Hey everyone, I'm going to be referring to myself ( TornPages ) in the personal sense in this newsletter, so please forgive my unprofessional self-identification in this.

 Those of you who are in the Discord server may already be aware, but for those of you who are not, the species is currently undergoing a major change stage; I'm buying the species from Tana, and will be working to improve on things and regrow this community to what it once was, and hopefully go even beyond that. Things are still early, but I wanted to make this newsletter to touch base with everyone and provide some clarity for plans; things are still subject to change, however below are several things I plan to rework for the update.

FEEDBACK
Now, more than ever, i need to collect feedback about the species to see where i need to improve things. It doesn't matter if it's positive or negative, i need as many honest opinions as i can possibly gather. I can take feedback on any aspect of the species, and in any form you're most comfortable with, whether that's in the anonymous feedback form, in the comments of this post, within the Discord server, or by DM-ing me directly on Discord (torn_pages).
 The anonymous feedback form will only be seen by me, so you don't have to worry about upsetting anyone with voicing your personal opinions. I may bring up certain aspects to other staff members where needed, but primarily just in regards to things that will help us with our developmental goals (ex- trait reworking ideas). Anything intended to stay private will remain private and you don't have to worry about that.
Anonymous Feedback Form: Feedback Form

AGE REQUIREMENTS
 This will likely be my most controversial change, however, after looking through introductions in the Discord server, i have noticed the average age group for this community is 15-35. With this in mind, the species will be adjusting to become a 15+ server instead of 13+. This change will also allow us to develop Jelloguts a little more than what we can get away with in a 13+ space.

WEBSITE
A major thing i want to highlight is the website. From a coding perspective, this site is beyond my abilities to repair, admittedly to the point I'm genuinely surprised it's still working at all. Due to this, and the fact that the code will degrade on it's own as time goes on further, we will not only be getting a major site rework, but we will be switching domains entirely. This site will only stay active until i can get all the information transferred to the new one, and after that, this site will be shut down as Tana is still currently paying for this one. I will do my best to make the new site setup go as quickly as possible to get everyone moved over but to also ensure Tana doesn't need to be paying something for me, but it is heavily encouraged to save screenshots of your bank and inventory ahead of time to make the user transfer stuff easier.

DISCORD
 With the site being updated, i decided that moving to a new server would also be ideal to clean things up and leave some things in the past for good. This new server is nearly complete, and i will be allowing staff to test it soon, however i don't plan to release it to the public until i have some progress with the site's rebuild. 
This new server will also have several new features, including a roleplaying system, more games, and just overall more organization. We also have a new activity planned where the community will get to design a character together ;)

PROMPTS
Prompt activities will be getting a major glow up. I plan to really buckle down and make a wide range of monthly, seasonal, event, and generalized prompts for users to participate in. A lot of these will be repetitive things you can do a set number of times within a given time frame (for example, 1 submission on a specified prompt every month), however there will likely be some flash prompts and activities still for a quick thing to do. 
I also want to really focus on the abandoned questing prompts and add more to do with those. They'll be focusing heavily on world lore, however standard prompts I'll also have for just overall character development, so it won't just be lore-based stuff, but also giving you the ability to develop your OCs more in depth!
I will be adding some systems to the new site to make submitting prompts a bit more clear as well.

JELLOBLOCKS AND OTHER SITE CURRENCIES
 Jelloblocks will be getting a major overhaul in general. I still need to figure out the math behind it, but i want to make earning them actually worth it, and not take 10 years of saving them just for something basic from the shops. After a feedback discussion in the Discord server, i have decided everyone will keep their current balance converted into the new numbers, giving all veteran users a head start in collecting things. 
The other currencies will  have the same treatment, but they need to have some math done as well still.

TRAITS
 By both popular request and my own want to tidy things up, traits will be getting a MAJOR overhaul. I want to make them as clear and easy to follow as possible, and all the feedback has given me a pretty clear idea on how to rework everything. Reworking the traits will be the next thing i tackle and put a majority of my focus into once i finish setting up the new Discord server for staff to do a test run. I will run ideas past the public after discussing them with my team to make sure the new trait system is easy to follow for staff and users alike.

