Bad and (Possibly) Good Changes

Get ready for a long, embarrassingly complainy rant (:

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Oh boy it's Thursday, let's see what's up in Jama–

AAAUUUUGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhsjmsfbm,


UUUUUUGGGGHHHHHH




I'm gettin' a bad feel about this marketing decision, Wildworks. 



Even worse that now the AJ homepage just centers around Play Wil– oh, I mean Animal Jam. 

And there's not even a clear notice of the change. Do you know how many 11 years olds will question the integrity of reality because of this? I KNOW I HAVE. Come on, just put a text box at the top!!! Communicate!!!

I didn't want to say this but come on, it's quarantine, everyone is losing their minds, and they're turning to virtual worlds to feel normal and when you make a big confusing change WITH ONE DAY OF NOTICE and don't even put a text box at the front telling us what's up? Why do we have to go to the Daily Explorer to understand what happened?

I have a literature final to do today and I was planning on just focusing on that but as soon as I heard about this bizarre change I knew I just had to jump on here and rant about it until the shock subsides and I can breathe again. Maybe it's pathetic but I'm kind of shaking right now xD

AJHQ, I feel like you'll regret this. There is pretty much 0 benefit to you confusing everyone. 

As far as I know, pre-existing games don't change names unless they're remade. 

Animal Jam and Animal Jam: Play Wild! are a perfectly logical series... just because AJPW might be a little more popular doesn't mean you have to completely rebrand IN ONE SINGLE DAY!!! Tell me, WHAT game has done that before???

UUuUuuuuughggghhhh

What also sucks is that they have a shady player login button on the normal Animal Jam page that goes nowhere if you input you login info:

Kinda makes me feel like I just gave away my info to someone :\

I downloaded it, and..

At least it seems full as normal. Not too many people are freaking out, thankfully.

Though I hope AJHQ makes it so the display of the app is less... uncomfortable:

I really feel like the full blue border background is important to make the user experience less overwhelming, but I can't get that with this app. Stuff is blocked out and I can't see the full border, which is something important to consider. 

Lots of people won't be used to the border being messy, and considering how quickly and without notice this transition happened, it is important for AJHQ to fix the display ASAP.

I try to shrink the window to make it feel more normal and it just doesn't work out:

AJHQ, if you're reading this very complainy post from a very complainy Jammer, please fix the display so the whole blue border (and the wood border within) are visible. It's visually uncomfortable the way it is.

I guess I'll also add in that the home screen could use a re-vamp to make it look more like Jamaa, but that's a given and AJHQ is probably working on it:

Calming down and moving on, let's talk about what this transition could mean about AJ in the future:

I am hoping with all my heart that this doesn't mean AJHQ is trying to push aside normal AJ as its flagship game and give less attention to it than Play Wild. (Yes, I am still going to be using "Play Wild" and "Animal Jam" in the way that they are. You'll see that everyone probably will.)

Updates better not get reduced even more than they already are on normal AJ. 

Many of us have waited a bunch of years for Wildworks to establish Fer.al and therefore resume the more interesting AJ updates we've lacked since late 2017. As I've said before, the character of AJ has been a little diluted since work on normal AJ updates has been outsourced to other studios (which happened due to work on Fer.al).

While the new homepage layout makes no sense and will need to be revamped so AJPW and normal AJ are equally accessible, I'm feeling kind of hopeful about what the new art of the home page might mean for the future.

To help you get what I mean, let's compare the art of the previous home page with what we have now:

Above is how it looked before the switch. Pretty basic, not the most distinct color scheme, heavily focused on items and promos. 

And now...

 If you've played AJ even half as long as I have, you'll recognize that the original warm, earthy, jungle-y color scheme has finally returned! The leafy border is very telling.

Last time it looked even remotely this earthy was a while ago, when the homepage looked like this:

But the olive tones almost look even more like an older, far prettier home page:

(Side note: Why'd they even change this in the first place??? Why did the homepage get less cool looking over the years??? What the heck. Also I used the Wayback Machine for this image so the other animals didn't load. The frog is here, tho :D)


Maybe you don't care about the homepage, but I am really passionate about the  original visual style of AJ, back when nature was emphasized more. It's not just nostalgia. When I look at the older homepage right above, I just feel so safe and happy and at home and excited about life. 

