Fer.al Coming in March? + Discovery About AJ Updates

Hey Jammers! Yesterday was the AJ update, so I'm back here to update you all on the update X)

Truth be told, there isn't much on AJ to update you on! As it seems Wildworks is dedicating most of its effort into getting Fer.al off the ground, the trend of uneventful updates continues. However, I have new information about that trend in this post. Read on to find out...

Speaking of Fer.al, they seem to have updated their homepage to look more awesome:

You can't tell from this image, but the background is animated with tiny floating orbs, like above the Mira statue. It's really calming to look at, you should go check it out :3

Another piece of Fer.al news that might make you even more excited: it may finally be available for everyone to play as soon as this March!!!

I had just gone to the Feral Wiki to see if I could learn anything there, and I guess I did! Even if Fer.al doesn't actually release this coming month, it's great that we now have a general sense of when it's coming. 

That section of text on the Feral Wiki sourced the transcript (I think) of the original conference where Fer.al was unveiled as a concept, and this is where my next discovery comes from, because I didn't have access that full article until now.

For those who forgot (or don't know) that conference was a kind of Q and A panel for game developers, so Wildworks' CEO Clark Stacey was interviewed on the inner workings of Animal Jam. 

The following passage reveals an important part of those inner workings that I think a lot of people missed:

(As always, click the passage to read the whole thing)

To summarize, when Wildworks first started working on Fer.al, they shifted some of the update responsibilities to outside studios. Meaning, a lot of the new items and animals we've had since then were designed by people other than Wildworks.

That could definitely explain the strange look of a lot of the new stuff that came out these past few years–

*shudder*

–along with the reluctance of AJ to make anything drastically new happen (like new adventures, new animals not based on pre-existing ones, or events like the solar eclipse or when Club Geoz was destroyed in late 2017).

I'm hoping that once Fer.al is off the ground, it won't be a game that requires updates as constant/regular as AJ or AJPW, so Wildworks would be able to shift a little more of its core team back to work on Animal Jam. 

That doesn't mean I'm not excited for Fer.al, though! I'm super excited. It'll give me some new, different things to post about, and a whole new virtual world to explore (though Jamaa will always be my second home). I'm not really a gamer beyond Animal Jam, so this will be even more new for me!

A sidenote: that little Fer.al character above is more than just an image I used to divide up the text, it's an example of the contributions of the core Wildworks team– I'm pretty sure all of the Fer.al characters were designed by Taylor Maw, who has been the head artist of AJ since the beginning (although their style has changed considerably since then!)

*the above link is a link to their art Instagram

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I can't believe what I thought would be a short update post turned into that! I haven't even begun talking about the update yet xD

The most notable part of the update (or arguably, the only notable part) is the Leap Year Party's grand re-appearance after four years!

I really love the Leap Year Party. Mostly because there are frogs everywhere :') beautiful little amphibians <3

I especially love the art style of the AJ pet frogs. One day I should learn how to draw them, and then maybe make a tutorial for this blog. What would you think of that? AJ drawing tutorials? Not that I'm the best at drawing in the AJ-style; it would be a learning experience for me, too xD

The Leap Year Party, as with the last two times, takes place in one of my favorite dens: the treehouse. Of course, it's decorated and altered like it was in the 2016 Leap Year– and teeming with froggy friends 

YEEHAW

The first stop most people are taking is the den shop. Last year's frog items are here again (which is annoying some people), as well as new bunny items (another animal who leaps!)

I gotta say, I'm not really a big fan of any of these items (though the rabbit burrow is nice). This also reminded me of how terrifying the frog chair on the second page is. Yeesh... doesn't do frogs any justice. Or bunnies, for that matter. :\

Moving onto the second shopfront...

Again, pretty meh items. But again, this is also explained by the core Wildworks team expending most of their work trying to get Fer.al off the ground. We won't have meh items and updates forever, so I'm not complaining.

EDIT: Almost forgot this, but the Item Claw is right by the clothing shop:

I think that this is the only place you can find the Item Claw anymore, seeing as the Trading Party stopped showing up a couple years ago (which I'm still annoyed about)

However, there is one other good thing about the Leap Year Party. The thing aside from the frogs that I have yearned for for 4 whole years...

The Slide.

