Clark Stacey Speaks out

Hey guys, happy new year!!! In case you haven't yet, click here to comment any ideas you have for Animal Jam in 2019 ^-^

I haven't posted for a while because I wanted the AJ ideas post to stay at the top, but I just stumbled upon a fairly recent statement from the CEO of Animal Jam (Clark Stacey) that explains the lack in AJ content.

I found this on his Instagram, which I periodically check in case he posts stuff like this. I was lucky today!

He posted it on December 18th, and because people pay more attention to the official AJHQ Instagram, I guess that's why no one's talked about it.

I'll copy some highlights in case the image above isn't loading:

Q1: Why does Play Wild get all the cool new stuff? What about web?

CLARK STACEY: 

"I know. In 2018 we released more new animals and other stuff for Play Wild than for AJ web. We're a small company, and for the past year we've been working hard on something new we'll be announcing soon... but it's consumed a lot of our time. You're going to see a very different pace in 2019, though, with more Wildworkers back on the web game full time. Just watch."

Q2: I heard Animal Jam is dying!! Is that true?

CLARK STACEY:

"For the love– NO."

Q4: Ok, but what about Adobe Flash? Won't Animal Jam die when Flash dies in 2019?

CLARK STACEY:

"Flash isn't going to stop working in 2019. However, it will phase out gradually by the end of 2020. We've had three years to prepare for this, though, and it's going to be fine. You can already download AJ as a standalone desktop app and play it full-screen - check out animal jam.com/apps. Parts of the game have transitioned away from Flash over the past two years, and by the time Flash is gone we won't be using it at all. Seriously, don't worry about the Flash thing."

Q5: But some of the Jambassadors stopped making videos!

CLARK STACEY:

"I hear Despacito has kinda fallen off the charts too. Time passes, guys. I love our Jambassador crew, and it's cool to see them growing up, branching out, getting into new stuff. That's what kids are supposed to do. Animal Jam will still be here whenever they want to visit, and a new generation of Jambassadors will be here to taunt them because they won't know what their trades are worth anymore."

***Q6: Do you still want my ideas for the game?

CLARK STACEY:

***"DEFINITELY. You're going to see a lot of great ideas from the community going into AJ web starting in Jan/Feb."

Q8: Furries/hackers/rodeo clowns/giant eels are planning to attack Animal Jam! What should we do??

CLARK STACEY:

"Don't worry. We got this. Remember the pixelworm invasion in 2016 that was making Jammers' monitors explode? Of course you don't– because we got that too."

---

To summarize it in one sentence: Animal Jam will feel a lot less "dead" in 2019, starting as early as January! YAY!!!!

You don't know how relieved I am to hear this :')

And according to Stacey, some ideas from the community will be implemented soon!!! MEANING... GO COMMENT YOUR IDEAS ON THE LAST POST SO HOPEFULLY AJHQ SEES THEM!!!!!!

HAPPY 2019!!!!!!!! Let's make this a positive year full of good change :)

Ideas for Animal Jam 2019

Hey Jammers! As promised...

Your ideas for things that should happen on Animal Jam this coming year!!!

Basically, just comment your ideas for items/updates/animals/adventures/events/etc. on this post, and on January 1st I'll edit this post to include all of them!

I'll also include some of my own, because of course I have a ton. I will credit all of your ideas (so include your username) and I will leave my own ideas unattributed.

I'll divide it up into categories to make it easier:

Category 1: New Animals

- Snakes 

- Tortoises

- Hippos (Violet AJ)

- Beluga whales (Violet AJ)

- Manatees (Violet AJ)

- Bats as the first nonmember flying animal (licia144)

Category 2: New Items

- Bring back shelves (they're really helpful for den plushie shops)

- Tapestry-styled frame for Masterpieces

Category 3: Ideas for Events (new things to add to preexisting seasonal events, or new events entirely)

- Bring back the Jamaa egg fun fact hunt in April

Category 4: New Adventures

- More complex plot lines for adventures, i.e. alpha character depth or moral ambiguity (Cloudclaws)

- Adventure centered around Liza, protecting the panda heartstone, and fighting phantoms with nonmember RIMs as prizes (Bookgirl10)

- More development of Juno (Anonymous)

Category 5: New Features

- Let nonmembers have at least one more animal slot

- Allow nonmembers to dress their pets, even if options are limited (Violet AJ)

- A Trading Wall/item wishlist where you could list items you want somewhere on your player card (licia144)

- Game of the month and/or Game of the Month leaderboards with prizes! (licia144)

- Night and day (licia144)

- Let nonmembers type on Jam-a-Grams (licia144)

- Gem/diamond donation to other users (licia144)

Other:

- Bring back the original Trading Party and Play Wild Party

- Switch the position of Jammer Parties and normal parties in the party list (make the normal parties in front, because they're more popular anyways)

- Replace the Diamond Shop with Club Geoz and relocate all Diamond items to Epic Wonders.