There's so much depth, I feel like I'm right there in Jamaa and not just looking at characters on a screen. It's just so beautiful!! X)

It's sad they changed the style to flat and 2D. You can always change it back, AJHQ!!! 

Which is why I am a little bit more hopeful about what the visual re-vamp of the home page could mean: more focus on nature and the environment. Or maybe I'm reading too much into it and AJHQ is too overworked to think about the homepage. 

(YOU KNOW WHAT I SHOULD DO??? I should make a giant color palette of all the classic AJ colors!!!! YES.)

Now this has become a ramble-y post. To finish it off, I painted the clay panda I showed you all in my last post:

I used the default AJ panda colors, with some highlights and shadows :)

The only paint I had was earth-based facepaint, so I just need to keep this little friend away from water or I'll have to repaint them <3

Now I have a friend to sit near me while I post :')

Thank you for reading this ramble-y post! I hope your days are as sweet as they can possibly be in times like this. 

What do you think about these sudden changes on AJ? Do you agree or disagree with my all-over-the-place thoughts? Any way you think, I wanna hear your thoughts!

See you in Jamaa~

~DoomyPanda

Earth Day - Seeing the possibility of a healthy world

Hey Jammers! Early post– surprised? Well, I'm mostly here because today is Earth Day, and I don't think it would be complete for me without a post on here :)

Before we start, a little notice:

A couple days ago, after almost two years of me being too lazy to update the Codes page... it has been updated. Finally. Big shout out and apology to all the Jammers who kept commenting saying that none of the codes work, to no avail. They should all work now!

I'm going to try to find a more reliable source to find codes– I still have no clue where the people who make lo-fi YouTube videos listing Animal Jam codes even get that secret knowledge. After so many years of playing AJ, I should know by now!

Now... time for Earth Day. 

Because 'earth' is another word for clay, maybe this panda I made out of earth clay is a relevant way to enter this post:

I actually found some clay on a trail at one of my favorite parks, filtered the pebbles out, and finally got around to shaping and firing it these past two days. I'm planning on painting it the colors of the default AJ panda (white and dusty blue), but the only paints I have are not super permanent, so I dunno how that's gonna work out :0

While you might already know that you can find clay in rivers and deposits under the ground, you might not know that you can also find small amounts of surface clay on some sloping hiking trails. If rain naturally flows down a trail, there is a mini river effect and some clay is produced; just enough for small craft projects like my panda up there :)

Clay is really just any soil where the particles are tiny enough to clump together smoothly without air pockets. If you're on a trail and find patches of soil that look more red or white (or any color) different than the surrounding soil, look closely and it may be clay! 

Moving on...

You may or may not be hearing about how social distancing is clearing up air pollution around the world.

(Photo of Himalayas taken from Northern Indian state Punjab this April 2020. Image from Weather.com.)

For over 30 years, the Himalayan Mountains have not been visible from the Indian state of Punjab due to severe toxic air pollution. Now they are.

It cannot be said that the reduction in air pollution is a silver lining of the virus, because it's only temporary. Temporary restrictions are not enough for us to change our "business as usual" into something healthier.

However, the practice of social distancing is beginning to show a future of the planet that could be. 

We have all gotten used to a toxic, polluted world-- so much so that it can be hard to imagine how things really should be. 

(Photo of air pollution in Delhi-- another Northern Indian state–– in November 2019. Image from Tribuneindia.com.)

With the example of Punjab, many many people there have gone their whole lives not seeing the Himalayas from their state, and the sickening fog that hides them has become normal. Even worse, the massive amount of air pollution related sickness and death has been normalized. 

This is true all over the world to different extents. Air pollution anywhere is a problem everywhere. 

One of the biggest obstacles to fighting the destruction of the Earth is the idea that it cannot be done; that humanity is on an unstoppable march to the end of all life because people and corporations are so stuck in their polluting, destructive ways. 

Most of us cannot imagine a world that is truly healthy, so it can be hard to fight for a goal we cannot even see. 

But this temporary global slow-down in destruction and pollution can show us a glimpse of what we need to fight for. Positive change is possible.

Don't get me wrong– a temporary slow-down is not enough to heal the world. Once this pandemic gets contained, you can bet that corporations will produce and pollute even more to compensate for the gap in profit. People are social distancing with their own lives in mind, not just for the greater good– and in this instance that's completely understandable. 

