the AJ Art Studio, some other digital art program, or even just on paper (if you're fine with scanning it in or taking a photo of it, that is).

Step 2: Take a screenshot of your art (or save the image!) For example, if you use a Mac, press and hold the keys SHIFT, COMMAND, and 4. Then, click and drag the cursor over your art. It's also pretty easy on other kinds of computers. It's a little obvious, but I just wanted to make sure that everyone knows what to do ^^

Step 3: Go to imgbb.com, click START UPLOADING, upload the image of your art, and copy the URL it gives you. You can also use any other method of getting the URL, but I think the site I linked is simple and easy to use. You can copy by highlighting the URL with your cursor and pressing/holding the keys CTRL and C. Sometimes it's COMMAND and C. 

Step 4: Type your AJ username and paste your image URL into a comment on this post! You can paste the URL you copied by pressing/holding CTRL and V. I won't publish your submission comments until the contest is over.

Send in your art by MONDAY, DECEMBER 23rd!

I really hope you join this contest! I think it'll be fun :)

Alright, everyone... see you in Jamaa.

AND ENTER THE CONTEST!!!! >:O