- Generally emphasize educational content more

- A cave-related land/den/room/etc. (licia144)

- Pet lionfish (licia144)

- New secret land (Anonymous)

Comment your username and any ideas you have for Animal Jam! :)

Hard-hitting Animal Jam News

Another Nonmember-ified Gift

Hey Jammers! I'm posting right now because there is another Jamaaliday gift that is the red-and-green nonmember recolor of a previously released item.

Wow, too many words. But here it is:

It would probably look better on a different color scheme or animal (these look good on tigers), but I am very sure that these nonmember-ified items will be in demand at some point. 

Speaking of demand, I have a feeling that Old Hoods will rise in demand in the coming months. 

Reason being, they're cute, nonmember, and disappeared from The Shiveer Shoppe a couple of months ago:

Hmm...

Also, at some point it looks like the Bookshelf item came back:

I included the item before it for reference. I feel like some items in Jam Mart Furniture are out of order in the catalog... example: the Sturdy Table and Blue Rug are pushed to the very back.

That's all for now, guys. Expect a more detailed post later!

~ DoomyPanda

New Owl Theory

Hey Jammers! There was a half-update today that brought us some new stuff.

I should have known when I first looked at the Jamaaliday home page that that weird owl was going to be the next new animal:

I wouldn't say that the release of this new owl was necessarily a loss, but because it's basically a repeat of a species, I can't really say that it's much of a gain. 

Although, when you compare this owl with the original owl...

...the new owl actually looks a bit nicer! It's more realistically proportioned, and somehow even fluffier.

When I was thinking about why this owl was released, I was initially annoyed that we had yet another species rerelease. But when I thought more about it, it began to seem like a good decision somehow.

Here's my theory: People at AJHQ were annoyed with how cartoony the normal owls look, and they wanted to redesign them without replacing the old owls outright.

This wasn't about releasing a new species– both of the owls might as well be Great Horned Owls with different amounts of realism. This was about discreetly replacing the old owl.

Looking through the animal catalog in the Diamond Shop, I can't find the original owl:

(Please comment if owls are actually still available for gems right now, I can't check because my animal slots are full)

If AJHQ just secretly replaced an animal, no wonder this update was quick and hushed! It may be the first time an animal was released on a half-update with barely any warning.

I think this was a good decision. I like how the new owl looks, and I hope AJHQ continues a pattern of more realism in new animals. 

If you look at the original animals (wolf, panda, tiger, monkey, bunny, koala), they're all drawn fairly realistically. I've missed that a lot in newer animals like the lynx/sabertooth/direwolf/etc.

Moving on, it's time to talk about today's Jamaaliday Gift. Like daily items, I don't really talk about Jamaaliday Gifts unless I think they're very different and interesting. Biased, I know, but I'd rather talk about items that I think will have a significant impact. That's just the way AJ Stream goes. 

With that in mind, here's the daily gift which I have deemed as interesting:

A nonmember Aviator Hat!!!

I'm not a big fan of the colors, but it's a NONMEMBER Aviator Hat!!! I always thought these looked the best on pandas, so I'm very happy I get to fulfill my wish to wear one. :')

In related news, here's a PSA to all my fellow nonmember friends:

If you're like me and can't log on every day, at least remember to log in on DECEMBER 14 and DECEMBER 20 to get 2 Masterpiece Tokens!

Before I go, here's three things; one big, one medium, and one small.

Small thing:

This cute crocodile plushie I spotted in someone's trade list.

Medium thing:

Just one day after my brother saying that he'll only play AJ this month if there's a new winter den, AJHQ has announced one in the works. Nice!

Big thing:

IDEAS FOR ANIMAL JAM 2019

Just a random idea that came to me halfway through writing this post.

What if, during this last month of 2018, we all worked together to come up with some ideas for new features/adventures/lands/events, etc. that should come out in 2019?

Then, on the night before January 1st, I can compile them all into one big post that AJHQ will hopefully see and steal from! ^-^

I'll make an official post about this in a day or two so you can start commenting your ideas. What do you guys think? :D

See you in Jamaa!!!