(Photo of unusually clear sky in Indian city during social distancing. "A nationwide lockdown has given Indian cities the kiss of life– the sky is clearer, rivers are less contaminated, and people have awakened to possible change." Image and quote from this New Yorker article.)

I guess my message is that if the Himalayas can become visible from Punjab for the first time in 30+ years after only ten days of lockdown, positive change is more possible than we think. 

Huge polluting corporations seem all-powerful and unstoppable, but now that more people are understanding that clear skies are within reach, that clear skies  without sickening fog are what we all deserve, there is so much more potential now behind the environmental movement. 

Here is another positive impact that may be closer to home: having less cars on the road will likely mean that more baby animals will survive this season.

Because habitats have become so fragmented by humans, animals old and young have to cross dangerous places from streets to freeways in order to get to the food and places they need. Cars and other vehicles are like dangerous monsters for animals, and they can be the cause of so much death– not only in terms of the air pollution they create.

Social distancing recommendations mean that you probably aren't riding in a car as much as you used to, and you can bet a baby animal somewhere is alive or will be alive because of that. 

Something you can think about moving forward beyond quarantine is rethinking how much you and/or your family ride in a car, and how you could maybe use it less. We've all been adjusting to a very different way of life for a temporary period of time, so that could make any long term changes feel more possible.

There has never been a better time to realize that the world as we know it can change for the better if we all work together and do our part. Keep yourself and your loved ones safe, but also keep this message in your heart. 

Thank you for reading, and Happy Earth Day <3

~DoomyPanda

Tree-planting Shop + Gardens

@Wildflower, aaaaa thank you so so much!! Send me a buddy request so I can go check it out as soon as possible, I'm so happy you were so thoughtful :)

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Hey Jammers! Sorry about being so behind-schedule with posting and being online in general, I hope none of you were worried, given my history of struggling to post on time ^^; 

I'm just going through some personal difficulties right now, with online classes as the stressful cherry on top, but overall I'm alright. No worries, so onto the post!!

Spring has fully sprung (I think!) and in the spirit of the change and rebirth that happens in Springtime, AJHQ is beginning to roll out new environmental initiatives as part of their Playing4ThePlanet commitments.

What do I mean by that? If you aren't aware, Wildworks joined a big group of gaming companies in making personal commitments to use their platforms to help the environment. 

The specific commitments of Wildworks are...

(Click to read the image)

This new tree-planting shop (along with the Jamaa Journal page on it) is a slow beginning into both the climate education commitment and the planting trees commitment. I think it's pretty cool!!

What I'm curious about is what it really means by planting a tree for every new membership. Usually, when a company does that, it means donating a portion of proceeds toward some other group that plants trees. 

But the question remains: who is planting the trees? Who is taking care of them? For what purpose: to be cut down eventually for paper production while temporarily taking pollution out of the air (which goes back into the air once it's cut down), or to live out their lives, cleaning the air and helping ecosystems? I'm interested in maybe asking someone at Wildworks what this tree-planting goal exactly entails. Eventually. :P

Regardless, look at these cool trees:

I can't really decide on my favorite. Admittedly, I think they could be more detailed looking (if you compare that last one to the real tree...it lacks a little), but I'm not gonna obsess over it because AJHQ is trying their best.

If you didn't know, the tree banners in Jamaa are where you buy the trees. Unfortunately, this means there's no room to add in real facts about deforestation or trees, but it's a start.

Here are the above trees in real life!:

Bet you can guess which is which. It's pretty clear, I'd say. 

Maybe one day I'd like to work at AJHQ to bring more natural education into it. But that's a daydream for another day...

The next star of the update: the massive, unfortunately-members-only garden bundle of items:

Does anyone remember the original garden plot? The original garden plants?

Probably, because I think they may be considered rare nowadays:

Which gardening set do you like better?

In my opinion, there's no contest, because of all the visually interesting gradients in the older garden, but you already knew I was gonna say that :P

Also, if you had enough garden plots you could make a pretty nice nonmember floor! If they weren't so sought after, maybe I'd have a chance at that

Alright everyone, I have an online class in exactly 7 minutes. I'll try to actually follow my posting schedule next time! These are difficult times for everyone.

See you in Jamaa <3

~DoomyPanda

First REAL Free Membership Code! + An Unreleased Den Arrives

Hey Jammers! I hope you're all doing well and taking care of yourselves. The update a couple of days ago was surely surprising– or not, depending on how you look at it. 