ITEMS
A lot of current items will be reworked and redrawn; i will be making them both a mix of being more lore-friendly, and also making more sense in their use as well. There will also be some new items introduced to fit the new development of the species.
 When the new site is ready, i will be allowing EVERY veteran user who currently has an account on this site to claim 2 free items of choice with few limitations (only really thinking that things locked behind prompt completions won't be available, but everything else generally will be).

PETS
 With the new site, anyone with a pet that's currently an item will be given a choice to either convert it into a collection pet, or if they would like to have it turned into a unique pet MYO slot for that pet's species.
 Collection pets will be able to occasionally bring you swirlberries and other goodies, but unfortunately unique pets won't be able to have the same function due to site limitations.

 AWARDS
 Nothing too big planned for awards currently aside from adding more and removing some that were never used. I don't think any of the art for awards needs to be redone, but i can redo them if it's a popular request.

 PATREON
 This will not be an immediate thing, but I'm planning on making Patreon and Kofi pages for the species once all the other updates have some good establishment behind them. It will be a completely optional thing to partake in, however 100% of profits from either support system will go back into the species, whether it's paying for the site's hosting costs, or allowing us to use premium features with Discord bots. I will also be offering exclusive goodies to anyone who supports the species with either of these services, including some secret things i won't reveal quite yet~
Though this is something i have planned i also understand users might not want to immediately put money into the species because of how profit-focused it has been for the last good while. Until i can gain user trust with anything regarding real money, i will be paying for all of these things personally out of pocket with my own money to ensure we can still use them easily.

SUBSPECIES 
Good news for everyone, Jelloguts and Ancient Jellocats WILL be remaining a part of our species and getting further development. I also may add more subspecies in the future, and actually have an idea for a new one I need to work on more that i think you guys will like ;)

ADOPTS
 I'm still doing some thinking on the adoptables section of all of this. On one hand i definitely don't want them to be the primary focus of the species so users actually have time to save up for designs in a decent timeframe, but i also don't want to restrict my mods and featured artists from their profits. You of course can still suggest feedback on this topic, however i may handle this one with more detail to make it both fair for adopt makers AND fair for users at the same time rather than leaning in one direction over the other.

 LORE 
A majority of the lore will be refining the same, but instead just explained more in depth. I want to keep the general premise of the species still here as a whole.

 CHARACTERS
 No ones characters will have any changes aside from their traits being updated to a more modern after the trait overhaul is completed. Unfortunately however, due to how lorekeeper works, many designs will still have the current watermark across the image, and i sadly cannot remove these, so if I'm unable to track down the original file for the character, then the watermark will still be there 😔 I will do my best to find each unwatermarked image, but i can only do so much when all files that are currently saved to the site have even their image within the code itself watermarked. If your character gets uploaded to the new site with the current watermark, and you have the separate unwatermarked file, please don't hesitate to DM me on Discord, or submit a claim to the site!

 STAFF
 All of the current staff are staying in some way, but not everyone will remain in a moderation position. Some will become artists for the species, while others will remain as mods but with their roles adjusted to fit their primary tasks better. There are also two strong moderators I've worked with in the past who will be joining our team during the update.
I definitely will be needing more staff without a shadow of a doubt, but I'm not quite in a spot where i can open applications just yet. It will be coming when things have been developed further, so be sure to prepare any information ahead of time if that is something they might interest you, but otherwise keep an eye on the announcements to see when i am ready to look at applicants for mod positions!

I think that's everything for now, but i just wanted to provide some more insight to everyone about my plans for the species. As mentioned at the start, feel free to send me any feedback you have and I'll keep every bit of feedback logged in my brain somewhere. The above plans are just a general summary for what i plan to do and some things may still change of course. 
I'm really devoted to this species, and I'm hoping i can really improve on things as the new owner in aspects i simply didn't have the power to fix when i was just a mod or coder. I love this species and community with a huge  piece of my heart, and i want to see it succeed with the potential i always saw in it. 
It will take some time to update and fix everything, but as long as we work together and I'm granted some patience to perfect everything, i have a lot of hope that everything will do well.

If you've managed to read this far, i appreciate you taking the time out of your day to read what i have planned. I hope i can manage to satisfy all you to the best of my abilities, and i hope i can keep things fair for everyone 🧡