It's not a Leap Year Party without at least one run on the slide :)

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I hoped you enjoyed this post! I think it's been my longest in a while. I guess I just got into the zone :P

See you in Jamaa, and have as awesome a day as you can!

Another Year of DoomyPanda!!

Hey Jammers! So, this morning I was checking for comments like I do every morning (yes, even though my posting schedule isn't the best, I still check daily!!) and I was happy to see a comment from Wildflower75:

Today is February 17th, and eight years ago today I made my account for the first time!!! 

Some people might think it's weird for a person to stick with a kids game for this long. Well, I stopped caring about that long ago because I'm having too much fun doing what makes me happy! 

Jamaa is really a second home for me, and even through the years as it's changed and made so many additions, I'm glad that the parts I've loved most have not changed much. I'm happy I think I can say the same for me as a person; 8 years is a long time, and I've been through a lot during this time, but this supportive little Animal Jam blog community has always been a rock of stability in turbulent waters :') 

The fact that blogging about a game (and a planet!) I care about can make someone smile makes me happier than you know. Thank you all for being so sweet and thoughtful!

Admittedly, I haven't been the best at posting regularly, especially during the last few months. I'm busy with school things and things have been turbulent in my life, so other stuff has been taking up most of my energy. 

Still, if I pick up the pace with my work on other projects, I can see an end to my busy-ness approaching soon, and I can't wait to have the time to turn all the goals and plans I have for AJ Stream into reality! It means a lot to me, so even if it takes a while, I promise I'll be updating at a more regular pace. 

Once again, thank you all so much for reading AJ Stream! Let this be another wonderful year of DoomyPanda~

All Clearance + More Random Stuff

Hey Jammers! I think a post is due today– in fact, at least a few days overdue ^^; I try to post at least once every two weeks, but busyness happens, as always. 

Another reason why I haven't posted.. not much has been going on in the world of Jamaa as of late! Well, if I was online more frequently, I'm sure I'd find plenty of non-news stuff on AJ to post about. But like I said before: busyness!!!

So because there's not much to post about, but I still feel like I owe ya a post, here are all the clearance items as of today:

Epic Wonders:

Jam Mart Clothing

Jam Mart Furniture

Diamond Den Shop

I'm certain this is all of them right now. This time I checked every shop, even the underwater ones! I think the farther we are away from the last update, the more stuff goes on clearance.

But that's not all I got to post about. As I was searching the shops, I noticed some non-clearance things that might be worth talking about a little.

First up:

 I realized that this item may be partially based on the Ice Rink from Club Penguin–

The two cute tiny penguins are wearing red and blue hats, and I think for a while on Club Penguin there was a red team vs. blue team thing. 

Have I ever talked about my experiences on Club Penguin here? I had an account from the early days of that game, and I loved it so much then! Even though nonmembers couldn't do anything lol

My Club Penguin username was pandabamboo– I doubt you're surprised about that :P

And it looks like...

..We actually have a Pandabamboo on AJ, too! Doesn't look like they're too active, though

Moving on.. we also have some new items in the Friendship Party!

I'm not normally a fan of balloons, but I am really liking the new Rose Balloons. They have an interesting pattern, if you look closely

My favorite Friendship Day item will always be the Heart Chocolates :P I'm too old school for my own good xD

Next random thing:

Most people might not have noticed, as new floors and walls always appear at the back of the Jam Mart catalog, but we have a new set for Friendship Day! They're not new new, but they are seasonal

And finally... a new addition to the AJ Username Hall of Fame:

:'''') marvelous


See you all next time, which will hopefully be in less than two weeks! I'm going to work on updating the Codes page, as some people have notified me that all the codes I have there have stopped working.

Jam ON~

Random things

~ Please read my last post if you haven't already, it's important to me ~

Hey Jammers! It's DoomyPanda, back again with a short post. I actually wrote this up before I wrote my last one, originally planning on just sticking the last one on the end of this one, but I thought it deserved its own post.

As I'm not too up to speed on new items and such, let's talk about some random things:

First of all, does anyone else have the same problem every time you log on? You get crammed into an almost-full room on an almost-full world and you have to desperately click the den button to be able to move around without lag. I wish AJ would automatically put you in a room/world that's maybe half-full instead. 