I'll go over the Jamaa Journal, but in my opinion the two stars of this update are the 2-week free membership code (the first of its kind, I think) and a brand new Spring-themed nonmember den!

At first I was really surprised by this– but then I realized this is probably a gift from AJHQ during this difficult time when most schools are closed and people are staying inside. Thanks so much, AJHQ!

So you enter the code into the code box, and...

 Voila! You can be a member, for free, for two weeks.

I just realized now that Clark Stacey (AJ CEO) tried to cryptically hint at this 2-week promo about ten days ago:

I periodically check his Twitter for stuff like this, but I guess I missed this one. Dang :P

Additionally, he's said that the new work-from-home policy that is affecting Wildworks (and a lot of other businesses) is not slowing down the production of Fer.al or AJ updates. So that's some good news! 

***Keep in mind that this is the only actual free membership code in existence. AJHQ doesn't have secret free membership codes– if a code exists for free membership, you will hear about it from THEM in the Jamaa Journal– not some random Jammer who promises free membership if you go to their den.

Never give your user/password to anyone, never input it into any website other than the Animal Jam homepage itself. The only reason another site would ever ask for your account info is if they want to hack you, take your items, or even take your real money. 

So be safe, always.

With that in mind, what are your favorite things to do with membership? Personally, the only reason why I'd want a membership is so I can buy from My Shops:

If you have enough diamonds, which are easy to earn if you're patient enough to accumulate them over time, My Shops are the easiest way to get the rare or semi-rare items that would otherwise take a million years to find and trade for (especially if you're like me and don't have many items to trade).

...However, because of my big spending spree to write up that "Ideas for the Terrain Bundle" post, I have a grand total of zero diamonds XD oh well

Before we move on from the topic of membership, I had a thought recently: should certain members only dens (the older ones, like the castle or treehouse) be made nonmember? Most of the newer member's only dens that come out are MASSIVE in comparison, and are usually more popular. I dunno, just thought this would be nice. I love the treehouse and the castle den...

The next star of this update: the Spring Small House! I bet this means we'll eventually get a Summer Small House as well. I wonder what that would look like...

You can tell by the sharp, solid colors that this den design was created more recently than the Autumn and Winter Small Houses, which seem to have been older den designs that AJHQ dug up. As a result, this is probably my least favorite Small House den, mostly because the grass looks too flat and untextured like glass.

However, I'm sure any nonmember who likes the Princess Den will appreciate this nonmember alternative! 

When I first saw this den design, I thought it looked very familiar. Now I know why: it was leaked a while back under the name "yardGarden" and you could find pictures of it on the Animal Jam Wiki. There are also older images of the garden in a castle den:

It's exact! From what I gathered, the garden add-on seems to have been designed at least before 2018.

I don't condone hacking Animal Jam's files, but the Animal Jam Wiki has a great page of unreleased items and dens that are fun to look through. As an example of a gem I found, look at this:

It's a spooky version of the Princess Den! Wow. Would you ever want to decorate this den?

Moving on...

Pet lemurs are back! And isn't that such a lovely image? I love the glowing moon against the dark blue night :)

The Spring Festival has returned! Though I'll still always cross my fingers that one day AJHQ will bring back the Jamaa egg hunt...

The April Fools party is back in town!

And once again, important information for the concerned souls of Jamaa.


That's all for now, Jammers. But before I sign off, I wanted to address the elephant in the room: how are you all dealing with the virus going on? It can feel really bad to not have the structure of school, or to not be able to see friends in person. I've been feeling that struggle myself.

Feel free to speak your mind in the comment section, or if you want to rant to me in a comment you don't want me to publish, let me know. It can feel like a really lonely time, so I want you to know that I'm here for you if you need.

Thank you for reading <3

~DoomyPanda

THE BETA FONT QUEST IS OVER

I CAN NOT BELIEVE IT

I UPLOADED AN IMAGE OF THE MYSTERY FONT TO A FONT IDENTIFICATION FORUM AND I KID YOU NOT, SOMEONE IDENTIFIED IT IN LESS THAN 10 MINUTES



THE QUEST OF ONE THOUSAND YEARS HAS COME TO A CLOSE


Let this teach you a lesson, children...

Dreams do come true.

And never forget...

Jam on!