News I am not keen to deliver, however it is needed for us to progress further with the species, but Jellocats will officially be on hiatus once October ends. Now, naturally this is going to make everyone have some questions, and I hope to answer them all here clearly for everyone. If something isn't answered in this newsletter however, you're welcome to ask questions in our #❓-questions channel in the Discord server!

What does this mean for MYOs?

MYO designs will still be handled as normal, and any timed slots handed out in October will have their time limits removed, turning them into regular MYO slots, just without the pressure of a clock running out. Since a majority of the traits have been updated to their modern counterparts, I'm not too worried about design submissions. During the hiatus I hope to work on clarifying traits better, as well as making visuals for them all in a consistient art style.

Will we be able to submit prompts still?

No, prompts will be closed off once the Jelloween Fun prompt ends. The activity in prompts is pretty scarce as is, however the payout for art pieces is completely unbalanced, and I would rather work on redoing the Jelloblock reward system to be more fair to users, and currently, I can't, in good conscience, give people minimal rewards for hours of their work. Once the Jelloween Fun prompt ends, I will be hiding the other basic prompts to avoid any pieces being submitted during the pause. 
If you would like rewards for your pieces, please keep notes on what works you have created during the break, and youo will be allowed to submit them for rewards once we reopen art submissions.

Will game nights be affected?

That is yet to be known at this time. Our head admin, Briarlights-Requiem , runs our game nights, and whether they continue during the break or not will be his decision. Whatever he does decide, I trust his decision and know his choices will be for the benefit of the species.

How will adopts be handled?

Some adoptables may still come to the surface for purchase, however I have asked my staff members to limit their designs unless they absolutely need the funds as to not flood the community with designs during a quiet stage. Designs by official artists will continue as normal if they decide they wish to make designs. There may also be a few raffle designs that pop up from time to time to make sure people are still getting Jellocats once Jelloblock earnings dry up.

We will not be opening up to Guest Artist applications yet. We understand there is a lot of interest in becoming a guest artist for the species, however at this current point in time, our community simply does not have enough disposable income for a lot of adoptables right now.

Will staff applications open during the hiatus?

Though you may see some adjustments in our staff list, there are currently no plans to open applications for new staff members. We currently have a good team with us right now, and every position is covered.

What will happen during the hiatus?

The hiatus will primarily serve as a way for me to properly work on things without stressing about too much else going on. There's a lot I need to do in general for the species, however, here's a TL;DR list in regards to what I will be doing behind the scenes.

• Working on development of the new site, including, but not limited to:
  • Plugin / feature installations
  • Bug fixes
  • Comprehensive layouts
  • Clear guides
  • Various site themes (both light and dark mode variants)
  • Unique features with Jellocat flare
• Creating new art assets for:
  • Jellocat + Faemith traits
  • Official anatomy guides
  • Lore
  • Items
  • Pets
  • Awards
  • Site themes
  • Other surprises
• Writing new lore and improving on old lore
• Annual event planning / creating an event schedule
• Reworking some rules that I've since realized need changes
• Rebalancing a lot of the offsets put in place by old ways to be more fair all around
• Further development of the species, including new subspecies and general species being added to the world :3c
• Compensating users for some of the discontinued content.
• Setting up a Patreon / Kofi to show support for the species (However this may be one of the last things done. I don't want to make this species about money and money only.)

More stuff not listed may also be included, however this list alone may take quite a while, as in a few months kind of while. I also would like to note that I am an event/prompts admin at Pacapillars, and the coder for Scarfoxes, both of which will need my full attention during December + January. I understand the wait may be frustrating to some users, given how many times this species has died off in activity as is over the years, but after this hiatus is over, I hope to never have another hiatus for the species again unless absolutely necessary, meaning we will become a place in which you can be as active as you please, and there will always be something for you to do, I just need to get past this initial setup bump first.

Item Recall

Unrelated to the hiatus, some of our items are being recalled as they will no longer be used in the species. If you have any of these items or currency, please submit a claim on the site here to exchange your stuff. Please attach the items / currency you are trading in utilizing the "Add-Ons" section of the claim. Click on the "Show" button next to your inventory or bank to select your items / currency to attach. 
The following items / currency are being recalled. Please include in the comment of the claim what you are exchanging them for if they have multiple choices:

• Swirloop
  • Can be exchanged for 100 each
• Swirlberry Currency
  • Can be exchanged for 4  OR 1x Swirlberry collectable item each
• Event Trait Upgrade
  • Can be exchanged for 150  OR 1x  Peelable Candy each

When we move the site over, if you have any of these items remaining, you will still be compensated, but you will be given a designated compensation rather than a choice to make the process faster.
More item compensations may arise during the hiatus as we are able to look more closely at the existing items.