Though I can think of a reason why they wouldn't: people would log into an emptier room and feel like AJ is less popular because they aren't being crowded by random people, even if there ARE lots of people in different rooms/worlds.

I've been told the desktop app reduces lag, but every time I try to log into it I get this notice:

Grrr :\

Anyways... onto another random thing! 

I liked the color scheme of this rhino so I thought I'd post it :3

Rhinos are really underrated on AJ. I think they actually have one of the best designs out of all the AJ animals– their shape is so pleasantly simple and geometric :D

Maybe it has something to do with the golden ratio...

¯\ _(ツ)_/¯



Before I go, here's something I noticed in the Terms section of the Fer.al website:

So even though it's officially advertised that you have to be at least 13 to play Fer.al, it actually depends on what country you live in! There are a number of countries above that would require you to be at least 16 to play Fer.al. 

Something you may also notice is that Korea is excluded from this list. At the bottom, it says "rest of the world (excluding Korea)", so would that mean that you can't play Fer.al at all if you live there? Hmm...

This has been another short post from I, DoomyPanda! Tune in next time for another Animal Jam or animal related post~

~DoomyPanda

You Are Not Powerless (please read)

I've been meaning to write up a post about the Australia bushfires, but it just makes me so heartbroken and angry that it's hard to get the words out without crying. But these words are important for you to hear and think about.

The past five years have each been the hottest on record. It is only getting worse each year that people and governments refuse to address the climate crisis, and continue to actively destroy the natural environment. 

At this rate in Australia, bushfire season is only getting worse and worse each year. Fires around the world are only getting worse and worse. If not enough action is taken soon, there will come a point where the ecosystems cannot recover.

Much of the bushfires have only consumed so much land and killed so many plants and animals because of the unusually intense heat and dryness of this particular Australia summer. This is directly linked to rapidly increasing global temperatures.

Over one third of all koalas have been killed by the fires. This death toll is only going to grow each day.

Countless animals, not just koalas, are being killed by fires every day. Many of these animals are already endangered. Some may become entirely extinct due to the fires.

The current prime minister of Australia acknowledges that human-caused global warming is fueling the wildfires, but refuses to take action. Australia is a heavy user of fossil fuels, and so the prime minister prioritizes the temporary wealth provided by the industry as opposed to the future of life in his entire country. 

(Information about current bushfires here)

(Image source)

The next few years of global environmental action will determine the future of life on Earth for hundreds of years to come.

This is no exaggeration. If not dealt with soon, the path of steadily increasing global temperatures will become exponential and impossible to deal with. This is often referred to as the runaway greenhouse effect, or the climate tipping point.

In general, there are two kinds of change that are vital in healing the Earth:

"Top-down" change – Laws/policies/influence from governmental leaders.

"Bottom-up" change – Normal people influencing each other to make positive change, as well as influencing people in power to make positive change.

Both of these are extremely important. Just because you aren't a president or a governor doesn't mean you can't do anything.

(Image source)

In fact, change that comes from everyday people has even more power to change entire cultures. You, just by being brave and speaking up, help create a new normal; a new world where our Earth is truly respected and restored.

"Bottom-up" change also influences "top-down" change. 

I know most people who read this blog probably aren't old enough to vote yet, but something powerful you can do is to let your parents or guardians know that them voting for a candidate who truly cares about the future of our planet is important to you. 

(Image source) (Mural painted by Koryu Aoshima)

Because we are in a time when current environmental action is determining the future of our planet for years to come, your parents/guardians aren't just voting for the next handful of years. They are voting for your future. You should have a say in your future, even if you're not old enough to vote.

It's not my place to tell you or your parents who to vote for; it's all up to you and them. Just know that voting is a powerful way to use the power you have to shape your future. For upcoming elections in your country, I encourage you to research different candidates' plans for the climate crisis and discuss it with friends and/or family.

I know not all parents/guardians are easy to talk to, or are as understanding about these kinds of issues. There are hundreds of other ways you can use your voice for good. You are not powerless. 

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This post is my way of trying to use my voice for good. Even though this is an Animal Jam blog, and I mostly just talk about virtual world stuff, the climate crisis will continue to impact more and more of our world. 

It cannot go ignored, even if some people might see this post as irrelevant. We can't hide away in a fantasy land forever.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you were able to take something valuable from this post. 

~DoomyPanda